Thursday, December 29, 2005
The problems associated with super-dominate search sites are many, but sometimes they are balanced by providing a consistent solution for the majority of searchers. One of the issues that many searchers aren't aware of is related to how "search" is a business and that's why we are able to use the service "for free". Of course, nothing's free in the search world any more than it is in any media related field. So in the very large search sites, like Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, etc., decisions are necessarily influenced by business needs in addition to user needs.
Along that same vein, it's important for commercial entities to work hard to ensure that search results related to their business are presented as close to the top of the results pages on these large search sites as possible, in order to be noticed quickly. And it's difficult. Those big sites use complicated algorithms to order their lists and these businesses have to figure out how to work with those constructs. That's also why these same companies purchase Sponsored Links. It's just so people will notice them and visit their sites.
With search sites like PreFound.com, virtually all of that is eliminated. The things you find on PreFound.com are sorted by relevance to the words you put in the search box, and are rated by the PreFound.com community for how well they serve their topic. No complication here. If it's relevant and the community says so, then it will show up near the top of the search page. It's a simpler and we believe, more open way to work.
By the way, there's a pretty good story on the state of search for '05 at http://www.pandia.com/sew/141-the-expanding-role-of-search.html take a look if you get a chance. He doesn't talk about social or community search, but we all know '06 will be all about our type of search. Thanks again for participating.
Along that same vein, it's important for commercial entities to work hard to ensure that search results related to their business are presented as close to the top of the results pages on these large search sites as possible, in order to be noticed quickly. And it's difficult. Those big sites use complicated algorithms to order their lists and these businesses have to figure out how to work with those constructs. That's also why these same companies purchase Sponsored Links. It's just so people will notice them and visit their sites.
With search sites like PreFound.com, virtually all of that is eliminated. The things you find on PreFound.com are sorted by relevance to the words you put in the search box, and are rated by the PreFound.com community for how well they serve their topic. No complication here. If it's relevant and the community says so, then it will show up near the top of the search page. It's a simpler and we believe, more open way to work.
By the way, there's a pretty good story on the state of search for '05 at http://www.pandia.com/sew/141-the-expanding-role-of-search.html take a look if you get a chance. He doesn't talk about social or community search, but we all know '06 will be all about our type of search. Thanks again for participating.
