The future of Google/SE

Differenciation between commercial sites and non commercial ones

[le_gber]

I'd like to have your idea on this fellow WebmasterWorld members,

Do you think that the future of google, and se in general, will result in having different options on their search page where user could select between commercial sites, personal sites and blogs?

Google started it with froggle, allowing ecommerce sites to be listed in one particular spot, but do you think they might extend it to all sites, making that step further? And is it technically possible today?

The advantages for users could be that when looking for a company manufacturing the product or providing the service, they could only be served that info. This will lead to search targeted on product services leaving all the 'company, agency, consultancy, manufacturer' keywords out.

The disadvantage/risk being for websites with info on the product/service and where it is less obvious that they also provide it to be listed as non commercial sites.

What do you guys think?

Leo

[The_Hitcher]

Hmmmm, would seem unlikely. The problem with going that route is how do you decide what options should be available. Commercial/Personal, possibly, but its not always straightforward to decide which is which. You're then into more hand editing or filters to 'detect' commercial sites or rely on some new meta-tag and compulsory for commercial sites etc.....the mind boggles.

No, once you go so far with these idea you quickly hit problems with no end in sight. Reminds me of that great film "The Duel' with Dennis Weaver - great film and wonderful concept but where do you go with the idea....

:)

[heini]

This concept has been thrown out several times before - I can see Chiyo already starting to type :)

What you can do is build a SE for commercial searches. What you can't do is build a SE for noncommercial content.

It's one thing to search/index vertically, going for topics, or specific areas of the web, like edu, mil, or gov sites.

But seperating commercial stuff out of a general web index is a crestfallen undertaking :)
Why? Because the web simply reflects a reality where commercial interests and content is inseperably intertwined with information.

[chiyo]

>>I can see Chiyo already starting to type <<

How can i disappoint you heini! ;)

My personal view is that is unlikely to happen, only one reason being that people are lazy and dont want to click too much, but more for the reasons that Heini points out.

I happen to agree with Heini's main point, but we may differ on how it is implemented...

I see non-commercial and commercial links on the same page mostly. Due to various factors which i wont go into now but should be obvious for many here, the move will be for informational non-commercial sites to be on the left (free listings, gradually increasing in quality as spammers gradually give up over time or that SEO returns less ROI for many (but not all/) niches), and commercial "buying" sites on the right (paid for).

Theory being is people go to google for info, and may buy when they see what they want on the right in adwords. People will get used to seeing the serious professional sites on the right which offer something to buy. Info sites on the left will be good for general information.

Works for us. our adwords listings convert like wow. Our info sites convert miserably but we get good branding there due to the info we provide for free, so when they do see our serious selling site on the right, the connect is made, and the lead delivered as a highly motivated buyer.

I see froogle being commercialised in the near future. Becomes a shopping comparison engine for when people want to browse (and maybe even buy!)

I see a blogs tab eventually but possibly only for blogger blogs. (google blogs)

I also see within the next 2 years the idea of getting 100% commercial sites on the left hand side will be past history.

The web is now maturing which is great.

[kanetrain]

Looksmart is trying to do it with thier directory at zeal ... and doing a crappy job of it too.
That's such a blury distinction. I have sites that are 99% free. They offer free advice, forums, etc. etc. but they also have one link to a paying affiliate. Is that comercial or not? Who decides where to draw the line.
That's a toughie.
I say, let users decide what site is the best and most popular. Let traffic and click through rates and user ratings determine who is listed first in every search engine.
That's what I think..

[heini]

Thanks, Chiyo :)

So if I understand that correctly we agree there is no way for the SEs to effectively filter out commercial content. Instead you are seeing a self regulatory mechanism at work? How should that work?

What you also should not forget: With adwords or any other PPC listings the chances for small commercial sites are very slim to make against the large sites.
This effect may not be visible today. But if by any means commercial=PPC you will see the large sites taking up the top20 or so of PPC listings pretty fast.