The last week has seen exit and shifting of 2 important entities of the search-world, one virtual and the other flesh-n-blood. Google Answers service has quietly exited. One recalls the times when Google used to charge for more specific search results if the usual ones failed to provide answers one is looking for. Which is what prompted me to write the article, Why Search Engines Cannot Answer All Your Queries?
After Google Answers served the Internet fraternity for a while came the all-purpose Wikipedia, and more recently Yahoo! Answers. Both the last named have prospered rapidly, so much so that now Yahoo! integrates Yahoo! Answers in its search results.
Yahoo! Answers’ success may be one reason behind Google’s withdrawing Google Answers, but whether Google re-launches it in some other form is something that remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Danny Sullivan, the man behind much of what Search Engine Watch is today, has left it beginning this month. Search enthusiasts like me, who have depended on Danny’s reporting from Search Engine Watch would know how valuable his inputs have been. Danny Sullivan will now be available at Search Engine Land.
Moving away from the scenes of goodbye, here’s an interesting reportage from onrec, the online recruitment portal. In a Nov 21 article, it quotes figures from CollegeGrad, according to which Google emerges as the most preferred entry-level technology employer of choice (at 49%), ahead of Microsoft (29%), Yahoo! (12%) and IBM (10%).
Which means Google has many feathers in its cap, many of which are known, and some yet to be explored.
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