"Google is considering creating subscription versions of its popular search engine that could target academic and corporate clients, a source said Thursday."

"Placing additional diversification pressure on Google is its ad strategy. The company only sells text advertising anchored to consumer search terms, unlike traditional banners and graphic-rich online advertising. Because the advertising is contextual and targeted, it sells well to direct marketers such as financial services and e-commerce companies. But the company has been hard-pressed to sign on traditional brand advertisers such as consumer package goods, a set viewed as the Holy Grail for online publishers and portals."

BusinessWeek The Keyword at Google: Growth

"Even if Google manages to surmount these hurdles, the market potential for the search sector is tentative. Collectively, the largest search players have only $2 billion in valuation. Worse, many search companies have seen sales decline, as consolidation in the Web space has put significant downward pressure on pricing and the tech slump has reduced IT spending.

While that trend has affected the entire search sector, the hosted search business that Google plays in has been hardest hit. According to JP Morgan H&Q analyst Jack Ripsteen, Inktomi has seen declining revenues in the hosted-search business where it most closely competes with Google. "I can't imagine the pricing [for hosted service] is anything but under pressure. This is a shrinking market," says Ripsteen."

redux [07.25.01]
Online Journalism Review Search Engines and Editorial Integrity

"Many of us in the new media industry have watched in despair during the past few months as several major search engines have abandoned all pretense at editorial integrity by adopting deceptive, misleading advertising practices at the expense of their users.

""The problem has become acute lately," says Gary Ruskin, Commercial Alert's executive director. "Search engines have become essential to the quest for learning and knowledge in the Internet Age, and we don't want such an important platform to be used to deceive the public and skew search results on behalf of hucksters. They've chosen crass commercialism over editorial integrity.""

redux [07.17.01]
MSNBC Consumer watchdog accuses search engines of deception

"Attacking an increasingly popular Internet business practice, a consumer watchdog group Monday filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission asserting that many online search engines are concealing the impact special fees have on search results by Internet users."

"The eight search engines named in Commercial Alert's complaint are: MSN, owned by Microsoft Corp.; Netscape, owned by AOL Time Warner Inc.; Directhit, owned by Ask Jeeves Inc.; HotBot and Lycos, both owned owned by Terra Lycos; Altavista, owned by CMGI Inc.; LookSmart, owned by LookSmart Ltd.; and iWon, owned by a privately held company operating under the same name."

ClickZ Can Portals Resist the Dark Side?

" "Quicker, easier, more seductive" is what Jedi Master Yoda called the Force's Dark Side. Changing over to using paid-placement listings certainly must seem that way to portals strapped for cash. Why expend effort developing editorial-style listings when you can make guaranteed money by using paid placement listings? The answer: to keep your audience.

Your audience turns to search engines expecting to get good information in response to queries, and pure paid-placement results simply do not always provide that information."