

A New Era Of Search Is About The Answers, Not Just The Links - mvs
http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/07/search-answers-not-just-links/

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modeless
_In new iterations of search, you will type the name of that restaurant and be
provided with its address and map, a view of its menu, the option to reserve
then and there via OpenTable, see its ranking on Yelp, CitySearch, Zagat—along
with photos, tweets, what your friends have said about it in your private
social networks, and a quick and simple way to compare it with other similar
restaurants._

I guess he hasn't noticed that Google has these things today. Of course
homepage, address, phone number, and star rating are there, but there's a lot
more too. Map? Check. Hours? Check. Directions? Check. Reviews from Yelp,
CitySearch, etc? Check. Tweets from your friends? Check. That's all right on
the results page, and of course with instant search you don't even have to
press enter to see it. Photos, related places, and links to reservations on
OpenTable are one click away on the place page.

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theoj
In some ways nothing new here. For example, right now you can type in pi into
Google, and Google will provide its value above the search results.

I doubt that the page of links will go away anytime soon. For restaurant
addresses and other highly focused searches that rely on public information,
that works. However, content creators will fight you mightily if you as a
search engine want to use their copyrighted content to generate your own
content. What's in it for them, if you provide the answer to the customer and
take them out of the loop?

And this now implies that you become more than a traditional search company,
you become a content company. That's no easy feat either.

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code_duck
You mean, maybe soon someone is going to rebrand their search as a _Decision
Engine_?

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zhoutong
A phrase may represent multiple questions, and a question may have multiple
answers.

It's definitely much better to provide links relevant to the phrase for users
to identity the right answer, instead of giving an irrelevant one.

