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The quality of Google's search results has already gone down, thanks to results being personalized based on previous searches and other data, a feature it seems

The quality of Google's search results has already gone down, thanks to results being personalized based on previous searches and other data, a feature it seems no one asked for. And they continue to cannibalize themselves by making ads more and more indistinguishable from normal search results. I'm sure that's made them a lot of money in the short-term, but everyone now knows they can't be trusted, as quality is no longer sacred (which was its main appeal back in the early days!). They are now in the same category of pedestrian ad peddlers as Facebook and Twitter. Therefore a competing product doesn't need to be as good as current Google, only as good as it used to be. Still hard, but far from impossible for someone with money. What may be harder is Cuil's second problem as mentioned: Finding a revenue model. You can't compromise your data by manipulating searches (lessens quality) and you can't compromise your integrity by prioritizing ads (lessens trust). I'm sure a lot of people would pay big money for the answer, which no one seems to have (as demonstrated by Twitter's descent into ad trickery such as camouflaging the ad disclaimers).

Animats 9y ago
What may be harder is Cuil's second problem as mentioned: Finding a revenue model. Perhaps the answer is to do what Craigslist did. In a few categories, ones you have to ask for such as "Shopping" or "Jobs", there are ads, or product ordering boxes, clearly identified as such. Non-commercial information is not polluted with ads.
- tim333 9y ago
  Or the duck duck go model. Run ads but just based on the search terms, not personal info.
CM30 9y ago
Not just that. I think one of the biggest issues Google has had recently is that they're trying too hard to guess what their users 'might' want instead of what they actually want. Try and search anything even remotely technical or specific. Google brings back a few thousand irrelevant results, often with stuff like 'not found: word you were actually after' underneath in grey. Sometimes even when you do add quotes or speech marks around the term. A better Google would be one that doesn't assume people want 'any old possible answer' and tries to answer specific queries as easily as general ones.
- fapjacks 9y ago
  Advertising has given Google tunnel vision with respect to search, I think.
hyperpallium 9y ago
> Therefore a competing product doesn't need to be as good as current Google, only as good as it used to be. While there seems no barrier to entry, just consumer habit, google is faster than it used to be, despite a larger web and more users. Speed of search results has been shown to be extremely important to users. Google's many large server farms, close to users, is a huge capital investment. Google has doubled down on this advantage, with google suggest, which requires even more power. For example, google has much lower latency than DDG. Replicating those server farms would be expensive; I'm not sure than even all of AWS could do it.
- randomsearch 9y ago
  More to the point, to dislodge an incumbent you have to be a _lot_ better. When I first used Google in 2000, I immediately knew they would come to dominate search, because their product was so much better. It's not enough to be as good as Google, you have to wipe the floor with them. As others have pointed out, the Amazon Echo is a viable approach to doing this. Shame it sucks for anything but the most trivial queries right now.
rwallace 9y ago
> The quality of Google's search results has already gone down, thanks to results being personalized based on previous searches and other data, a feature it seems no one asked for. Actually, I appreciate that feature very much. I like that when I search for Python, Google knows as a programmer I mean the language not the snake. Doubtless there are herpetologists who appreciate that Google knows they mean the snake.

Animats 9y ago

What may be harder is Cuil's second problem as mentioned: Finding a revenue model. Perhaps the answer is to do what Craigslist did. In a few categories, ones you have to ask for such as "Shopping" or "Jobs", there are ads, or product ordering boxes, clearly identified as such. Non-commercial information is not polluted with ads.

tim333 9y ago
Or the duck duck go model. Run ads but just based on the search terms, not personal info.

CM30 9y ago

Not just that. I think one of the biggest issues Google has had recently is that they're trying too hard to guess what their users 'might' want instead of what they actually want. Try and search anything even remotely technical or specific. Google brings back a few thousand irrelevant results, often with stuff like 'not found: word you were actually after' underneath in grey. Sometimes even when you do add quotes or speech marks around the term. A better Google would be one that doesn't assume people want 'any old possible answer' and tries to answer specific queries as easily as general ones.

fapjacks 9y ago
Advertising has given Google tunnel vision with respect to search, I think.

hyperpallium 9y ago

> Therefore a competing product doesn't need to be as good as current Google, only as good as it used to be. While there seems no barrier to entry, just consumer habit, google is faster than it used to be, despite a larger web and more users. Speed of search results has been shown to be extremely important to users. Google's many large server farms, close to users, is a huge capital investment. Google has doubled down on this advantage, with google suggest, which requires even more power. For example, google has much lower latency than DDG. Replicating those server farms would be expensive; I'm not sure than even all of AWS could do it.

randomsearch 9y ago
More to the point, to dislodge an incumbent you have to be a _lot_ better. When I first used Google in 2000, I immediately knew they would come to dominate search, because their product was so much better. It's not enough to be as good as Google, you have to wipe the floor with them. As others have pointed out, the Amazon Echo is a viable approach to doing this. Shame it sucks for anything but the most trivial queries right now.

rwallace 9y ago

> The quality of Google's search results has already gone down, thanks to results being personalized based on previous searches and other data, a feature it seems no one asked for. Actually, I appreciate that feature very much. I like that when I search for Python, Google knows as a programmer I mean the language not the snake. Doubtless there are herpetologists who appreciate that Google knows they mean the snake.