We've got over 6 billion entries, but let's return garbage for most queries, making sure the good stuff is in the "sponsored links" or sidebars. At least it's a good business model.
It's not just about "pursuing" that dream job, it's also as much, if not more, about creating that job. I've found it amazing to what latitude employer's will go when presented with unique job ideas. Most often one has to envision and then sell (to one's boss) that dream position before one can have it.
This effect is temporary. With Yahoo! and MSN entering the search business in a serious way, internet search is well on its way to becoming a commodity and it will again begin to look like those with the big bucks can get their ads where they want: at the top of the results. How is this really different from sponsored links or "pay for placement"? The only difference is who's getting paid for what.
It seems that Google is also less concerned with search quality then before -- just compare their quailty with some of the newer, less heard of, engines. This leads me to conclude that Google's putting their efforts primarily into approaches where they see very large margins, such as content-based (adsense) advertisements.
counter theory: MSN will build the search pieces they don't already have. Google seems way too expensive. How many programmer/designer years of effort do you really think it takes to do a search engine/ad placer? It's not rocket science.
MSN has a (semi) clean slate and can avoid, or at least see in advance, some of the problems Google's had to solve. So it might be able to engineer a cleaner, more scalable solution using that hindsight. MS is a horrible innovator, but excels at taking someone else's great idea and bringing it to the consumer full force.
Also, it's not clear that great search is still necessary to drive Google. It may be that just having a catalog of the web and query statistics enable powerful content-based placement. They presumably know that their search quality is deteriorating and that some other engines are as good if not better, so I surmise Google's putting their efforts fully into other businesses where they see phenomenal growth.
Though we happen to love Google, greed is human nature and it can rear its head to stymie a once beautiful thing.
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We've got over 6 billion entries, but let's return garbage for most queries, making sure the good stuff is in the "sponsored links" or sidebars. At least it's a good business model.
It's not just about "pursuing" that dream job, it's also as much, if not more, about creating that job. I've found it amazing to what latitude employer's will go when presented with unique job ideas. Most often one has to envision and then sell (to one's boss) that dream position before one can have it.
It seems that Google is also less concerned with search quality then before -- just compare their quailty with some of the newer, less heard of, engines. This leads me to conclude that Google's putting their efforts primarily into approaches where they see very large margins, such as content-based (adsense) advertisements.
counter theory: MSN will build the search pieces they don't already have. Google seems way too expensive. How many programmer/designer years of effort do you really think it takes to do a search engine/ad placer? It's not rocket science. MSN has a (semi) clean slate and can avoid, or at least see in advance, some of the problems Google's had to solve. So it might be able to engineer a cleaner, more scalable solution using that hindsight. MS is a horrible innovator, but excels at taking someone else's great idea and bringing it to the consumer full force. Also, it's not clear that great search is still necessary to drive Google. It may be that just having a catalog of the web and query statistics enable powerful content-based placement. They presumably know that their search quality is deteriorating and that some other engines are as good if not better, so I surmise Google's putting their efforts fully into other businesses where they see phenomenal growth. Though we happen to love Google, greed is human nature and it can rear its head to stymie a once beautiful thing.