Heating up the Search War

Posted on June 16, 2008
Filed Under David Waldman, Gogimon, Google, high tech, search engines, technology | Comments Off

What will Microsoft do now?

Many think Microsoft might panic and lessen its investment in the search realm. That’s not, however, what the Windows creator is doing at all. The boys in Redmond may have failed miserably in trying to woo Yahoo into a partnership but they‘ve not given up on challenging Google. Brad Goldberg, the Search Maven of MSN Live, is very optimistic on Live’s prospects. It all bogs down to an understanding and the ultimate focusing on the on the reasons for searching.

Why do people search? What’s the purpose or need? There seem to be four main reasons for any online search:
1. entertainment
2. purchase of product
3. information
4. navigation from site to site

No matter how powerful Google is, if Live can provide greater relevance the latter will slowly start gaining on the search giant. Even Google’s powerhouse search engine results leave much to be desired, statistically. Over 40% of queries go unanswered while fully half of searches need to be redefined to present the user with usable results. This often translates the user experience into frustration and the possibility of eroding Google’s popularity as soon as a viable alternative appears on the horizon.

No one is really naive about the possibility of destroying Google. Realistically, Google will continue to be top search dog for a very long time. Live believes it can claim enough market share to make its search engine a real alternative. To that end they have introduced a “cash back” program that will rebate customers who have used live to access their products. This is really a new angle in the ad wars between Google and Live search, but, it remains to be seen if this pay per action model will have real relevance in the long run. Live is also debating using real people to help computers understand queries. All this shows that there is a lot of room for startups and search applications in the search market.

David Waldman

[David Waldman is Director of Marketing at Gogimon Search Machine]

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