The history and future of search
I came across a very interesting interview with Udi Manber, the Google vice president in charge of search quality, about how search has developed over the years.
It’s easy to forget that even five years ago, it wasn’t obvious to most people to turn to a search box on the internet to find what they are looking for. Now, search is the most natural starting point for so many of us.
For Udi, it was all very obvious;
“It was very clear that to have an information revolution, it’s not enough to store the information and move it around, you have to find it.”
And what’s more,
“We are finding that user expectations grow. The kind of searches people do now are more complicated than the kinds they were doing five years ago. People expect a lot more from us.”
So, what are the predictions about the future?
For Udi, its universal search that is “more in-depth, easier, and allowing you to control more of what you’re looking for, giving you more input, finding more things”.
For us, we think local search will continue to develop and in our eyes, the shift to mobile devices will change and shape user experiences the most. The biggest challenge will be keeping up with these expectations.
You can read Udi’s interview here
Tags: future of search, history of search, Local Search, mobile local search