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"The next Google can’t just be an input box that spits out links" I think one strong contributing factor to Google's success is its simplicity. All the listed

"The next Google can’t just be an input box that spits out links" I think one strong contributing factor to Google's success is its simplicity. All the listed competitors add a lot of complexity imho. While all the customization buttons, knobs, lenses, meta crawling, code generation features etc might add some value for the advanced and technically skilled user, it provides rather little value for the average user who just wants to look up a cooking recipe. So maybe when searching for "the next Google" the interesting question is not "what search features can be added", but "how can search even be simpler than using Google".

u2077 5y ago
I think they each capture different markets. Google is simple because for most people it is “good enough”. Google isn’t going to spend a ton of time developing new features for the (large) minority that find it inadequate. Google also has a few good things going for them: - it’s the standard when it comes to search and is setup by default on just about every platform - People use the brand name itself when talking about looking stuff up (no one says “just duck it”) - They control the ad market, the standards for what a “optimized” site is, and the web standards themselves.
darinf 5y ago
Actually, just taking the ads out of the experience can make for a simpler and better search experience. I think the google founders knew this too (https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/comments/rzr2n3/the_founders_of_google_about_why_ads_kill_search/ https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/comments/rzr2n3/the_founde...). They just couldn't hold back the avalanche of revenue that search ads yields. I work for Neeva, and this is a big part of why I left Google to join Neeva. There has to be a better experience, and it doesn't start from another business that works just like Google. It has to be a different kind of business. Neeva does not make money from showing you ads, so it can provide a different search experience... a simpler search experience, like the original google even, but it can go further... With the Neeva app for example as you start typing in the URL bar, it will take your input as search suggestions (just as any other browser + search engine would) but instead of just showing you completed search suggestion, Neeva will show you the results from running those searches inline. The idea being that maybe those results will be helpful to you and make it so you don't even need to go to the search results page. You can just take the result right there from the URL bar suggestions drop down. Saves you time. Simpler. Stuff like that. There's a swim lane of innovation and ideas on how searching and browsing can be better that is just really hard for Google to build, even though many of these ideas are thought of inside the walls of Google. They just can't ship them if they are stuck being beholden to their search ads model. Another great example... ever wonder why Google isn't working to make it so Chrome doesn't have a million tabs at the top of your browser? It gets to the point where it is hard to get back to what you were doing. Me, I just end up closing the tabs, declaring tab bankruptcy. Google is okay with that because it means I have to search again. The Chrome team wants to fix this but it is hard to do so as it would result in people searching less often! Again, just means there is opportunity for a simpler better experience to be had and Google won't be the ones creating it.
- twobitshifter 5y ago
  To be fair to Google, they do have the I’m feeling lucky button, which will take you directly to Amazon (example from the article) rather than showing you links.
  - darinf 5y ago
    Exactly. Notice how "I'm feeling lucky" is only on the home page and not part of the search experience when using Chrome or any modern browser where you search from the URL bar? Wonder if that is intention? Not a wonder at all. The "I'm feeling lucky" button would never be added to Google if it didn't already exist. It was grandfathered in.

u2077 5y ago

I think they each capture different markets. Google is simple because for most people it is “good enough”. Google isn’t going to spend a ton of time developing new features for the (large) minority that find it inadequate. Google also has a few good things going for them: - it’s the standard when it comes to search and is setup by default on just about every platform - People use the brand name itself when talking about looking stuff up (no one says “just duck it”) - They control the ad market, the standards for what a “optimized” site is, and the web standards themselves.

darinf 5y ago

Actually, just taking the ads out of the experience can make for a simpler and better search experience. I think the google founders knew this too (https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/comments/rzr2n3/the_founders_of_google_about_why_ads_kill_search/ https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/comments/rzr2n3/the_founde...). They just couldn't hold back the avalanche of revenue that search ads yields. I work for Neeva, and this is a big part of why I left Google to join Neeva. There has to be a better experience, and it doesn't start from another business that works just like Google. It has to be a different kind of business. Neeva does not make money from showing you ads, so it can provide a different search experience... a simpler search experience, like the original google even, but it can go further... With the Neeva app for example as you start typing in the URL bar, it will take your input as search suggestions (just as any other browser + search engine would) but instead of just showing you completed search suggestion, Neeva will show you the results from running those searches inline. The idea being that maybe those results will be helpful to you and make it so you don't even need to go to the search results page. You can just take the result right there from the URL bar suggestions drop down. Saves you time. Simpler. Stuff like that. There's a swim lane of innovation and ideas on how searching and browsing can be better that is just really hard for Google to build, even though many of these ideas are thought of inside the walls of Google. They just can't ship them if they are stuck being beholden to their search ads model. Another great example... ever wonder why Google isn't working to make it so Chrome doesn't have a million tabs at the top of your browser? It gets to the point where it is hard to get back to what you were doing. Me, I just end up closing the tabs, declaring tab bankruptcy. Google is okay with that because it means I have to search again. The Chrome team wants to fix this but it is hard to do so as it would result in people searching less often! Again, just means there is opportunity for a simpler better experience to be had and Google won't be the ones creating it.

twobitshifter 5y ago
To be fair to Google, they do have the I’m feeling lucky button, which will take you directly to Amazon (example from the article) rather than showing you links.
- darinf 5y ago
  Exactly. Notice how "I'm feeling lucky" is only on the home page and not part of the search experience when using Chrome or any modern browser where you search from the URL bar? Wonder if that is intention? Not a wonder at all. The "I'm feeling lucky" button would never be added to Google if it didn't already exist. It was grandfathered in.