Demise of Google's search box 'some way off'

Eric Schmidt, the chief executive officer of Google, said in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal that the search box will eventually become "outmoded". However, counter-suggestions have been made, indicating that this may be some distance away.

Karin von Abrams, a senior analyst at New York-based research firm eMarketer, highlighted that search engines still satisfy the needs of a great number of people, so there seems little need to replace them. "Whenever Google is able to replace the search box, it will be sure to implement a system that ensures the continued health of online advertising," she continued.

Ms von Abrams highlighted that search engines may not necessarily suffer at the hands of changes to online advertising. Nobody knows what the future holds for digital channels, so making assumptions about what will survive may not be helpful.

With some search engines rumoured to be playing with the idea of customer profiling, the expert stressed that they need to be aware of this as "a very contentious area".

"Recently, some publishers in the UK have experimented with up-front questionnaires that allow site users to provide data about themselves and opt in or out of profiling," Ms von Abrams commented.

This is the sort of responsible move that search engines need to make in order to gain respect from the public, she suggested. "Use of such explicit opt-ins on search engines could be one way forward," the expert pointed out.

Recent research from Gartner found that the majority of modern day consumers rely to some extent on social networks to help with their purchase decisions. The survey was carried out in the fourth quarter of 2009 and included almost 4,000 consumers in ten key markets.

 
Thursday, August 19 2010 by Catherine Ferguson

Living Streams "Improving clients' profitability through better use of the internet".