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Future Search Trends
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Posted On Nov 21, 2007
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 I must have read a number of articles looking forward to what’s going happen in the search engine bullfight? Will Google still rule or will Yahoo take the pie.
Even today, conducting a search on any of the major search engines can be classified as an "enter your query and hope for the best" experience. Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" button, while designed to take you directly to the number one results, could ironically be a truism for its entire search results (process?). Enter your desired search words into any of the search engines and you often end up crossing your fingers and hoping that they display the type of results you were looking for.
All these years we have search engines trying hard to enhance their search results to better anticipate the intentions of the searcher. Search for "pizza NY" at Yahoo, and you'll see that the top results include names, addresses, telephone numbers and even directions to pizza restaurants in NY, a great improvement on previous results.
Future Search Engine Technology
Over the past few years smaller search engines have also tried materializing and trying to improve their user experience. For example Grokker offers an interface that groups search results graphically, improving the way search results are segmented and displayed. On the other hand Eurekster, combines the social networking elements that are used by sites such as Friendster, and provides results that can be filtered based upon what members of your group are searching. While all of these are interesting and provide a glimpse of the future of search, it will not be the small companies that change the way we search. With Google about to get an influx of cash from its upcoming IPO, Yahoo re-vamping, and Microsoft finally jumping into the search arena, it will be these search engine powerhouses that enhance our search experience and take search engine technology to the next level.
What is the next level?
So what is this next level? What technology is it that I speak of, that will revolutionize the way we receive our search engine results? I believe that the search results we receive in just a couple of years from now could make current search engine technology look as old and cumbersome as picking up a Yellow Pages book is today.
Search In Your Mail
Another area with great potential for improving search engine results will likely be developed by Google.
Google is one search engine that has the technology to really take advantage of search within email. Why else would it even consider entering this arena? Imagine that, in order to use a free Google email account, you allow Google to provide advertisements and track your email activities. Google could change the way that search results and ads are displayed to free email users. For example, let's say you receive an email from your brother, the content of which, among other things, gloats about the brand new P4 desktop computer that they just purchased from Dell. As part of the interface you use to read that email, Google magically displays paid search advertising for desktop computers, including a link that will take you directly to the appropriate page on Dell.com. This information would be quite beneficial to you, as you may be interested in seeing how you too can be a proud owner of a P4 computer. Fantastic targeted advertising for Dell, as they know that if you click on the listing, they are halfway there to converting you into another satisfied customer.
We could be offered the option of paying a monthly premium in order to not have ads shown when we read our email, but if they are relevant to the content of a received message, why would we want to block them?
From Desktop to Internet
Imagine an operating system that monitors all of your activities -- with your permission, of course. Every file, every image, word document, mp3, even e-books could be monitored by your computer as it endeavors to anticipate your every need. Not only could an integrated search engine allow you to search files located on your hard drive, but it could also use the information it has collected from these files to make your online search experience even more enjoyable.
It is quite possible that Longhorn or a future OS (Microsoft, Linux or Mac) could become so intelligent that they know after listening to one of your favorite songs by the 80's rock band, Heart, your consequent search online for "heart" is more likely to originate from a desire to view the band's fan site, than that pressing need to visit the web site of The American Heart Association.
Expanding sneaks
Ask, one of the smaller of the top Internet search engines, has been using sneak peeks to entice searchers for a while now. Searchers who use Ask.com can mouse over an icon next to many results and see a screen shot of the website. No clicking needed. Google, always watching for search trends, seems to have noticed, because they’ve filed a patent for expanding their own snippets. Soon searchers on Google may be able to read expanded summaries of pages, or longer clips of page text. This tactic appeals to searchers who are now demanding more and more information faster and faster from the top Internet search engines, and who don’t want to waste precious seconds clicking on a link and then on the back button to find just the right site for their needs.
You may feel relatively satisfied with the current search offerings of Google, Yahoo, Ask and MSN. Search today is undoubtedly much better than what it was in the second half of the 1990's. But Internet search is still in its infancy and there's much room for improvement. Moreover, the super high valuation of Google on NASDAQ pushes investors and researchers to find better search solutions - to be The Next Big Thing. And these wannabes are not only working on discovering better indexing techniques, they're exploring new horizons like vertical engines, meaning-based search, intent-driven search, new clustering methods, and much more. In this post, we look into latest trends in the search industry.
Some Related Articles:
What are the top Internet SE doing?
The Search Engine scene in 2015
Search Engine Trends and SEO
Searching for a better way: 6 SE trends
Search Engine Watch
Google Trends
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