≡ Googling Zeus: The Search Gods’ Pantheon
When an A-list blogger like Phil Butler at Profy spins a good tale about hakia vs. Google, Powerset against the rest of the world, or even Astro Versus Scooby Doo, his readers praise him. We feel better knowing there are search engines out there that will provide better results somewhere in the future. And we’re grateful to Phil for filling us in. A Scooby snack! Yum!
Is it because the road to hell is paved with good intentions that we keep on dancing the Google dance, forgetting all about Phil?
Translation? I Google, you Google, we all Google. Don’t deny it. You don’t want to upset the Giant!
Fee, fi, foe, fum. I smell the blood of a Google bum. You Google, all right! and I don’t care why you do it. And as long as you keep on googling, you feed the giant. By doing so, you keep him at the top of the world and as he continues to grow and gain strength, no one will be able to make him fall from his throne. Like Zeus, the once-reigning god in Olympus, Google is the undisputed monarch of the search engines, at least according to Comscore. And since we are in Comscore’s yard we should probably take a look at the top ten search properties worldwide with the curios footnote that not everyone on this list is a search engine.
As you know without reading the list, Google is on top and is the undisputed monarch. It is really pointless to debate why. As I already said, it’s because you google.
You probably yahoo too, but how many times? Obviously you don’t yahoo enough, because Yahoo! is the second from the top. And if this was a 100 meter race, Google would have been across the line before Yahoo left the starting blocks.
But enough about Yahoo! and Google. Do you know what comes in third? If you say MSN you err.
The third from the throne is Baidu, a Chinese newborn, a giant of the search in its country. Preferred over Google, Baidu has a beautiful “about” story, with beautiful meanings – pretty much what you’ll expect from a Chinese search engine. The success of the engine has more to do with the language than with the search results, which are profoundly odd. Among the listed pages you’ll find privately-held pages from spaces.live.com pages that shouldn’t appear in the search results anyway. But it is not the English results that makes the engine so popular, so the debate stops here, (or at least until I learn Chinese) to be able to make a pertinent review.
Moving on to number four… MSN. Frankly, I don’t even remember the last time I used MSN to search. Was it five, six years ago? Hard to say. I am amazed this search engine is still in the top. I predict (me in the Web prophet role that I imagine myself to have one day) that by the end of next year, MSN will drop out of the top, unless a wonder saves its skin and brings it, um, live again.
NHN Corporation is fifth. This is a Japanese search engine and if you look at the Comscore top you will see that the difference in ranking between this fresh Giant of the search and MSN is pretty low.
eBay, which is not a search engine by definition is also used for search. It occupies a well-deserved 6th place in the Worldwide search properties list. They are also letting us take a sneak preview of what the next generation of their website is going to look like right now, so this week may be a good week to do some searching there.
It is followed by Time Warner Network (huh?), Ask, Fox and Lycos.
Now that you’re up-to-date with what the search scenery really looks like, we can draw a few conclusions:
- Scoobies make the search go round – to paraphrase my colleague and good friend Astro Phil.
- Unless hakia and Powerset come up with a cure for cancer, Google will remain sovereign (because we google, don’t we?).
- We don’t have an English search trinity any longer: no Google, Yahoo! and MSN in the big triangle of life. Think Google, Yahoo! and Baidu now, and start translating your sites into Chinese.
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October 12th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Thanks for sharing this list.
I actually went to Baidu and searched a few terms. It does appear that there are some bugs to be worked out. I also didn’t see a “submit your url” like Google, Yahoo, and MSN have.
Where does Cha Cha fall in the list (or does it)?
October 12th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Nope
October 13th, 2007 at 12:57 am
Okay, I admit it - even I Google
Actually, I use Yahoo! about 25 times more frequently because I am an Astro surfer and can find anything. I sit here wondering what kind of demographic/IQ or other curves might be employed in explaining these “mob” habitual behaviors?
Perhaps it is important to list some of the other things we do!
1. Here in the US we use something like 106,000 aluminum cans a minute
2. I think we also have like 2.4 cars per family of 4 (SUV’s even)
3. Sugar is king here in the US - compared to sugar Google is nothing
4. We elect people to represent us who should be selling cars
5. We shop at Walmart because they sell cheap stuff?
6. We support wars for years waged to protect us from imaginary weapons
7. Cell phones are rapidly becoming more important than people
8. We are convinced global warming is not our fault - it is Earth’s
9. For many people the concept of oil running out is unphathomable
10. We still buy worthless commodities because of beautiful ads
I am flattered that my hakia or Powerset chronicles have made their way around. Mihaela is an astute expert and a great friend. I think we are all looking for something that will “wow” us, and I mean really wow us. Google has had a degree of this “wow” element for some years now. As MIG says, it is effective because we all use it really. The whole system is based loosely around Google. I expect it was the same for black and white TV as well. I just think it is time we added some color.
Always, Phil
October 14th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Well, Phil, I do believe it is up to us to add the color. And I am back in the game, my friend. Let’s do another dance.
October 16th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Google Schmoogle..
February 16th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Interesting article. I must admit I use Google over other search engines. Mind you with Google adding the Captcha windows I am getting snoyed with using Google.
I am a reasonable fast typist so when I bring up the Google site I enter my search term and clikc enter immediately. I always get the Captcha screen because Google thinks I am a script.
Well if anything all it does is piss me off.
I am now on the look out for a search engine that gives me the results I ask for but with out the annoyance of a Captcha screen.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:01 am
Thanks for the lists & thanks for the laughs. I still prefer Google over the rest, though.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Hey Phil,
When Yahoo acquires MSN which is almost inevitable, Yahoo better
get off the stool and make some drastic changes! Especially
for the huge price tag that’s in the works…
Google is absolutely trying to rule the world and if somebody
doesn’t step on their foot, they will continue to remain the
Monarch that they are ;-(
Good article.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Update: Facebook is turning into a Search Engine too. With their lexicon.
May 31st, 2008 at 8:10 am
I can,t understanding this blogs but atleast i tried my best and Finally i search that I Seeing Asian search engines like China’s Baidu.com and Korea’s NHN ranked alongside Google and Yahoo! underscores the fact that search has become a truly global phenomenon. The continued development of search in international markets will undoubtedly present compelling opportunities for savvy marketers on a global scale.”
May 31st, 2008 at 3:03 pm
google, yahoo and msn in your list are ok, but i have never heard Baidu first time. Anyways i will definitely check it.
August 5th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
thanks…
November 11th, 2008 at 12:23 am
Do I like google over yahoo. Well, yes I do. Do I think ebay is like google and the answeris no.