Larry Page Interview - the direction Google is headed

[bsand715]

CNNmoney interview with Larry Page Co-Founder CEO of Google.
[tech.fortune.cnn.com...]

"Web search is going through a pretty significant transformation with things like the Knowledge Graph, Google Now, mobile."

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Larry Page - The way we think about it is that our customer is our end-user. People are really trying to get some information and get honest, accurate, well-ranked information from us. That's our job one.

Non monsieur, your customer is the ranked site's end user and the information is theirs as well. Trying to replace the Facebooks, Twitters and other sites of the world is where you're going wrong, imo. That's not what your users wanted.

[Shepherd]

<slightly OT>
I love at the bottom of the article it says "Buy a link here"
</OT>

[ZydoSEO]

ROFL @ "Buy a link here".

[ethought]

Larry Page - I have a deep feeling that we are not even close to where we should be.

At least they know things need to improve...

[MrSavage]

I wish the interviewer could have asked whether page sees a day where there is no need for websites. Page mentioned the travel company, so why not a tech news company, a weather company, a medical information comapany, etc. I think the travel company is foreshadowing but I think most people are too dense to get that. They bought it to provide accurate information is what he said correct? They have that information and therefore can utilize that instead of using somebody's website. No need to leave the Google page. I wish they expanded on that aspect of the discussion.

Aside from that, we speak about widgets here so it's ironic I can sum up that interview in one word. Wingnut.

[tedster]

Larry Page: It would be really nice to have a system that could basically vacation plan for you. It would know your preferences, it would know the weather, it would know the prices of airline tickets, the hotel prices, understand logistics, combine all those things into one experience. And that's kind of how we think about search.

That pretty much says it. Anyone in the online travel business should take notice if they haven't already. And the last line extends the approach to all of search.

[edited by: tedster at 6:53 pm (utc) on Dec 11, 2012]

[mrguy]

And that's kind of how we think about search.

That statement pretty much sums up where Google is going with search. Pretty soon, there will be no reason to click links to any sites other than Googles.

People need to take notice and prepare for a day when they will get zero organic traffic from Google.

After all, Google can not make money by sending visitors to other websites.

I forsee a day where there are nothing but adwords in the results. Users wouldn't even know the difference.

Laugh if you want, but it's coming.

[scooterdude]

@Tedster

That pretty much says it. Anyone in the online travel business should take notice if they haven't already. And the last line extends the approach to all of search.

Just curious, what would you be advocating that those 'fortunates' in the online travel market do,

Ok, I am really interested as Google visited my Arena a while ago :)

[jimbeetle]

"Web search is going through a pretty significant transformation with things like the Knowledge Graph, Google Now, mobile."

Must point out that the quote included in the original post was a lead to a question by the interviewer, *not* a quote by Page.

[1script]

Anyone in the online travel business should take notice if they haven't already.

Well, let's see: Larry has just declared a war on online travel sites. How much money do you think they spend on AdWords and what would happen if they switch to Facebook ads or Bing for that matter? If you start alienating people by entire industries, pretty soon you won't have enough money to pay for the upkeep of your Boeing 767

Another aspect of this Google business model blown out of proportions is the fact that Google is severely understaffed to provide anything resembling the (very basic as it is) level of customer support and logistics that all these companies combined provide now. Google does not have their own expertise in anything other than the very specialized branch of computer sciences and experience in building humongous data centers. All their "knowledge" in that "Knowledge Graph" is scraped from other sites. How in the world could you have so much hubris to slap in the face the very people you depend on?

The most depressing thought is that he may be able to get away with it for some time. At least until they start to buckle under pressure and the public opinion turns on them. It can be years, can be overnight - you never know. You overextend your reach so much that anything can snap anytime. Somebody at Expedia may know someone at FTC or in Congress who may not like Google's monopolistic tendencies. 30 years ago the CEO of AT&T must also have been thinking the world is his for the taking. Turned out the world didn't like that idea...

[tedster]

what would you be advocating that those 'fortunates' in the online travel market do

Develop their own "vacation planner" service such as what Larry just described - maybe confine it to just one kind of vacation holiday to make it more manageable. That's just my first idea.

I sure wouldn't just try to compete head-on with the travel big boys, Google included. I don't have the kind of funding that would take.

[Shepherd]

what would you be advocating that those 'fortunates' in the online travel market do

I would start by getting my traffic/customer from somewhere other that google. Get in google's way in areas where they can't flip a switch to kill you. Make it hard/undesirable to go around you.

[TypicalSurfer]

LP used the travel sector as an example of how he sees things, I wouldn't get all focused on that niche as the context of his statement encompasses pretty much everything.

So one of my favorite examples I like to give is if you're vacation planning. It would be really nice to have a system that could basically vacation plan for you.

I don't see any limitations on where he is trying to go with this.

[diberry]

People need to take notice and prepare for a day when they will get zero organic traffic from Google.

People should have been preparing for this from day one. Even the most successful companies have to "change or die", especially in tech. It was inevitable that either something like this would happen, or a new innovation would make search irrelevant, or other engines would begin to compete with Google. And those things that haven't happened yet? May still happen in the future.

[scooterdude]

At least significantly more people are less willing to promote Google dominion in everything

Perhaps if they publish a Google guide to acceptable SEO and provide businesses and other web holders with mountview based professionals, we'll move further along :)

[xcoder]

and to other "related" news...Android overtakes Apple in Australia

Smartphones running Google's Android operating system have overtaken Apple's iOS for the first time in Australia, but it's their larger tablet cousins that have emerged as the "present of choice" this Christmas.

Research from analyst firm Telsyte found 44 per cent of the more than 10 million smartphones in use in Australia were now running Android, just creeping ahead of iOS on 43 per cent.

[theage.com.au...]

So good luck to those hoping there may still be an effective way of reaching their viewers around this monster...

[seoskunk]

So good luck to those hoping there may still be an effective way of reaching their viewers (around this monster)...

FB maybe?

[xcoder]

People will be accessing their FB on their Android devices. FB and anyone else in direct competition with Google may find themselves in a very tight corner sooner or later...

How far are we before Google start forcing content provider to pay a G tax if they want their content to show and be found on Android OPs. Just like they did with product search (using the most ridiculous excuses known to man...)

Like terminal cancer... they are spreading and taking hold of key market entry points ... nothing more nothing less.

Heres hoping Win8 may put a little dent in it all...

[edited by: xcoder at 12:32 am (utc) on Dec 12, 2012]

[seoskunk]

Every empire falls xcoder its the natural state of things. Google will decline, its inevitable.

Till then there's always apple.

[mhansen]

what would you be advocating that those 'fortunates' in the online travel market do

Develop an "Idea, Process, or Method" that allows you to [Do-everything-Larry-Said], drop it onto a website, patent it... and become a patent troll.

[xcoder]

Every empire falls xcoder

The important question to ask is "how long"...

[seoskunk]

The important question to ask is "how long"...

Not long if they continue there mission to self destruct

[SevenCubed]

The important question to ask is "how long"...

Oh geez I can't help myself...when their core body temperature drops below 37ºC

[xcoder]

Oh geez I can't help myself...when their core body temperature drops below 37ºC

SevenCubed, ya think?... their core body temperature dropped below 37ºC around 2005, it is much much lower ever since...
Seven years later and they just keep on tightening their grip like good old cold blooded crawlers...

[Lame_Wolf]

I wish the interviewer could have asked whether page sees a day where there is no need for websites. Page mentioned the travel company, so why not a tech news company, a weather company, a medical information comapany, etc.

By the time Google became self-aware it had spread into millions of computer servers across the planet. Ordinary computers in office buildings, dorm rooms; everywhere. It was software; in cyberspace. There was no system core; it could not be shutdown. The attack began at 6:18 PM, just as he said it would.

Judgment Day, the day the internet was almost destroyed by the weapons they'd built to protect themselves. We should have realized it was never our destiny to stop Judgment Day, it was merely to survive it, together.

Martinibuster knew; he tried to tell us, but we didn't want to hear it. Maybe the future has been written. I don't know; all I know is what Webmaasterworld taught us; never stop fighting. And we never will. The battle has just begun.

[BaseballGuy]

Dear Dear Leader Larry,

You had a nice run in the beginning. Now, under your direction, your entire search engine is a joke. Perhaps it's time to hang up your spurs and head off into the sunset with your billions of dollars before the FTC and the general public start taking note of your unethical business practices?

[GaryK]

Is it for certain that most people (not us webmasters) would consider this direction unethical? If people get better quality information from a source they trust why wouldn't they be happy about it?

[xcoder]

If people get better quality information from a source they trust why wouldn't they be happy about it?

People don't know better because that "source" is actively killing the competition.

Check out this article:

Upstart internet search engine DuckDuckGo, which promotes itself as a Google rival that doesn't track users' personal information, says it is being hurt by the search giant, which is being investigated by US regulators.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been examining allegations by Google critics that the company breaks antitrust laws by using its power in the market to smother competitors.

Many of the complaints are similar to assertions made by Gabriel Weinberg, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate who started DuckDuckGo.com five years ago.

Weinberg said it is difficult to make his DuckDuckGo the default search site in Google's Chrome web browser, and that Google disadvantages his company in the Android mobile operating system as well.

[theage.com.au...]

"People" are being fed Google PR lies and have no idea that they are being played and their privacy is being seriously abused and compromised... the tide may turn once the "people" are fully aware of that... and that's where we come into the picture.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Google does not have their own expertise in anything other than the very specialized branch of computer sciences and experience in building humongous data centers. All their "knowledge" in that "Knowledge Graph" is scraped from other sites. How in the world could you have so much hubris to slap in the face the very people you depend on?

Wall St expectations.

You're right however, all of Google's data is not really their own. Webmasters don't complain because they get traffic but when that stops, especially if they get stomped on at the same time, I absolutely see a growing revolt of all things Google happening eventually.

The only real game changer I can see happening in the *near* future however, in the next 2-3 years, would be Facebook launching their own search engine and suddenly becoming a major source of new traffic for websites. The ad dollars would be split between adwords and facebook even more as webmasters embrace facebook a little more... and google a little less. I would welcome that with open arms as well for the sole reason that it would leave me less vulnerable to the whims of one company.

You see it all coming like a freight train, but does the Google engineer?