Technology News: Search Tech: Will Kumo Find Google's Search Soft Spots?

Rumor has it Microsoft's Kumo will launch next week, renewing the software giant's long-shot effort to take Google down a peg in the search category. Yahoo would like a piece of the action too and has lately refined its own search system toward that end. The question is whether Google has any real vulnerabilities for rivals to exploit.

It's difficult to imagine Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) -- the market maker and breaker of all things online-search related -- ever being dislodged from its perch as king of the hill. If there were a company that could do so, it would most likely be another market maker -- say, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT).

To be sure, Microsoft has made a number of attempts to crack the search market, to limited success. However there has been buzz lately around its renovation of Live Search, codenamed "Kumo."

Taking Aim at Google

Screen shots leaked earlier this year -- perhaps intentionally -- show a cleaner layout, as well as a more-intuitive, or semantic, search functionality that is probably a result of Microsoft's acquisition last year of Powerset.

The final version may well be at hand: According to news reports, Steve Ballmer will unveil Kumo next week at The Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference.

Then there is Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO), which enjoyed a short time in the sun as top search provider several years ago and has been seeking to reclaim that position ever since. Earlier this week, the company unveiled new features that offer more options for search. The enhancements are aimed at providing a wider selection of content -- including Wikipedia entries, videos, news feeds, etc. -- as well as mobile usability.

It's not that these two developments are bound to dethrone Google: They may well fizzle out as other search challenges have. They do, however, point to the ongoing determination from other Web 2.0 companies not to cede this market to Google without a fight.

Weak Points

Google search does have its weak points, Scott Testa, a professor of marketing at St. Joseph's University, told the E-Commerce Times.

"From a business standpoint, they are vulnerable in regards to the government's antitrust efforts," he said. From a technical perspective, "they have failed in their social networking initiatives with Orkut. There also could be a threat from an open source initiative like Wikipedia."

Plus, "they have heavy competition in Asia from Baidu," Testa noted.

The best way to approach Google search is probably not by taking on its main strengths: its ubiquity and its broad horizontal sweep.

Something Different

"You will see the most competitive traction against Google in vertical areas," Mike Janes, CEO of FanSnap, told the E-Commerce Times.

"Obviously, a major area of relevance is localization. In our case, we are focused on ticket results," Janes said, "showing airline and hotel results that are goal-oriented and designed for specific purposes."

FanSnap's search results provide access to information not readily available on the Internet, he added.

"The way to successfully compete with a large player like Google is by specializing in an area where you have specific domain expertise and where presentation of results is substantially different than what you would expect from general search results," he maintained.

Real-Time Search

Google is also vulnerable in areas that are not directly related to search but have some impact on it.

"As Twitter has shown, Google has some vulnerability when it comes to real-time search," Marc Engelsman, VP of client services at Digital Brand Expressions, told the E-Commerce Times.

"Google is working on this and just upgraded their algorithm last week," Engelsman pointed out, "and while Google News is pretty good for 'news,' it is still not so good at being a go-to resource for less newsy searching for what's happening this very minute."

Yahoo or Microsoft may try to exploit this vulnerability -- and if they do, if it will be a game-changer, he predicted. "People seem comfortable using alternative resources as they need to -- like switching to Wikipedia when looking for certain types of information.

Search Moat

Google has built a huge moat in the search space, so any challenger will need to make mammoth strides in improving the search experience in order to take any of its market share, Joshua D. Barsch, CEO of StraightForward Media, told the E-Commerce Times.

"If Google has any vulnerability, it's in the enormous volume of results it provides, which can overwhelm some users," Barsch said. "Microsoft and Yahoo have to make search easier than it already is, and the only way I see that happening is integrating preview screens into their results pages. Giving searchers a preview of what's behind each link is something that could vastly improve the user experience, and it's something Google isn't doing yet."

There's a Catch-22, though: Nearly all of search engine revenue is derived from clicking on paid-advertising links. Would preview pages discourage users from clicking on those paid links? Very possibly, yes, Barsch said.

"Perhaps a middle-ground solution is to offer preview screens on paid-advertiser links, and not on the natural results," he suggested. "That way, you'd get the enhanced user experience of the preview screens, plus a greater likelihood that users click on the paid links, driving more revenue."