Google is obsolete

I'm sorry to draw you in with such a ridiculous headline.  I couldn't resist, because I just discovered a threat to Google.  And more importantly, a useful new type of search engines for small business.

Retrevo, is a vertical search engine for consumer electronics.  What is a vertical search engine?  One that focuses on something specific.  Use Retrevo to search for some electronic product, like “D200” (i.e., The Nikon D200) in Retrevo and then in Google, and you'll see why vertical search engines are on the rise.  The results are simply better.

Small business owners know that their customers are using their web to do their homework, and Google is where they start.  In a few years maybe there will be a vertical search engine as well.  The bottom line is that professional websites are what people are looking for-- they inspire customers to pick up the phone.  Small time, low-budget websites, well, they make companies look small-time.

With the rise of vertical search engines and local small business directories like MerchantCircle it's never been easier for customers to use the web to find and compare companies.

Companies like yours.

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Thanks to Guy Kawasaki and his blog for the tip on Retrevo.  More wisdom here.

Comments

[Paul Watson]

How vertical is vertical though? Is Retrevo good for all kinds of electronics or are we going to get the DVD VSE, the TV VSE, the camera VSE etc. And within cameras there is such a huge range that I, an SLR nut, will not be happy with a VSE that works well for digicams.

Honestly though there are already many good VSEs out there but I am not using them because I cannot remember them. If I have to remember a VSE for each product type I'll go mental. With Google I just remember Google and it does a pretty decent job.

Eventually there will be a VSE aggregator to make sense of the VSE madness.

[Michael R]

Great points Paul.

I guess 'vertical enough' might mean "as narrow or broad as the consumer needs to enjoy using the engine..." right?

And they won't use it if they don't remember it, just as you say.

Perhaps we'll start going to google and searching for vertical search engines. It sounds silly, but most of us now know to search for "san francisco web design" to find a web design company in SF, instead of simply "web design."

We're asking better quesions, and the VSE's might be a 'reward' for that.

Maybe.

Thanks again.

-m

[Ramon Ray]

Google, Microsoft and other companies that are "Dead" are not dead. Sure there are many start-ups competing with them but in reality only when a start up has been around for years and has a track record and sizable audience can we even say it's credible. Retrevo is nice I'm sure but how many people use it - not just nerds - like Digg.com

Ramon - http://www.smallbiztechnology.com

[Michael Rolph]

Hey Ramon, I couldn't agree more. My over-the-top headline was a cheap trick...Google is very much alive and upstart search engines like Retrevo have an uphill battle.

They'll need big traffic to really make a go, and the irony is that these visitors are going to have to come from Google for them to reach critical mass.

Thanks a ton for your comment.

-m

[Bwindi]

I'm not really sure what the advantage is of something like that. Google has a shopping search engine, if you're looking for results just for products, and you don't want any other results... am I missing something?

San Francisco Web Design