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NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Search engines are dying
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Search engines are dying
Brian Taylor (btaylor_at_inreach.com)
Thu, 13 Nov 1997 05:08:37 -0800
I found the opinion that search engines are dying/dead astonishing. To
the contrary, they are actually becoming more and more capable. While a
few use Boolean searches, most actually do not, or at least permit you
to use more "natural language" searches, such as the entry of a phrase,
or simply a string of keywords, to which you can attach "+" and "-"
signs to force inclusion or exclusion. Add to this the fact that some
of the search engine providers perform reviews and subject grouping or
categorization, which can impose some organization on your search.
The author of this astonishing posting is misreading the whole Web
phenomenon. Content has come online at an astonishing rate which has
resulted in chaos. It takes time for search engines to be developed,
and, once developed, to begin to impose "order" on this chaos. Then, it
takes time for the user community to become savvy in search techniques.
As these processes begin to stabilize, content providers begin to
respond by deliberately shaping their content so that search engines can
find and catalogue them.
As a corporate intelligence officer, I use most of the search engines
every day, and all of them during a given week. Naturally, as I have
used them, I have learned about them. Even expert use will never
preclude some results which are not "on target", but so what? I can
easily tell the difference....ultimately my own brain is the final
filter!
On the other hand, much of the problem lies instead with the content
providers.....those who simply want to attract traffic and in an effort
to do so offer up either plain bogus content, or content which isn't
worth visiting. This is not the fault of the search engine! The
posting suggested to me one who is too concentrated on traffic, and who
does not understand that IF YOU OFFER VALUABLE CONTENT you will have
traffic. Maybe not today, but I never see much on this list about the
power of word-of-mouth to generate traffic....this is a PARTICULARLY
powerful phenomenon among professionals who use the Web, or people who
belong to any kind of special interest group. I belong to a number of
lists. Today, I have already visited about twenty sites, no fewer than
eight of which were directly suggested in newsgroups or listserver
postings.
The scenario I see down the road, perhaps five years, is the ubiquitous
use of a combination of intelligent agents and search engines which are
designed for their use. I would warn you all that if you cannot become
focused on CONTENT instead of TRAFFIC, your site is very likely to be
invisible to both.
Brian Taylor
Corporate Intelligence Specialist
--
"In a time of drastic change it is the learners who survive;
the 'learned' find themselves fully equipped
to live in a world that no longer exists."
Eric Hoffer
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