Google Search Engine Essay Example

advertisements appear on goggle search result pages and on thousands of other partner sites. This is Google’s only method of advertising and they are strongly opposed to banner advertisements and pop-ups. •Book search – Allowing users to search and view selected pages from actual books.

The service then refers users to web pages to purchase the book online, if you wish to. •Word definitions – Allowing users to easily define words and phrases. Froogle (Product search facilities) – A section of the Google search engine which allows users to find information about products online, before directing you to the specific merchant. •Local Search – Allows users to search locally for services such as plumbers and restaurants, providing them with maps ad directions. •Search by number – Telephone area codes, tracking numbers and Vehicle ID numbers •Site Search – Allows users to Search within one specific sites e.

g. University of Plymouth 2. 1. The search engine industry before GoogleBefore Google came along companies such as Yahoo, Ask and MSN were the main market leaders, but there were also a lot of smaller companies making up the rest of the industry all with a more equal market share as there wasn’t one market leader that was dominant in the industry. The search engine industry was completely transformed when Google was launched as they changed the way in which we search; for example the market leader before Google, Yahoo only offered user’s one standard search.

Now with Google’s innovative technology uses can search within specific areas/ languages etc. 2. . The Impact of the Google search engine on the industry.

As previously explained in the section above

in ‘Google’s competitors’, Google accounts for just under 50% of the market share. This statement itself justifies Google’s impact on the industry. In this section we will identify and analysis how Google have managed to achieve such an impact and how they remain competitive. How have Google managed to achieve an impact on the industry? Since Google launched in 1996 as ‘back rub’ it became apparent that this innovative technology would take off. The first major sign of this appeared year later when ‘back rubs’ reputation grew and a huge buzz surrounded it as it was used throughout Michigan University. It was then in 1998 when ‘back rub’ was renamed ‘Google’ and they made it into the “Top 100 Search engines, in PC magazine.

” (www. google. co. uk). This was the first sign of Google having a major impact on the industry. Figure 1.

1 in the appendices is a table showing the contributing factors which over the years have made Google the success it is today. From the analysis this table it is clear to see that since Google was launched they have gone from strength to strength.They have continuously added new innovations to exceed their competitors and gain such a large market share. (For more information on their competitors please see section 2.

3, of this report). The major innovations which have had such a great impact on the industry include “Google’s increase in language versions” (www. google. com) this enable users around the world to search in their own language rather than English. This opened up the market available to Google and subsequently they opened up many R&D departments over the

last couple of years worldwide which will aid their innovations.

Analysing the impact of Google was an interesting and intricate task due to the ambiguous and undefined nature of the industry the company is in. In reality, is Google merely competing amongst other search engines such as Yahoo, the internet as a whole or perhaps an even larger range of industries? “Librarians, publishers, and aggregators alike often call Google their main competitor” (C, Tenopir) The fact that librarians are now calling Google their main competitor shows the true extent of the impact Google has had.It can be argued that Google is degrading the quality of research, and a Professor at the University of Washington Information School is teaching a course "to determine whether Google is in fact good or whether researchers' reliance on such a simple and one-sided search tool is degrading the quality of research. " (C, Flash) The impact that Google has had is undoubtedly substantial and is always extending in a multitude of ways. Google’s mission statement is to “Organise the world’s information” (www. google.

com).It certainly seems that they are trying exponentially to do everything to improve the organisation of information on the internet, and arguably this is generally a good thing. 2. 3.

The Analysis of Competitors As mentioned previously, the analysis of competitors and the industry that Google operates in is complex due to the huge range of areas it has, and continues to effect. In this report, we shall concentrate purely on other search engines when analysing the competition. Therefore the main competitors to the Google search engine are, with their corresponding share of searches; •Yahoo-28. 8% •MSN-12. 8%

•AOL/Time Warner-5.

9% •Ask-5. % The graph shows the relative shares of each search engine, leaving Google with the largest search share of 43. 7%, quite substantially the highest. Clearly then, Google’s innovative web search and unique facilities described above have proven popular with users.

2. 4. Joint Ventures Google has many joint ventures and partnerships through many different areas to try and fulfil there mission statement ‘To Organise the Worlds Information’ (Google annual report 2005) ‘Google is the world's largest search engine and through its partnerships with America Online, Netscape and others , answers more questions than any other service online. (www.

google. co. uk) Many websites offer Google’s search facility on there web pages to search the internet and there site, an example of this is Myspace. com. Google also uses its joint ventures to increase there search coverage and give companies such as Ask.

com advertising solutions through Google’s Adwords. Over the course of the last year Google has created an advertising partnership with Ebay, a toolbar distribution agreement with Adobe, and connected with Dell to install search software on there computers. In the U.K they also announced plans to work together in bringing web based services to SKY Broadcasting ‘s community of broadband internet users. One of Google’s largest recent partnerships was with Lycos Europe in late 2003.

This agreement extended the reach of Google’s advertisers to a potential 4 million member pages of Lycos Tripod. ‘Lycos web pages can be viewed up to 500 million times a month and as soon as a Lycos Tripod member page is viewed Google's content-targeted advertising service identifies the meaning of the web page

and then automatically serves relevant text-based ads to the viewer on the right side of the page.Google's large advertiser base enables the company to serve targeted ads for a diverse range of queries without distracting users with unrelated ads’. (www.

google. co. uk) Google have partnerships in many areas, the Google book search page combines ten different libraries including, The University of California, The University Complutense Madrid, The University of Havard, New York Public Library and The University of Oxford. This is a good example of how Google uses sources from all the over the world to try and make the search engines facilities owned by them the most comprehensive on the internet.Thus, they have to take joint ventures and partnerships very seriously.

2. 5. Other Countries Google has grown massively over time and their global policies have been central to their success. A recent example of Google’s development has been their expansion into the Chinese market; this has proven to be a particularly controversial move. Google’s compliance with the Chinese government to provide a search facility that works with the national filtering system has set them apart from other companies who refused to comply. Clearly Google are trying to gain oligopolistic powers within the Chinese market.

However, they have been unsuccessful to date as they are currently losing market share to Chinese search engine, Baidu. com. This approach and attempt to enter the Chinese market could be described as innovative, as no other major search engine has attempted such a move. 2. 6. The “Google it” phrase Google is more than just a search engine, Information Company and money making machine; it’s a phenomenon which

has created its own culture.

It is the only search engine to have coined a phrase, the popularly used ‘Google it’ expression. The impact of Google is now so large that it has become a verb in the dictionary.Google is the first port of call for students, libraries and young people. The way in which student research is conducted has been changed through the usage of Google more so than the introduction of the internet. (C, Kroll) 3.

0. Risk Analysis Google uses innovation in order to be successful and remain competitive. However Google like any other business is susceptible to risk, this is especially true of online businesses as there are often more competitors in the industry and the competition is often moves at a faster pace. Risks that have been identified are as following: “Google have difficulty scaling and adapting existing architecture to accommodate changing business requirements” (www. Invester. google.

com) This could lead to Google losing existing and prospective users as well as of advertisers, whom generate most their revenue. This is a huge risk to Google as they would have to spend millions of dollars to continuously keep their competitive advantage. This could have a knock on affect on Google’s ability to keep up with future technology therefore affecting their forecasted profits. •“Possibility to fail to detect ‘Click fraud’ and over ‘Invalid clicks’” (www.Invester. google.

com) Google are at risk of being sued by advertisers if invalid clicks are not detected it would lead to reduced return on advertisers investments. This is because the invalid would not lead to potential revenue. The effect of this on Google would be dissatisfaction form

shareholders, potentially leading to legal ramifications. •“New technologies could block our advertisements” (www. Invester. google.

com) In the future it is possible that new technology could be developed preventing advertising on the Google website from being displayed.This would result in loss of income as “90% of revenue is generated from advertising” This is a pure risk as Google would not be able to gain from this. They would be unable to prevent this it. •“Proprietary document formats may limit the effectiveness our search technology” (www. Invester. google.

com) The majority of the information on the internet relies on proprietary document formats such as Microsoft PowerPoint etc. At the moment Microsoft allow search engines to be able to easily access the document contents from any search.There is a risk that Microsoft could engineer the document format to prevent the ability to access their documents, ultimately harming Google’s brand and profits. This could possibly be a huge financial risk for Google because of the potential loss of time and money. •Privacy concerns could damage Google’s reputation (www. news.

zdnet. co. uk) Recently Google have admitted there is a desktop security risk to enterprises as “Google Desktop allows indexing and searching of PCs' hard drives, and sharing of information through a feature called Search across Computers.This enables users to search for information within a network such as an intranet. This means that the transport outside the enterprise will represent an unacceptable security risk to many enterprises, as intellectual property could be transported out of the business.

” •“More Individuals Are Using Non-PC Devices to Access the Internet, and Versions of Our Web Search Technology Developed for These Devices

May Not be Widely Adopted by Users of These Devices” (www. Invester. google. com) Google need to keep up with new technologies in order to maintain their competitive advantage and keep their market share. Google also needs to make ure that they are compatible and easily accessed through these devices. If Google do not react to the changing marketing environment, they would be at a huge financial risk, potentially allowing competitors to capitalise on this emerging trend and overtake them.

Google faces many potential risks; however most can be overcome with forward environmental scanning and financial investment. The biggest risk to Google however is simply: its competitors coming up with a new and better way to search. This is why it is so important for Google to sustain their focus on innovation to improve on their winning formula. 4. 0.

Diffusion of Google as an Innovation When talking about the diffusion of an innovation, the S-curve model is probably the most useful tool in describing and forecasting the position of the innovation (See Diagram). The S-Curve shows the typical diffusion of a new product and naturally can be applied to Google as well. The curve is “S” shaped because generally the adopters of a new technology are split into four categories, the Innovators, Early Adopters, The Late Majority and finally the Laggards. (J, Tidd et al) These four different categories can be explained by a number of different reasons from Culture to Social Cohesiveness. W.

R. Spence) This will be no different in Google’s case as the adoption of Google’s search engine and subsequently its following features are likely to of followed the S-Curve model. When

the Google search engine was first started in 1996 only a few people used the search engine (shown in the graph below). However as time move on, and in Goggle’s case the adoption rate was relatively quick, the usage of the search engine rapidly increased (See Diagram Below). The Adoption rate for an interactive innovation e.

g. eBay or Google is usually faster than the adoption rate for a non-interactive innovations.Therefore growth for an interactive innovation in the initial phase is faster, but will slow down more rapidly. Relating this to the S-curve shape, an interactive innovation will be steeper, but flatten much more quickly. When the innovation in question begins to flatten however, this does not mean that the product or company will simply go out of business or become extinct. It is common for products to be enhanced or a new innovation to surface resulting in another “S” joining towards the end of a previous S-Curve.

(see diagram)In the case of Google, it is easy to see how they constantly revive the search engine with new features and services. You could easily describe each individual feature listed in the beginning of section two as another S-Curve continuing on from the original that was the Google search engine. Each new feature simply renews the original product. Joseph Schumpeter’s, also known as “The godfather of innovation” (J, Tidd) Theorised that entrepreneurs will seek technological innovation to gain a strategic advantage.

This is demonstrated by Google’s constant release of innovative features for its search engine. . 0. Conclusion 5. 1.

Recommendations 6. 1. Bibliography Websites K. H Hammond, (March 2003) ‘How google grows and grows and

grows’ Fast Company article, Issue 69, pg 74 [Online] http://www. fastcompany. com/magazine/69/google.

html [Date accessed: 19th Feb 2007] Coy, P,(2006) ‘The Secret to Google’s Success’ BusinessWeek Online, [Online] http://www. businessweek. com/magazine/content/06_10/b3974071. htm? chan=search [Date accessed 2th Feb 2007] http://news.

zdnet. co. uk/security/0,1000000189,39253447,00. htm? r=2 http://news. bbc.

co. k/1/hi/technology/4645596. stm http://googleblog. blogspot.

com/2006/01/google-in-china. html http://www. nytimes. com/2006/04/23/magazine/23google. html? ex=1303444800&en=972002761056363f&ei=5090 www. google.

co. uk/corporate/history. html http://www. google.

com/corporate/ Invester. google. com (http://www. google.

co. uk/intl/en/press/pressrel/lycos. html) Journals Cusumano, M (Feb 2005) ‘Google: What It Is and What It Is Not’, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 48 Issue 2, p15-17, 3p [Online] [date accessed 20th Feb 2007] http://search. bscohost. com/login.

aspx? direct=true&db=buh&AN=15996180&site=bsi-live, Approx 4 pages. Available: Business Source Premier Joint, N (2005) ‘Aspects of Google: bigger is better – or less is more? ’ Library Review, Volume 54, Number 3. [Online] [Date accessed 18th Feb 2007] http://www. emeraldinsight.

com/Insight/ViewContentServlet? Filename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/0350540301. html Available: Emerald Chen, X (2006) ‘MetaLib, WebFeat and Google-The strengths and weaknesses of federated search engines compared with google. Online Information Review, Volume, Number 4, pg 413-427 [Date accessed 18th Feb 2007] http://www. emeraldinsight.

com/Insight/ViewContentServlet? Filename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/2640300406. html Available: Emerald (C, Tenopir. Online Avaliable: http://www. libraryjournal. com/article/CA405423.

html, April 1st 2004 Newspapers Naughton, J (2006) ‘Websites that Changed the World’ The Observer [Online] http://observer. guardian. co. uk/review/story/0,,1843263,00. html [Date accessed 20th Feb 2007] (C, Flash.

Google for a grade: UW class to study popular search engine. The Seattle Times. Feb 2, 2004. ) Books Tidd, J et al, (2005) ‘Managing Innovation-Integrating technological market and organizational change’, 3rd Edition, Wiley & Sons Ltd. Pgs 8-9 Calishan, T et al (2005) ‘Google Hacks-Tips and Tools for smarter searching’ 2nd Edition, O

Reilly Media.

Trott, P (2002) ‘Innovation Management and New product Development’ 2nd Edition, Pearson Education Ltd, Prentice Hall. Video ‘The World According to Google-The money programme’ (20th Jan 2006) BBC 2, [30 minutes] Annual ReportsTo Organise the Worlds Information’ (Google annual report 2005) Google Corporate Report (2007) ‘Company Overview, Business Overview’ [Online] http://www. google. co. uk/corporate/business. html [Date accessed 17th Feb 2007] 6.

1. Appendices Figure 1. 1 YearDevelopment 1996•‘Back rub’ was launched 1997•‘Back rub’ was used throughout Michigan University, and the Buzz began… 1998•‘Back rub’ was renamed ‘Google. •Google’s data centre was opened.

•Google made it into the ‘Top 100 Search engines’ in PC magazine. 1999•Google signed up their first commercial customer AOL, Netscape and Virgin all selected Google to be their search engine provider. •This increased Google’s search levels to 3 million. 2000•Google increased the language versions to make it available to the 10 most widely used languages.

Increasing Google’s impact to the world, rather than just English speaking countries. •Google launched ‘Google toolbar’ which increased convenience for customers, thus increasing search level to over 100 million. 2001•Google’s search engines became available in more countries including many in Asia and Latin America. Google enabled customers to search in a specific language. •Google also launched ‘Google image search’.

•Google increase the web document available to customers to 3 billion. This increased more options for the customer. 2002•Google launched ‘Googlebot’ the robot software that continuously craws the web to refresh and expand Google’s index of online documents. This innovation ensured that customers searching on Google would receive the most up to date information. •Google created a programme enabling users to search for webpage within a

specified geographical area. 2003•Version 2.

of Google toolbar was released, to remain competitive. 2004•Google increase the web document available to customers to 4. 28 billion. This increased more options for the customer. •Google’s web searches now reached just over 8 billion. 2005•Google launched a new ‘Desktop search’ which increased convenience and features.

•‘My search history’ was launched by Google to aid in the convenience for it customers for repeated searches. 2006•Google announced an advertising partnership with MTV, Fox media and E-bay. This increased awareness further and opened up to a younger target audience.