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Permission Me: Search Engines Pull From Content Management Repositories

searchblogImagine a world where search engines pull videos, images, text and more from repositories through technology similar to ad platforms that serve content in query results. It would reduce the need for Google and Bing to crawl the Web and verify content contributors.

Engines wouldn't need to index the content on the engine, but they would need permission from brand owners to pull the content from repositories. How many content repositories or databases are connected to the Web, and how much would that increase the relevancy of content being served? Brainstorm with me.

Would having direct access to content provide more efficiency when it comes to make content available to search engines? Search no longer relies on a fixed box and keywords. Google proves that with the Hummingbird algorithm. Microsoft suggests that with the idea of integrating Bing's technology in its Windows operating system and applications.

In a completely fictitious business model, Joe Stanhope and I contemplated recently at the Forrester Research conference in Los Angeles what this content distribution service might like. "We might have customers in the future willing to open their repositories," said Joe Stanhope, chief strategy officer at SDL, a company developing content management systems that got its start in language and machine translation services.

What if Google and Bing could serve up content in engines from databases? Brands using SDL's repositories would provision Google and Bing to pull the content. The engines would have a continual flow of new content, giving consumers new information and relevant searches. Brands with more content would have the ability to participate in more searches.

Take Google Now or Google Glass, for example. Limited space in mobile query results and conversational search, rather than relying on keywords, will require more accurate results. Some of that through content stored in repositories, rather than publisher sites.

If Google and Bing had more content and data through repositories they theoretically could serve-up better responses to queries. Heidi Therese Dangelmaier, founder of GirlApproved, said search engines have a significant flaw. She believes today's search engines--even with all the technology--provide an incomplete representation of the world, because they index a limited amount of information. They do not have access to all.

Would this business model work: If yes, why; If no, why not?

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