Comments on: The economical path towards the future search engine http://altsearchengines.com/2007/12/20/the-economical-path-towards-the-future-search-engine/ The most wonderful search engines you've never seen! Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:19:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: Alex Ginzburg http://altsearchengines.com/2007/12/20/the-economical-path-towards-the-future-search-engine/#comment-32045 Alex Ginzburg Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:49:31 +0000 http://altsearchengines.com/2007/12/20/the-economical-path-towards-the-future-search-engine/#comment-32045 Anup, Maybe I wasn't clear enough so I'd like to explain myself. I meant that getting exclusivity is just an intermediate phase. The amount of content that Google can purchase is extremely low due to the competition among content producers. Every source of content that will become exclusive to Google, will present a successful business model that will encourage many others to follow its steps and to try taking its place in Google's payroll. Therefore, exclusivity can't be obtained in the long run. On the other hand, competition over exclusivity can be a trigger for search engines to start paying for the content. It's enough that one major competitor is willing to pay for content; everybody else would have to follow him just to stay competitive. The only stable equilibrium possible is when every SE pays for the content it uses. The meaning of content usage is its exposure to the users and not indexing, since every website will wish to be indexed to get a chance for income. Alternative search engines can handle this since the expanses are relative to the number of visitor exposed to the content, which means that they're related to the income from advertisements. In other words it's like a revenue sharing program, search engine with few visitors won't have much income but on the other hand it won't use much content thus it won't have considerable expanses. I do agree that it will be harder to start new search engine than it is today but those who will live to see the daylight will be much more competitive. For my opinion it is a good thing – instead of scattering the venture capital among thousands of search engines it can be invested much more efficiently within fewer but more promising projects. Although the most important consequence is that much more capital will be invested in improving content rather than in handling the existing low quality one. We should remember that search engines are just a tool and not the purpose. Anup,

Maybe I wasn’t clear enough so I’d like to explain myself. I meant that getting exclusivity is just an intermediate phase. The amount of content that Google can purchase is extremely low due to the competition among content producers. Every source of content that will become exclusive to Google, will present a successful business model that will encourage many others to follow its steps and to try taking its place in Google’s payroll. Therefore, exclusivity can’t be obtained in the long run. On the other hand, competition over exclusivity can be a trigger for search engines to start paying for the content. It’s enough that one major competitor is willing to pay for content; everybody else would have to follow him just to stay competitive. The only stable equilibrium possible is when every SE pays for the content it uses. The meaning of content usage is its exposure to the users and not indexing, since every website will wish to be indexed to get a chance for income. Alternative search engines can handle this since the expanses are relative to the number of visitor exposed to the content, which means that they’re related to the income from advertisements. In other words it’s like a revenue sharing program, search engine with few visitors won’t have much income but on the other hand it won’t use much content thus it won’t have considerable expanses. I do agree that it will be harder to start new search engine than it is today but those who will live to see the daylight will be much more competitive. For my opinion it is a good thing – instead of scattering the venture capital among thousands of search engines it can be invested much more efficiently within fewer but more promising projects. Although the most important consequence is that much more capital will be invested in improving content rather than in handling the existing low quality one. We should remember that search engines are just a tool and not the purpose.

]]> By: Jayanth G Paraki http://altsearchengines.com/2007/12/20/the-economical-path-towards-the-future-search-engine/#comment-31624 Jayanth G Paraki Thu, 27 Dec 2007 02:12:57 +0000 http://altsearchengines.com/2007/12/20/the-economical-path-towards-the-future-search-engine/#comment-31624 Google will pay for indexed content that cannot be Googled at the moment. A consortium of small players can put up a good price with caveats and command respect from Google. An example of content that cannot be Googled at the moment is the movie script i am writing. It is titled I want to buy Google! The excerpt of the story can be heard at www.addcast.net Google will pay for indexed content that cannot be Googled at the moment. A consortium of small players can put up a good price with caveats and command respect from Google.

An example of content that cannot be Googled at the moment is the movie script i am writing. It is titled I want to buy Google! The excerpt of the story can be heard at www.addcast.net

]]> By: anup http://altsearchengines.com/2007/12/20/the-economical-path-towards-the-future-search-engine/#comment-31532 anup Wed, 26 Dec 2007 19:23:16 +0000 http://altsearchengines.com/2007/12/20/the-economical-path-towards-the-future-search-engine/#comment-31532 the financial approach to search market domination will only help google more, because only google would be able to buy the rights to maximum content because of its strong financial muscle. harvesting the internet freely makes it possible for small search engines to enter the market with as much content as google. thus the entry to the market would be too tough for a new player if it has to pay for the content it indexes. google then would be insurmountable. surprised on how you could miss this. the financial approach to search market domination will only help google more, because only google would be able to buy the rights to maximum content because of its strong financial muscle. harvesting the internet freely makes it possible for small search engines to enter the market with as much content as google. thus the entry to the market would be too tough for a new player if it has to pay for the content it indexes. google then would be insurmountable.
surprised on how you could miss this.

]]> By: Endre Jofoldi http://altsearchengines.com/2007/12/20/the-economical-path-towards-the-future-search-engine/#comment-30074 Endre Jofoldi Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:00:48 +0000 http://altsearchengines.com/2007/12/20/the-economical-path-towards-the-future-search-engine/#comment-30074 In the long run the promise of revenue share is going to move a lot of people to publish on Knol instead of Wikipedia. It seems to me, that the only way for Wikipedia to escape this situation is the one what Alex proposed: asking for some ad revenue, and share it with its writers. In the long run the promise of revenue share is going to move a lot of people to publish on Knol instead of Wikipedia. It seems to me, that the only way for Wikipedia to escape this situation is the one what Alex proposed: asking for some ad revenue, and share it with its writers.

]]> By: Hany Abdelkawi http://altsearchengines.com/2007/12/20/the-economical-path-towards-the-future-search-engine/#comment-29852 Hany Abdelkawi Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:43:21 +0000 http://altsearchengines.com/2007/12/20/the-economical-path-towards-the-future-search-engine/#comment-29852 Alex, This is one of the most interesting readings I saw lately! I agree with most, but talking of how wikipedia part can influence, what would you say after the official news of launching Knol project soon? It is obvious that they want to introduce a 'better/stronger' and more reliable rival? http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/encouraging-people-to-contribute.html Alex,
This is one of the most interesting readings I saw lately!
I agree with most, but talking of how wikipedia part can influence, what would you say after the official news of launching Knol project soon? It is obvious that they want to introduce a ‘better/stronger’ and more reliable rival?
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/encouraging-people-to-contribute.html

]]> By: Endre Jofoldi http://altsearchengines.com/2007/12/20/the-economical-path-towards-the-future-search-engine/#comment-29839 Endre Jofoldi Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:04:26 +0000 http://altsearchengines.com/2007/12/20/the-economical-path-towards-the-future-search-engine/#comment-29839 I agree with the basic assumption that the question of what search engine is going to change the search market is neither gui or search technology related. The alternative search engine market is extremely rich in both areas however nothing happens. We reached a point, when Google results are good enough for the majority of users and as the author says Google has the financial ability to push its product through a lot of channels. So the economical environment of the search market should be changed in order to expect any change in this. It would be extremely interesting, if Wikipedia would decide its going to give its results for example to Yahoo only, for a share of advertising revenues. Actually in the short run it would loose a lot of visitors (however because it is non profit organization, it would make the whole thing more profitable, because it would need less servers), but in the long run it could really shift the current market. I agree with the basic assumption that the question of what search engine is going to change the search market is neither gui or search technology related. The alternative search engine market is extremely rich in both areas however nothing happens. We reached a point, when Google results are good enough for the majority of users and as the author says Google has the financial ability to push its product through a lot of channels. So the economical environment of the search market should be changed in order to expect any change in this.

It would be extremely interesting, if Wikipedia would decide its going to give its results for example to Yahoo only, for a share of advertising revenues. Actually in the short run it would loose a lot of visitors (however because it is non profit organization, it would make the whole thing more profitable, because it would need less servers), but in the long run it could really shift the current market.

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