Search Engine: A Question of Survival

When it first started out, we had multiple search engines like Excite, MSN,
AltaVista, Tripod, etc, which also doubled like email portals. However, when
Excite and others tried to personalize the user experience by turning them into
personal entertainment portals, they failed and died out, and Yahoo! ruled the
search engine land. Google was there but like Dogpile, Ask Jeeves, etc, it was
just a Meta search engine, and didnt offer email. Yahoo! was the clear winner,
as it also offered mail. But, all this changed when Yahoo! began to offer a more
personalized experience. Around this time, Google grew. It almost seemed like
the finals of a Wimbledon tennis match. Google offered Gmail with a larger
storage capacity. This resulted in either migration of users from Yahoo! to
Google, or people with two accounts, where they used Google more to search. When
Yahoo! offered the same storage capacity, Google offered unlimited capacity.
Yahoo! equalized but lost its search engine title. Google became synonymous with
searching. That is the story so far.

The Debate

While staunch Yahoo! supporters agreed that it wasnt a search engine per
se, they supported the personalized experience, as they claimed it was a matter
of survival. By personalizing the user experience, they were catering to the
demography of an increasingly younger audience which they backed up with stats.
They pointed out that the young Internet users use search engines not for
knowledge, but for catching up with the latest gossip. They also pointed out
that how the most searched terms are of celebrities, and not necessarily how to
do X or learn Y.

Google supporters claimed that Yahoo! folks were just slacking on the job,
and needed to survive. They point out that Yahoo! was losing people, because it
had a cluttered search engine home page with too many gadgets, while the Google
home pages simple design was its biggest advantage ensuring it stayed ahead.
After all, if a person wanted to search for something on the web, they would
care less about animated pictures, flash ads, colorful fonts, fancy pictures,
and customized layouts. All one needs is a search box and a search engine that
will deliver resultssomething that Google has today and Yahoo! doesnt! The
verdict among Google fans was unanimousMicrosoft would cut bait in a couple of
years and run, as Yahoo! didnt seem committed to search unlike Google. They
predicted doom for Yahoo! in two years, as they saw Google monopolize not just
the search engine space, but also email and entertainment.

Many web developers agreed, but werent very happy with the fact that we were
heading into a monopoly. Some web trend watchers were saddened by the loss of
privacy, and others were worried about the online storage of personal
recordsthe emergence of webtops making cyberspace a criminals paradise.

Yahoo! Gets Creative

Carol Bartz of Yahoo! has thrown the gauntlet to Google, and the search
engine war has just turned red hot! Just when most people thought Yahoo! would
accept defeat, and give up the search engine space to Google, Bartz has changed
strategies! Carol Bartz hasnt thrown her hands up in the air, and backed down
from the fight. She has instead come up with an innovative business model that
is likely to appeal to all net users irrespective of where we live. She is using
global warming to promote the cause of Yahoo! with Ecosiathe green search
engine which has been launched on the sidelines of the World Climate Summit at
Copenhagen. With each search on Ecosia (www.ecosia.org) you save a sq metre of
rainforest, as they are tied to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and they are
using Yahoo! search engine capabilities. The search engine model has turned
interesting, as now you can search and contribute to the stopping of global
warming simultaneously. Trust Bartz to think up of search and save the planet
model! Search engine land has got more interesting. As I said in my previous
column, engineering is a very creative profession; and just when everyone was
blaming technological advances for environmental destruction, Yahoo! goes ahead
and proves them wrong by providing them with the solution. She has also taken on
all the critics regarding design, demography for Yahoo! search engine space, and
has given that advantage to Ecosia absolutely free!

Ecosia has a clutter free home page. If you had visited the Google home page
recently, you might have noticed something weird. If you moved the mouse, more
links appear and the clutter has increased! Also, Yahoo! seems to be counting on
other factors which Google has been ignoring of late.

Privacy: The Google monopoly has made them ignore privacy of users. Google
now offers things like online storage of medical records from doctors,
hospitals, pharmacies, etc, (www.google.com/health). But, Yahoo! respects
privacy of its users, and doesnt offer online storage of personal records of
any kind. Google seems to want to own your life while Yahoo! is more old school,
and gives you a choice.

Repeat Users: The biggest problem for the search engines is how to keep the
user faithful. As Internet users, we tend to be cyber wanderersexploring and
moving on. The Internet is a vast place, and it morphs constantly at a fast
pace. So, to get repeat users, design shouldnt be just simplistic, but should
also include a feel-good factorsomething that Yahoo! has managed to accomplish
with Ecosia.

Social Networking Challenge: The impact of social media like Facebook,
Twitter, etc, has made search irrelevant to a large extent. What is the use of
search engines if we can find the people and information live? Search engines
need to evolve or offer more to keep people interested. Yahoo! has just offered
a chance to save the planet with a click which means they are offering power to
the user. This is bound to have an impact, as social media doesnt offer this
and neither does Google. We have just one home planet, and we do need to save
it!

As the search engine wars rage on and the user benefits, Bartz has shown how
business survival and saving the planeta click at a timeare not mutually
exclusive. This is even something the skeptical environmentalist will agree to
do, as it is effortless. The ball is now in Googles courtmaybe theyll decide
to give us money to search!

Deepa Kandaswamy The author is the founder-moderator of the IndianWISE e-group maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in