Here we are again, two years after What I Want for Christmas from the Search Engines: The Sequel and eight years since the original, What I Want for Christmas from the Search Engines. I’m back with a new Christmas wish list. I smell a franchise opportunity here!
Let’s start with some open items from the original wish-list and see how things are coming along from 2008:
Build your own technology, don’t just backdoor another search engine’s results into your own.
We’re (almost) back to where we started. Yahoo is now using Bing instead of their own technology. But, this is actually a good thing, provided Bing can leverage that to gain marketshare and not lose it. If they lose it, then all hope is lost until someone comes out with something that dominates Google.
Facebook, maybe?
Oh, please, I hope not. That’s like one dictator toppling another dictator. No thanks.
Better segregation of blended results.
This has mostly moved in the opposite direction. Blended results are getting more blended with no real segregation. It’s all just there worked into the main results, though Google has added a right-side navigation menu that lets you move to results for images, video, news, etc.
Let me opt out of new options.
This is my lump of coal! Google has gone complete auto opt-in and you have to claw your way out of whatever “personalized” results they want to give you. Bah Humbug!
Give me more results per page by default.
This was a long shot. Kinda like asking for the “official Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and a thing which tells time.” Apparently Google thinks we’ll “shoot our eyes out” with a few extra results. Sorta.
With the new “places” results mixed into the regular results you can get more than the generic 10 results per page. This might mean a few results up top, some places results, then additional results on the bottom. Not quite what I was hoping for, but it’s something.
My 2010 Christmas Wish List
Competition! C’mon folks, let’s Bing it up. Give Google a run for it’s money and give Bing a chance to take a stab at Google’s near monopoly.
Numbered Results: This is a small, almost petty, request. But I love seeing numbers next to my results. It’s search comfort, nothing more.
Better Quality Results: Yeah, I know, that’s what the search engines want to provide already, but we still see a lot of crap floating to the top. Not because it’s better content than another site, but because the site has MORE content. These sites push to the top by sheer force of volume and it pushes down higher quality sites that can’t produce volume en mass.
I mean really, Maholo is just pure junk. Google… we expect better of you.
More Social Media Integration: Just kidding. I hate that crap cluttering up my search results.