Google’s Search Model Outdated?

Stephan Weitz thinks so. He proposes that Google is stuck in the 90s, much like scrunchies and pogs. Their search model is, according to Bing’s search director, “traditional search is failing.” And by “traditional search,” he means Google. Why does Weitz think Microsoft’s engine has the upper hand and will be the search of the future?

Way back in 1998, Google sought to organise the web’s information. Weitz calls this a “great vision” that worked. Back then. Google’s model is based on the premise that people come to search engines to find information. Makes sense, but Bing counters that people do not come to the internet to find, but to do. “Our mission is literally to deliver knowledge by understanding intent.”  Google, by contrast, is outdated. “The standard notion of search…looking at the texts in the page, the backlinks, all that stuff doesn’t work anymore.”

Google may argue that point strongly with their 65 percent market share, and the search giant could also argue that they provide very similar services as their Microsoft rival. They have maps, local search, news, image, and map searches, and more that appeal to those who come to do not to find. Further still, there are plenty of “traditional” users who do, in fact, come to the internet to find information.

What Google admittedly does not have, though, is Facebook. Bing can boast of a close association with the premiere social networking site. Weitz emphasises the importance of this, saying, “Decisions don’t get made on rationality alone. People ask other people for information. Eighty percent of people making a purchase online will delay that decision until they ask someone else.” What better place to ask than Facebook, and what’s easier than incorporating those results right into search? Here, Bing is trying to exploit Google’s weakness (or weakness thus far) to up its own 14 percent market share.