May 21, 2008 | Wednesday
Google, change and suspicion
By Jackie Danicki - Blogger in News |Search Engines |Google
After reading Deborah Ficamos’ recent update on the impact of Google’s UK trademark policy change, and NMA‘s Will Cooper’s thoughts on the same, I was struck by how willing Google is to make huge changes to how things are done. This came to mind on Tuesday when I talked to one of the search giant’s very first employees in Silicon Valley.
Our conversation was off the record, but one theme that emerged was that Google’s founders have always been hellbent on changing the world for individuals - and they hired people who had the same passion for seismic change. They saw - and see - it as a planet-changing company, and you’d be hard pressed to argue otherwise at this point.
The principle they stood by was that if the individual user wasn’t well-served, they had no business. So the drive to relevance for searchers was always the cornerstone upon which the entire company was then built. So the UK trademark policy change, seen by Google as driving relevance for users, makes total sense from that angle.
This also demands a view of success which is hyper-focused on the long term. That Google has been able to build such short term wealth while concentrating on the long haul is something remarkable.
At the risk of this becoming a fan letter to Google, it is quite striking that by sticking to simplicity, speed and search, the company has grown to be...Well, the entity we all view with a healthy dose of suspicion.
Believe it or not, I get the feeling that such scrutiny is welcome to the hardcore Googlers, even if it is problematic on some level. As my contact put it, Google has always used the most demanding searchers as a litmus test for whether or not they could make the “average web user” (whoever that is) happy. With Nielsen reporting that they have just hit an all-time search market share high, it is difficult to say that method has failed them.
Comments
#1
By the change in trademark policy Google gives more chances to small players. If around 76% of search engines traffic comes from navigational search (and is growing), then big brands are getting even bigger.
If you look for moneysupermarket then you probably think about some financial servies. Confused.com is showing on the right side giving you addtional choice. As long moneysupermarket is still #1 and their CPC only rises by few % it is not that bad.