
Google's Achilles Heel - terpua
http://gigaom.com/2008/01/15/google%e2%80%99s-achilles-heel/
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emacdona
But Google does let you search for jobs within a given radius:
[http://www.google.com/base/s2?hl=en&gl=us&a_n0=jobs&...](http://www.google.com/base/s2?hl=en&gl=us&a_n0=jobs&a_y0=9&a_o0=0&a_v1=12345&sl=on&a_y1=6&a_n1=Location&a_o1=0&a_u1=&a_v2=&a_y2=1&a_n2=Job+function&a_o2=0&a_u2=&Submit=Go&oi=gb_refinement&ct=more-
results#ajax%3Fa_n0%3Djobs%26a_y0%3D9%26start%3D0%26q%3Dperl%26scoring%3D%26%26a_n1%3Djob%2Bindustry%26a_y1%3D1%26a_o1%3D5%26a_n2%3Djob%2Btype%26a_y2%3D1%26a_o2%3D5%26a_n4%3Djob%2Bfunction%26a_y4%3D1%26a_o4%3D5%26a_n5%3Demployer%26a_y5%3D1%26a_o5%3D5%26a_n6%3Deducation%26a_y6%3D1%26a_o6%3D5%26a_n7%3Dsalary%26a_y7%3D8%26a_o7%3D5%26%26a_n3%3Dlocation%26a_y3%3D6%26a_o3%3D0%26a_v3%3D12345%26a_t3%3D30%26%26gdci%3Dtrue%26hl%3Den%26gl%3Dus%26view%3DTable)

edit: And Google lets you narrow your search by industry, etc.

As with other "hidden" features of Google, I found it by simply "telling"
Google what I was looking for: "jobs"

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eVizitei
Although I thought the article was very perceptive, it's a wierd feeling to
think about google being given a run for their money. Currently the popular
perspective (which, of course, does not necessarily translate to "accurate
perspective") is that google is a bastion impervious to seige. The points made
are valid, though. Google is absolutely a general-purpose search, and when
looking for something specific one is probably more likely to achieve
effecient results with a more specialized tool. I don't expect Google to be
blind to this fact, though. The author of the article (or at least his prime
interview, VC Gus Tai) believes that Google would drown if they tried to enter
the specialization arena, but I think the possibility is there for an entrance
by the search-giant. What if they were to extract context from the keywords
entered and offer an option to narrow search results to one of a set of more
"vertical" flavours?

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apathy
If Google wants to dominate one or more vertical markets, they have the
wherewithal to purchase a promising company that already services said
vertical.

That is what I believe is the Achilles' heel of this analysis.

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ntoshev
I wonder why Google doesn't pursue search verticals more aggressively (Google
Base seems to be some meager attempt). Judging from the techtalks coming out
of Google, they research a lot of things like uncovering structure from text.

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mrtron
It doesn't pursue verticals because it can't compete in niche markets.

Large companies dominate the share of the whole market, small companies
dominate niche markets.

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ntoshev
That's what the Long tail concept is all about - ability to build big
companies that automatically serve a broad range of niches. It is also one of
the big changes internet brought to business.

