How Should Google Proceed in Order to Address the Rising Competition?

How should Google proceed in order to address the rising competition?

Google as of today is still known to be the world's best search engine. But for how long will Google be able to sustain such image especially with the rising competition very evident at present. In order to face the emerging challenges and in order step-up into becoming a third generation search engine, Google should consider the following:

1. Social-networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace)

There is a market for information that comes from end-users. Social-networking makes search more personalized because it relies on networks of friends who share information. At the same time, it gives you information posted by real people, especially those whom you know, regarding certain topics. For instance, if you want to know the what are the best chick flicks to watch or the teachers to avoid in school, then this kind of networking can give you an insight to what you are looking for.

2. Localized search (Naver, Yandex)

The use of local languages is important to cater to a bigger target market. Sometimes search results reveal answers coming from the different parts of the globe when what you need is something local. Localized search engines for Japan and Korea believe this is their advantage over Google because their results are more specific or specialized. Google only has options to search local pages but does not provide local content.

3. Personalized touch

In Mahalo and ChaCha, information is being handled by human editors to determine quality and relevance. As mentioned, no computer program can match the human brain's evaluation. Thus, it is important that Google anticipate what the users want in terms of quality and relevance. It would be helpful if Google could identify individual profiles and their roles whether they are a parent, student, government official, etc. They have to mine information Ð'- perhaps through understanding what they search or download Ð'- related to the individual's interests.

4. Categorization through graphic/image maps/clustering

They could reinvent their page by adding graphic maps or clustered results yet still keep their simplistic appearance. Graphic maps contain words scattered on the left side of the browser making it more convenient for users to search for related topics while clustered results similar to Vivisimo automatically categorizes search results. With this kind of interface that does not only list the search results but adds another option for them, it would give the users more choices on how they could navigate and look for the pages that they actually want.

5. Electronic-media