Google Local

Google has recently added new features and a new look to its local search. The new look now includes maps on results pages showing locations of businesses. When you do a search for, say, coffee shops in Seattle, WA you are presented with a list of results on the left, and a map on the right with each business highlighted on the map.

Further you can zoom in and out on the map, or pan without reloading the page. clicking on one of the indicated businesses gives you a new page with a detailed map and address of the business, as well as references which include yellow pages listings, critic and customer reviews and more.

Yahoo!

Yahoo recently acquired MusicMatch - an online music company. In an effort to boost its "Launch" music service to compete with sites like MSN Music, MusicMatch will add 2 commerce features to Launch - a pay for download service which has 700,000 songs in its library, as well as a monthly subscription service which gets users unlimited access to downloads.

The acquisition will give Yahoo! music lovers a complete music solution - from streaming media and radio, to download services, to online purchases of CD's through the Yahoo! store.

Ask

Where did the butler go?

If you go to Ask.com you will see that the now famous butler is gone from the home page. Replaced by a black outline of where he used to be. Further, if you click on the image of where he was (no longer visibloe) you see that on September 14th he "embarked on a secret mission to strengthen and improve Ask."

This is good to see - that Ask is continuing to make improvements to their search and algorithms. As we know, the company now has about the 4th highest reach in terms of search. In order to maintain, and even improve that reach, they need to keep pace or exceed the competition in terms of technology and relevance of results returned.

Amazon

Amazon recently launched A9 - its own algorithmic search engine. A9 is a new breed of engine - one that hopes to attract users who are unimpressed with the big 3.

Some of its cooler features include: Storing your search history - you can now see what you searched for in the past. Expandable search columns - you can adjust the column widths of the various search results. Different search results - you can get web, image, book, and reference results and more. For example, a search for "Moby thingy" returns the usual web and image results, but if you click on the "Reference" results you also get a summary of what the book is about. You can even search inside the book, and get text from within it.

Summary

So the future of the web continues to look bright. As engines move towards becoming the central place to manage all of your online activities, there will be continue to be more "boutique" engines, like A9, starting up.

Further, the way results are displayed will change. We've seen examples of flash based engines which display results as a series of interlinked sites similar to a flowchart, and we've seen results listed differently (as with A9).

I think you will see the search engines move on many fronts over the next year or so. They will work to improve relevancy. They will also develop a broader base of customer centric services. Finally, they will be looking at new and innovative ways to make search better, not only in terms of relevancy but also in terms of user experience, and deep search capabilities.

While there still will probably be the "big three" others will continue to gain share. Sites like AOL, Ask and A9 to name just a few. Also desktop software like Copernic and Blinkx will continue to make inroads in search, helping to improve the user experience for all.

Rob Sullivan
Production Manager
Enquiro.com

Copyright 2004 - Searchengineposition Inc.