Google announced yesterday on one of its blogs that it has been working for some months now on an improved version of its search engine, under the code name Caffeine. Since the changes are done under the existing Google search engine, the improvements will likely be noticed only by developers, and less by consumers. However, preliminary comments claim that the version is significantly faster, and includes a larger number of result pages.
According to industry experts, the changes are mainly addressing the search rankings, particularly relevant for all the SEO dependent companies. The improvements are therefore mainly targeting the wide network of advertisers using Google's keyword advertising, the company's largest revenue generator.
Google's announcement comes at a time when the search industry is heating up. It started some months ago with Wolfram Alpha, a search engine based on a more sophisticated knowledge-based computing. However, the event that triggered a new wave of excitement in the search world was Microsoft's launch of its new search engine, Bing. It has managed to create quite a buzz and recent market data show that Bing is slowly, but quickly accumulating market share.
The next big move was Yahoo's announcement that it would drop it own search engine, which has faltered behind Google for several years now, and will use Bing instead. "Take that, Google!" was probably the thought of both Microsoft and Yahoo's CEO, two companies who have seen their businesses lose momentum and let's face it, lots of dollars, in front of their mutual enemy.
Last but not least, real time search among statuses and timely data is starting to prove a challenging alternative to the traditional search engines. Many industry experts claim that Twitter's real attractivity lies in its advanced real time search option, and not later than yesterday Facebook announced the acquisition of FriendFeed, a smaller competitor of Twitter.
Google has recently intensified its efforts in other markets as well; its Android platform is gaining adherents in the mobile industry. The company has also made public its efforts to develop an operating system under the Chrome umbrella. This move has finally put the cards on the table; it was perhaps anticipated by many ever since it became clear that Google is going for Microsoft's neck. So far, it has done it in a less obvious way, but this latest move shows that Google is willing to fight Microsoft on all fields.
From a strategic point of view, these latest moves pretty much resemble a chess match, with each player going for the opponent's queen. While far from being a chess expert, it is easy to see that Microsoft went straight for Google's core business, its search engine. Search related advertising is by far Google's biggest cash cow, with approx. 97% of revenues generated from keyword advertising. Google fought back and announced its plans to launch its own operating system, which, surprise, surprise, happens to be Microsoft's core business and money making machine.
This is one chess match everybody will keep a close eye on. Time will tell if bing will be the latest verb added to the English dictionary. For what it's worth, I used Google as the search engine for this post.
and now, it’s goodies time, with two cool links that can help you decide which search engine is the best for you (in case you had troubles making up your mind): http://www.search3.com/, http://blindsearch.fejus.com/
As a final remark, this chess match is going to get a lot more interesting. There is one particular player that must always be kept in mind. You guessed it… Apple. Eric Schmidt’s recent departure from Apple’s board shows that a new war is in the making.
Traditionally, Apple has always been considered as the ultimate Microsoft rival. And it has played its part remarkably, if you’d ask me. On the other hand, Google and Apple always played the friendship game and somehow nobody really perceived them as rivals, since there were not many things they had in common. However, things are changing. Apple and Google are now fighting it off on several fields: in the mobile industry, Google’s Android platform and its Android Market are clear competitors of the iPhone and its OS, and of the App Store. In the internet browser field, Chrome and Safari are trying to catch up with big guys Internet Explorer and Mozilla. And now Google is launching its own operating system too…
Exciting chess matches are lying ahead and I for one am one happy spectator.
Game on!
Keyword advertising is an effective way for businesses to bring traffic to their site. This is especially helpful if you are in a niche field or specialize in a specific field.
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