Issue 9 / February 2010 Seek and Ye Shall Find
by John McCreesh,
Recently retired RBS employee
Seek and
Ye Shall Find
Search engines want
Nowadays, if you want to find something However, search is a constant battle. The growth of mobile devices with GPS, Further developments are already
out, the chances are you will go online The internet is growing at a prodigious rate,
The three generations of search
ii
:
camera, and phone capabilities opens underway, improving the way search
to understand their
and type some words into a search engine. with the progression from static web pages up a whole range of search challenges engines use language:
1. Simple search, based on the actual
users better so they
How well search works is important both to dynamic content, to wikis, to blogs, and opportunities:
for people looking for information, and also to tweets making it easier and easier for
words in a web page. Important factors
• From word recognition to natural
included keyword density, title, and
• No computer required: humans are
can answer their
for information providers. For example, people to generate more and more content.
language: search engines are starting
consider what happens when someone The vast majority of this will be irrelevant.
where in the document keywords
compulsive communicators with an to understand phrases as well as words.
questions correctly - asks: “Where can I get cheap house With current search engines, even a simple
appeared
insatiable appetite for information Natural language search can answer
wherever they are. Specialist search questions, and can cope with ambiguity
and target them with
insurance?” Where they ask the question, search will return a huge volume of results.
2. Second generation search looked
and how the search engine answers the For example, “When will the trams start
engines, such as taptu aimed at users in language (does a search for “Paris”
across web sites, with off-page criteria
irresistible advertising.
question, is of great importance to running in Edinburgh?” will give about
of mobile devices, see this as an mean “Paris the capital of France”, or
and link analysis between sites. It also
companies active in the sector. 28,000 results in Google UK, and 131,000
opportunity to acquire market share “the movie Paris Texas”, or “the socialite
built up its own history of searches,
results in Bing UK. If the answer you are
from the mainstream search giants. Paris Hilton”?)
For most people, search is synonymous
tracking clicks, page reputation,
looking for is not near the top of the list,
with Google (with around 85% market
link popularity, temporal tracking,
• Location data: a simple question • Any-to-any translation: Chinese is
you are in for a long search.
share
i
). Before Google, search was a
and link quality
like, “Where’s the nearest ATM?” expected to be the dominant language
commodity that internet service providers Spammers are growing at an alarming
becomes so much easier to answer on the web in less than five years -
3. The current third generation search tries
felt obliged to offer to their users. Google rate as well. The algorithms used by search
with automatic geographic data from the ability to translate seamlessly
to understand the meaning of queries:
not only created a better search engine, engines to determine the ranking of search
a GPS device between a content provider using one
the phrase “shop for” has a richer
it also developed a business model that results are a closely guarded secret.
language and a searcher using another
meaning than “look for sites containing
• Not just text: mobile phones can scan
revolutionised internet advertising, and There is a whole industry - “Search Engine
will be an essential part of a search
the words ‘shop’ and ‘for’”. It also
barcodes
iv
, opening the possibility of
made Google the fastest growing Optimisation” - which attempts to reverse
engine’s toolkit.
extracts as much data as possible
getting instant feedback on competitors’
corporation in business history. engineer these algorithms and use the
about searchers’ individual searching
products
v
. Using other capabilities of a Social bookmarking - can people
knowledge to boost its clients’ ratings.
habits - personalised search.
mobile device, a birdwatcher should power match computer power?
Of course, search engine owners are happy be able to send a search engine a
to give prominent positions to advertisers - photograph they have just taken,
Social book marking sites claim to offer
but only if the advertisers pay them for
These conflicts have led to increasing
or feed it birdsong from a mobile phone,
an alternative to ever more sophisticated
the privilege.
sophistication, as search engines sought
and use these to identify the species
search engines. People save their
bookmarks online (in sites like del.icio.us)
to find a way to search more content,
and post links to their favourite sites
combat spam, and still provide pertinent
(in sites like digg and reddit). Proponents
results (see above “The three generations
argue that no company could compete
of search”). Industry experts believe that
with the man hours people put in saving
search still has a lot further to go.
and tagging their bookmarks, and no
Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products &
algorithm could calculate site quality
User Experience for Google, described four
better than humans
vi
.
“could do better” areas in a seminal blog
posting a year ago
iii
. Her posting generated
much debate in the technical community,
and a general consensus is emerging
about how search is likely to develop.
16 / Perspectives on the future Perspectives on the future / 17
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