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Ask HN: Will there be a better Google?

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Re: Ask HN: Will there be a better Google?

#21

Post by CM30 »

Of course. If history has taught us anything, it's that no company, product or individual has ever remained 'on top' for eternity. Everything gets superseded and replaced by something better, it's just a matter of when that happens rather than if.

As for search in particular, yes again. There are plenty of ways a search engine could work better than Google. It could read your mind and figure out what you intended rather than having you try and write out your search query.

It could actually answer questions in purely conversation English (or any other language), like what Ask Jeeves tried and failed to do years ago.

It might have results somehow tailored to your interests in a much better way, and basing what comes up on both people/sources you trust, relationships between them and new pages and your exact intentions.

Heck, it could just be better at finding generic pages than Google is at the moment. I'm sure you've come across tons of situations where you searched for a certain specific technical term, right? And then found all the results were ones that only had the most vague similarity to what you wanted, with the term you cared most about it in grey and strikethrough form underneath the result? Even a search engine that realises you want a certain term in a certain context (say, a discussion, or a long form article) would do better than Google at the moment.

So yeah, there will be a better search engine at one point. Quite possibly one that completely changes how searching works in general and finds results that are far more accurate to what you actually want than anything available at the moment.

Re: Ask HN: Will there be a better Google?

#22

Post by FT_intern »

simbalion wrote: post #17
rm999 wrote: post #15

I consider search an essentially solved problem and I think most people agree with me. When I want to find something I can usually use Google or Bing to get to it within 10 seconds or convince myself it doesn't exist. Will search get better? Probably, but going from 99% to 99.5% isn't very exciting to me. If anything, I see Google and others moving in a direction of using context to reduce the amount people search (e…

I agree with what you've said but I wanted to add that there is room for improvement on Google's model. For example, selling page 1 results is unfair, but that is something google does. I think DuckDuckGo is an example of how Google's methodology can be refined and improved upon, specifically by not spying on users. It's a subtle improvement, but I find the results I receive are actually superior and more relevant th…

I don't think it's sustainable to not spy on users or to not serve ads. Keeping user data adds to relevancy and if there is no revenue, there are no relevancy engineers.

Re: Ask HN: Will there be a better Google?

#23

Post by paulcole »

alain94040 wrote: post #20

Absolutely. Search is still in the stone age. A new paradigm will come up, and Google, like most large companies, will be too invested to the old way of doing things, they will struggle to adapt. That leaves plenty of opportunities for startups. For instance: everyone seems to assume that search is about finding the one page on the Internet that best answers the query. Wrong assumption. People want answers, not pages…

>What about a search engine that combines facts from two pages or more to answer my question.

Interesting concept, but why would I (as a site owner) want my content mixed with my competitor's? I can see value to th en user, but what would the value add be for indexed sites?

Re: Ask HN: Will there be a better Google?

#24

Post by paulcole »

simbalion wrote: post #17
rm999 wrote: post #15

I consider search an essentially solved problem and I think most people agree with me. When I want to find something I can usually use Google or Bing to get to it within 10 seconds or convince myself it doesn't exist. Will search get better? Probably, but going from 99% to 99.5% isn't very exciting to me. If anything, I see Google and others moving in a direction of using context to reduce the amount people search (e…

I agree with what you've said but I wanted to add that there is room for improvement on Google's model. For example, selling page 1 results is unfair, but that is something google does. I think DuckDuckGo is an example of how Google's methodology can be refined and improved upon, specifically by not spying on users. It's a subtle improvement, but I find the results I receive are actually superior and more relevant th…

> plus I don't have to worry about who is watching my traffic.

Millions of people (myself included) use google and don't worry about this already. Online privacy isn't an issue (or a deal breaking feature) for the overwhelming majority of people.

DuckDuckGo may get niche business because their privacy stance, but it's not going to help them unseat Google.

Re: Ask HN: Will there be a better Google?

#25

Post by cb21 »

rm999 wrote: post #15

I consider search an essentially solved problem and I think most people agree with me. When I want to find something I can usually use Google or Bing to get to it within 10 seconds or convince myself it doesn't exist. Will search get better? Probably, but going from 99% to 99.5% isn't very exciting to me. If anything, I see Google and others moving in a direction of using context to reduce the amount people search (e…

Try to find a funny gif you saw a while ago and tell me again if you think search is a solved problem.

Re: Ask HN: Will there be a better Google?

#26

Post by unimpressive »

paulcole wrote: post #23
alain94040 wrote: post #20

Absolutely. Search is still in the stone age. A new paradigm will come up, and Google, like most large companies, will be too invested to the old way of doing things, they will struggle to adapt. That leaves plenty of opportunities for startups. For instance: everyone seems to assume that search is about finding the one page on the Internet that best answers the query. Wrong assumption. People want answers, not pages…

>What about a search engine that combines facts from two pages or more to answer my question. Interesting concept, but why would I (as a site owner) want my content mixed with my competitor's? I can see value to th en user, but what would the value add be for indexed sites?

Search engines have never been about what websites want, so it doesn't matter.

Re: Ask HN: Will there be a better Google?

#27

Post by Gustomaximus »

brudgers wrote: post #9

The idea of a search engine is long since gone. Google is a destination...mail, news, interesting links, etc. So is Facebook [just replace 'mail' with 'messages']. It's really the Yahoo/AOL/Compuserve model that works over the long haul. The future of actual search is something that gets out of the way like Siri or Cortana. But there's not really money in search. The money is in siloing and data collection.

Google is largely ads these days on anything commercial, followed by organic. With the introduction of a 4th top placement ad its amazing how little organic search is showing on a screen.

Type in a competitively commercial term like 'credit card' and think how it was 10 years back. Its amazing how they have trained us to accept this. Or maybe its just the lock of better options...

Re: Ask HN: Will there be a better Google?

#28

Post by simbalion »

paulcole wrote: post #24
simbalion wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with what you've said but I wanted to add that there is room for improvement on Google's model. For example, selling page 1 results is unfair, but that is something google does. I think DuckDuckGo is an example of how Google's methodology can be refined and improved upon, specifically by not spying on users. It's a subtle improvement, but I find the results I receive are actually superior and more relevant th…

> plus I don't have to worry about who is watching my traffic. Millions of people (myself included) use google and don't worry about this already. Online privacy isn't an issue (or a deal breaking feature) for the overwhelming majority of people. DuckDuckGo may get niche business because their privacy stance, but it's not going to help them unseat Google.

No you are right. It will be Google's continued inching toward a revised "do evil whenever it's profitable" business model that is going to unseat google. I mentioned DuckDuckGo because it seems it would be most likely to take the top search spot if Google were to die today.

Re: Ask HN: Will there be a better Google?

#29

Post by marmot777 »

I'm not saying they're better but there are alternatives to Google that address specific concerns. For example, DuckDuckgo seems to be getting some traction with their promise to give you privacy.

That pitch resonates with a lot of people. I hope they don't do something that would degrade our trust in that. I think they have a future.

Whether their seach measures up to Google's I don't know. I'm guessing they're not there yet as Google is good but they'll get there and if they stay true to their vision, they'll win over a lot of people. I worry because there are a lot of temptations that could throw a company off it's core promise, especially a solemn promise to protect your privacy, while others offer money to go different directions.

Re: Ask HN: Will there be a better Google?

#30

Post by marmot777 »

fairpx wrote: post #3

The answer, I think, is in the book you're reading. Search was stuck long before Google came. Then came Google and they made search better. Right now, search again is stuck. Until someone comes up with a way that everybody else is missing, to take search to a new level.

There's the key question. What could you do differently than google for a niche or even mass?

I think privacy is massive but that leads to how will search engines that focus on privacy make enough money? Google offers a good search engine and a heck of lot of cool free software, all payed for by ads. Frankly, I don't mind targeted ads as they're far less annoying than random ads. I'm into the outdoors and tech and even went so far as to go into my Google settings and adjust it. No, I don't like Tango. What was that about in my settings?

So I'm not even 100% convinced that the trade offs in going to a completely private search experience are worth the costs. I don't know.

What are some other problems a search engine company could focus on? I'm not even sure what the top concerns are of users that would inspire them to migrate from something that is pretty damn good, frankly.

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