JonesPC

Sometimes in the tech world, things happen that cause a stir. The Google page rank drops has been the latest that I can think of. Apple has been causing quite a stir themselves with all of the iPhone happenings since its release. Those stir’s usually are just topics of the day that come and go, mainly because a lot of the times, there are more than 1 player in the game in any particular market. With the things that has been happening with the iPhone, if someone is upset enough they can just use another phone, there are plenty of options. When it comes to search engines, techies and non techies alike has hailed Google as the only search engine worth using for years.

The way things seem to work in the tech world the way I see it, there is always a champion. For a long time when it come to cd/dvd burning software, Nero was the champion. When MP3s were first becoming popular, Winamp was the champion software player. Same goes for Social websites, Myspace is the champion with Facebook is threatening the throne. How those products become the champion a lot of time is through word of mouth. It starts with the tech community. They use the product, like the product, then spread the word. Eventually the non tech people will ask "what is the best product" and the techies will answer. That product will end up becoming the no brainer answer to what you buy or use in that situation.

Google is the champion of search engines, but the difference here is everyone hails Google as the only search engine to use. No other search engine comes in second. Yea there are others, and others are being used, but none are used as much and is as important as Google. In a perfect world, Google dropping pagerank would just be a news item that would come and go. For many it really makes a difference. I have read were bloggers have went back and altered / deleted older blog post and are now changing the way they do some things.

Why is it that one search engine carry that much weight?

Is it really our fault? Google as a search engine is a really good search engine in its own right, but we have made them what they are by making them the sole champion? Writing off any other search engines. Its hard not to do. When I check my stats on my blogs and see where my traffic is coming from, Google fills the page, where the other search engines are only scattered about. There needs to be competition, but who? Yahoo? Microsoft maybe? With their recent announcements they look like they want to compete. Maybe Ask.com, they are looking to be a pretty promising search engine that many overlook.