Commentary

Google's Death Grip And Search Snapshots

by Gord Hotchkiss , Featured Contributor, December 11, 2008

Considering that I've devoted the last six months to exploring the impact of brand in search in this column, I do have a bit of a backlog of other things to deal with, so today I'd like to clear the decks on at least two issues. Last week, I was in Park City, Utah for the Search Insider Summit. As usual, a number of insight comments bubbled to the top over the three and a half days. This time, many of them were centered on the Google hegemony. In fact, on Day 2, we tackled that very question with Danny Sullivan, Jeff Pruitt, President of SEMPO (day job: iCrossing) and John Tawardros from iProspect. What did we resolve? Not very much, but that didn't make the conversation any less interesting.

Google is Looking Good by Comparison

When it comes to search as it's currently defined (we'll get to that definition in a minute), Google is in a league of its own. But I think the panel agreed that it's not so much that Google is doing exceptionally well as that the competition is either standing still or going backwards. Yahoo is struggling on many fronts and its search experience is drifting without direction (other than bolstering the sagging bottom line). And Microsoft not only isn't in the race, its strategists can't seem to agree amongst themselves where the starting line is. Right now Google's algorithm could be powered by beer, darts and a frat house and it would still outperform the competition. I've talked before about the Google Habit"(a term that came up again in the discussion) and right now, there's no compelling reason to even think about breaking it.

Will the Threat Come From Below, If Not Above?

So, if the big players aren't threatening Google, how about a start-up company? Several have stepped up to the challenge recently, as detailed in Aaron Goldman's "Not so Natural Born Google Killers" series. But so far, it seems that they've all come to a gun fight armed with a jack knife. I get an invitation every week or two to look at the next "revolution in search." As I've ranted about at length in the past, most of these starts-ups are based on some founder's idea of what should be revolutionary, without really considering whether it helped the user. Cuill was particularly abysmal in this regard. And, if a start-up did somehow significantly up the ante for the search user, I'm guessing Google's radar would pick it up and it would be quickly gobbled up. The three conditions that allowed Google's emergence -- a truly better algorithm, founders naïve yet capable of inventing a new kind of company, and competition too stupid to realize it -- are unlikely to happen again.

One other point on this issue. If innovation comes from another player, it has to benefit the user. Google has always had a clear prioritization of goals. The user always comes first, monetization after. Yahoo and Microsoft don't share this same philosophy, trying to juggle the goals of advertisers and users. Because of this, if something that revolutionizes search for the user comes from a start-up, Google will be looking at it through the right lens and will be more likely to recognize it for what it is. It could pass right under Yahoo and Microsoft's nose without them realizing it.

Hint: Look Outside the Box

Given the factors above, the outlook is not good for easing Google's death grip on search. But the fact is, we're assuming search will remain as it is. As someone in the audience reminded us, search takes many forms in the digital world: looking for people, searching maps, scanning videos, etc. Much that is search happens outside the world we currently define as "search." It's from here that Google's challenger might potentially come.

Search Snapshot

Now to the other piece of business I wanted to clear up this week. Obviously the world of search has changed a lot in the past 12 months. Google's increasing domination is only one aspect. The global financial meltdown has turned everything upside down. So, with all the forces at play, what is the impact on search? Well, SEMPO is currently asking you just that in its annual State of Search survey. Please take a few minutes to share the view from your particular part of the search world.

Editor's Note: Want to see (and hear) firsthand what happened at the Search Insider Summit? Click here for video coverage.

3 comments about "Google's Death Grip And Search Snapshots".

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Martin Edic from WTSsocial, December 11, 2008 at 10:50 a.m.
I think the problem is that the 'Google killers' are not doing anything new, instead they are making incremental changes. You're not going to kill a giant with little improvements.
I think the next iteration of search will be something that sits next to Google and provides something new. We're in social media search and analytics and our application makes no claims to be the next Google because the tool is a power tool designed for brand management. Social media will be as big as the traditional web and current search engines don't collect much of it. When designing a tool to find things there you have to include analytics to help a user sort through hundreds of thousands of conversations.
I'm surprised that search professionals are not looking harder at social media search and analysis because it is going to hit your world very quickly. I think the problem is that you can't monetize it like the Google model. I'll go out on a limb and state that there is no viable advertising model in social media. People are there to communicate.
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David Peterson harvey from The Hidden Art, December 11, 2008 at 11:05 a.m.

I know that companies have talked about the greatness of Google's search engine but, personally, I don't see it. In numerous trials, I've pitted Yahoo's engine against Google's and Yahoo always gives me more relevant results. In fact, with Google, I often get totally non-relevant results in the top slots. To save time weeding out the chaff, I use Yahoo in my searches.

Perhaps Google hasn't so much tapped into a seriously better algorithm as it has tapped into pop culture. The company has successfully marketed terms like "googling" where "yahooing" would just sound, well, silly in comparison.

It may be that companies like Yahoo aren't meeting other needs of the pop culture mix but marketing is still the biggest key factor for Google's success. When they get people like you on board talking about the others as if they are not even contenders, well, the competition will never stand a chance. Whether you're right or not, this type of article is just the thing that Google markets for and counts on to help stay on top.

Merry Christmas!

Michael Mostert, December 11, 2008 at 12:48 p.m.

I'm interested to see if Google will once again rank as the #1 place to work considering many of the perks that make Google a great place to work are slowly eroding.I wonder if they will have a "death grip" on employee retention. There are two ex-Googlers in my group alone.