The era in which Google and Bing became what they are is one in which the web was more open. With walled gardens cropping up everywhere it is becoming tougher t

The era in which Google and Bing became what they are is one in which the web was more open. With walled gardens cropping up everywhere it is becoming tougher to create a search engine. Another point against creating an all encompassing search engine is the sheer size of the web today which makes creating a search engine for the entire web a daunting task. Google and Bing started when the web was much smaller and hence they were able to grow with the web. IMHO there are multiple ways to create a search engine: 1)Mastering search within a vertical e.g. sports, music, etc. and then expanding to other verticals. 2)Go after a limited popular area of the web and provide a more personalized search experience(this limits discoverability of less popular sites but there are ways to overcome this) 3)Enhance the results of existing search engines by providing context, personalization, privacy features,etc. (this relies heavily on existing engines which makes it subject to their TOS) 4)Come up with an algorithm that blows Google's or Bing's out of the water and VCs line up to give you money so you can build the infrastructure to make it a reality (I wish I had this too... sadly I don't)