Dave’s Take

In the ever increasing war between search engine giants, a new search spider has arrived and with it, a new way to search. Goby is the Webs’ latest crawler and its cause for Google and Yahoo to worry (if only a little) for Goby is the first of a new generation of “smart” search engines.

Launch barely a month ago, Goby is attracting widespread attention in the online world for its unique ability to utilize algorithms, structure and categories to deliver specific, timely information. How specific? Well, if you are looking for say a concert to attend or an upcoming festival at which to spend your weekend, Goby can tell you when, where and how. Goby’s ability to deliver this immediate info sets it apart from Yahoo, Bing and Google, who use ginormous databases to furnish their results. Goby is like a cloud-based desktop application – not deep, but very efficient in delivering what it’s designed for – events, locations and times. Asking it to provide information on how to make a rocket would be a wasted search. Goby isn’t the smart nerd who’s knowledgeable about quantum physics; it’s the hot social secretary that knows what’s happening and where.

While its current relevance is for events, Goby’s owners have bigger plans for their smart spider. According to co-founder, Mark Watkins, Goby is soon to be adding such competitive features as travel, retail and health care. “You just have a passion and try to build a successful business that solves problems for people,” stated Watkins when asked about his motivation for inventing Goby. Giving people an immediate way to access all that is happening around them sounds like a worthwhile place to start for Goby. Clearly, we will be hearing more about the new wave of smart spiders.

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In other search engine news, speculation is rampant that Ask.com may soon be on the auction block. Owner/Obsessive Barry Diller is said to be unhappy about his SE being in a distant fourth with just 3.9% of the market. Industry insiders believe Microsoft may buy the irrelevant site in an attempt to bolster Bings’ 9% share. How much that move would improve their popularity is questionable. After all, when was the last time you used Ask.com?

In announcing a new ten-year joint venture, search engine leader wannabe Yahoo and computer giant Microsoft hope to finally put a dent into the search advertising market dominance of Google. In releasing the details about the deal that was negotiated over the past 18 months, Yahoo stated they are now on track to make the search ad biz more competitive.

The new venture gives Microsoft access to the second largest search engine audience on the planet and provides Yahoo with an estimated uptick of $500 million a year in ad revenue. While that sounds terrific on paper, the reality is somewhat less than revolutionary. The new venture, while promising, has a long road to hoe as demonstrated by industry experts, who sent Yahoo stock down over 11% on the news. Investors were simply reflecting the reality of the impact the merger might have on the industry, which appears to be minimal. Currently, Yahoo handles a mere 28% of the search market, leaving Google with an almost insurmountable 67% market share.

Google hopes to use the joint endeavor to establish its new search engine “Bing” as the preferred consumer search engine. Why they believe their product is unique enough to make surfers change SEs is a mystery to me. I have experimented with Bing and found it to be okay, but nothing astounding. As most humans are creatures of habit, I fail to see what would make anyone switch from something they’ve used successfully for over a decade to a new copycat. One could argue that the consumer appeal will be found in the old “David vs. Goliath” routine, pitting Bing against the Starbucks of the web, Google. I say could argue because in reality, the battle is framed around two Internet giants, leaving neither to hold the title of the “little engine that could.” To further illustrate the massiveness of the players involved, a similar merger between Yahoo and Google was denied by regulators last year due to antitrust issues. So much for the myth of the competitive little guy.

The bottom line on search engines appears to be, “Why fix what ain’t broken?” Internet users are satisfied with the accuracy and speed of Google and seem to care little about new entries that offer nothing in terms of uniqueness. Perhaps if Bing offered a free fix for Vista it might gain market share.