The Search for More

Many times when someone uses a search engine they are looking to find an answer to a question. Most times the search engines deliver a satisfactory result.

But then there are some searches in which there just isn't enough information to satisfy the user in their quest.

Google has tried to address this with the rolling out of "Universal Search". This is an attempt to deliver the most relevant item about a search query, regardless of the format.

In the past the typical top result was a web page. In Universal search, that top item can now be a podcast, a video on YouTube or even a simple image.

But, does this provide enough?

Recently, I was looking for Canadian web directories. My search started in Google Canada (google.ca) and while their were some good results in the first 5 pages, after that there was a bunch of unrelated sites that just happen to mention the words "Canadian", "web" and "directories" on their site somewhere.

So, I ran the same term on Yahoo and Sympatico (the Canadian version of MSN), and I got the same results.

So are there really only about 30 directories about Canada? I highly doubt it.

The point here is that while the search engines do a great job, they need to to better. And I have real concerns when Google no longer touts themselves as a search engine but as an Advertising Platform.

I understand their perspective; it's just good business, and a good business needs to continually evolve. But when the core service that made you the top dog starts to erode away from the mission of the company, that signals the beginning of the end.

Yes, it will take a lot to unseat Google from it's search throne, but people said the same thing about Microsoft in the 90's - and their position is not so solid anymore.