Sep 06 2007
Competing with Google
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There have been several reports lately reporting that searchers prefer Google reagardless of the quality of the results. How can you compete with a product if people don’t care it is not actually good? I recently read an article (which I can’t find again unfortunately) which reported that searchers preferred the results with the Google logo even if the engine that created the results was not actually Google. Similarly, the SearchEngineLand blog recently reported on a study called In Google We Trust: Users’ Decisions on Rank, Position, and Relevance which stated:
“Combining users’ proclivity to trust ranked results with Google’s algorithm increases the chances that those “already rich” by virtue of nepotism get “filthy rich” by virtue of robotic searchers. Smaller, less affluent, alternative sites are doubly punished by ranking algorithms and lethargic searchers.”
Professional researchers and writers seem to realize that Google’s search and content gathering practices are not without flaws. There was a thread on the BUSLIB-L list recently (a forum for business librarians which is a target market for the Business Research Engine) entitled “Examples of ‘inaccurate’ Google searches”. The goal was to develop a list of searches the librarians could use to show their patrons that they should try other information sources than Google. The response was quick and ample.
There’s also a lot of anger from the media and publishing community related to the feeling that Google is stealing their content and eyeballs. I enjoyed a post from SearchEngineWatch called Was Google’s AP announcement a PR disaster? And also this, from the Economist:
“The list of constituencies that hate or fear Google grows by the week. Television networks, book publishers and newspaper owners feel that Google has grown by using their content without paying for it. Telecoms firms such as America’s AT&T and Verizon are miffed that Google prospers, in their eyes, by free-riding on the bandwidth that they provide; and it is about to bid against them in a forthcoming auction for radio spectrum. Many small firms hate Google because they relied on exploiting its search formulas to win prime positions in its rankings, but dropped to the internet’s equivalent of Hades after Google tweaked these algorithms. “
It’s all well and good that some people don’t like Google, but isn’t it better to work to provide something that people need but just can’t get from Google? I found this comment in a review from eContent Magazine on the Enterprise Search Summit in May heartening:
“It’s interesting that it is the simplicity of the Google user interface that is so appealing to the masses, yet inside organizations there remains a need to optimize the way results are presented to suit specific repositories and information needs.”
What are your thoughts on/experiences with using Google for business research or with the Google Appliance for indexing your company’s primary research?
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