21 Feb 08 Search is Dead - Long Live Search

I recently read an article about Google’s new project Knol but when you go to knol.com, the site sells what looks like rug cleaners in German but from what I can tell the product is similar to wiki. Basically user generated content thats not moderated. While thats all good, I’m pondering the future of search.

As Google, starts to implement universal search, the relevancy of serch will change nd more and more people will rely less on plain jane search and more on other types of search.

As it stands now, more people are using wiki’s instead of generic search, when people use search engines they are using more local search (in other words, users are using search engines like Google to find local products) but even that could change as users rely on user review sites like Yelp.

So, while I think generic search will diminish, I also believe that specific search will flourish. So as you look to rely on the Internet for marketing, the process of SEO and SEM my change. Start to think more about how to encourage your customers to leave great reviews on review sites like Yelp.com. Check to see what your customers are saying about your business or service. Develop procedures to encourage online reviews. That way you can take advantage of new search strategies. Search is Dead, Long live search.