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The only way you can beat google is to create a search engine in a small niche where they can’t compete, then eventually over the years expand into general sear

The only way you can beat google is to create a search engine in a small niche where they can’t compete, then eventually over the years expand into general search once they can’t catch up (innovators dilemma basically). The only search product that comes close to this is Amazon search or booking.com (or maybe YouTube). All multi billion dollar businesses. And when smaller ones emerge like the flight scanner one, google buys them. I don’t see google going anywhere soon. They have a lot of faults but they’re still too good.

supermatt 4y ago
> The only search product that comes close to this is Amazon search or booking.com (or maybe YouTube). What is so great about those search examples?
- aydyn 4y ago
  Absolutely nothing, Amazon search is horrendous. Search by price is completely broken (and has been for years). Filter by exact phrase is non-existent. No way to search products by size, and on and on.
systemvoltage 4y ago
This is HN and we're not even pretending to be optimistic about beating incumbents, but it is much deeper than that - there is also a profound sense of defeatism directed towards European entrepeurs as well as the world at large. It is an indictment of the current nihilistic zeitgeist.
- gnz11 4y ago
  Well, it is a forum run by a Silicon Valley VC firm … so of course there will be a bit of “only SV can do anything interesting in tech” gatekeeping going on.
  - systemvoltage 4y ago
    Idk, even people here in SV has given up.
newaccount74 4y ago
In Austria there is "geizhals.at" [1], which is a price comparison website for electronics, and they have the best parametric search engine I have ever seen. It's 1000x better than Amazon search. However, there's no way Geizhals will ever expand into general search. The reason why they are so much better than the competition is that they are focussing on a small, profitable niche and presumably use manual data entry to ensure they have the best data. [1]: there's a UK version too "skinflint.co.uk"
- Lio 4y ago
  Just opened skinflint.co.uk to have a look. I was greeted by "Do Not Track detected only storing necessary information". That's wonderful! I don't think I've seen a website that does that before and I think it's worth praising.
- Akronymus 4y ago
  Geizhals is my go to for anything computer related. Somewhat amusing that such a good site comes out from this little country.

supermatt 4y ago

> The only search product that comes close to this is Amazon search or booking.com (or maybe YouTube). What is so great about those search examples?

aydyn 4y ago
Absolutely nothing, Amazon search is horrendous. Search by price is completely broken (and has been for years). Filter by exact phrase is non-existent. No way to search products by size, and on and on.

systemvoltage 4y ago

This is HN and we're not even pretending to be optimistic about beating incumbents, but it is much deeper than that - there is also a profound sense of defeatism directed towards European entrepeurs as well as the world at large. It is an indictment of the current nihilistic zeitgeist.

gnz11 4y ago
Well, it is a forum run by a Silicon Valley VC firm … so of course there will be a bit of “only SV can do anything interesting in tech” gatekeeping going on.
- systemvoltage 4y ago
  Idk, even people here in SV has given up.

newaccount74 4y ago

In Austria there is "geizhals.at" [1], which is a price comparison website for electronics, and they have the best parametric search engine I have ever seen. It's 1000x better than Amazon search. However, there's no way Geizhals will ever expand into general search. The reason why they are so much better than the competition is that they are focussing on a small, profitable niche and presumably use manual data entry to ensure they have the best data. [1]: there's a UK version too "skinflint.co.uk"

Lio 4y ago
Just opened skinflint.co.uk to have a look. I was greeted by "Do Not Track detected only storing necessary information". That's wonderful! I don't think I've seen a website that does that before and I think it's worth praising.
Akronymus 4y ago
Geizhals is my go to for anything computer related. Somewhat amusing that such a good site comes out from this little country.