I think perhaps that folks are focusing too much on how meta-searching
impacts the advertising-sponsored model of base search engines. The
point transcends searching. The simple fact is that integration is
almost always a big win for the user. The question is: How can it
also be a win for the services being integrated?
As competing services become more pervasive on the Web, folks are
going to want to create "integrators" --- services that interface to
these competing services and try to present the "one-stop shopping"
for whatever the service is, be it MetaCrawler for Global Web
Searching or BargainFinder for online CD stores. Another fact service
providers are going to have to face is that they can't just block
these integrators. Most of these integrators are currently central
services; MetaCrawler and BargainFinder fall into that
category. However, client-side integrators are becoming more popular
--- WebCompass for example. It's impossible to block, because there's
no way for a service to determine a normal user query from a
WebCompass query (unless the WebCompass folks choose to do so, eh
Brian?)
What this means for service providers is that they must either produce
something which isn't integratable, or have alternative economic
models that account for integrators. A no-brainer for search engines
is that they charge meta-search service an access fee, and the
meta-search service uses ads to support its endeavor. Another
alternative would be for search engine providers to sell "rankings"
--- i.e. rather than display an ad when users search particular
keywords, a sponsor could ensure that its URL is ranked first in the
list (and don't flame me too hard if someone already does this!).
There are many more, but what I think is important is that service
providers need to realize that they can't just stick ads on their
pages, sit back, and let the bucks roll in.
On a final note, while I haven't seen anything from any of the search
engine folks, I will infer that they do have alternative business
plans than the strict advertising model. Lycos has made press recently
by licensing its catalog and spider to various parties, and Yahoo's
doing well by being more of an online company PR site than a search
engine. So why all the negative press? I think people are analyzing
the relationship between integrators and base services under the false
assumption that the current and most visible financial model of the
base service is this immobile core of the service, and any disruption
to that core would result in the destruction of that company. I think
the more interesting discussion lies in determining what financial
models integrators and base services should use to increase both their
profits while delivering better service and lower prices to the user.
Cheers,
-Erik
-- Erik Selberg "I get by with a little help selberg@cs.washington.edu from my friends." http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/selberg