Fixing Search
Robin Berjon,
Sept 16, 2023
This article makes a convincing case that search engines have not kept up their end of the bargain they originally struck with content providers. Originally, the exchange of content (from the provider) for traffic (from the search engine) was a fair one. But over time the search engine, which is itself an advertising vehicle, has provided less and less traffic, redirecting it instead to services it - and not the publishers - controls.The proposed solution is attractive: an API-based search that provides algorithmic choice, multi-sourcing, provacy, and much more. But how, then, would the search engine make money? This is where the article is much weaker. "One option is that the browser would itself show ads as part of its displaying the results." Ick. From where I sit, the answer is more obvious: the content providers provide the API search. This is what RSS was, originally, and what JSON feeds are today. The publishers have only themselves to blame for not pursuing this approach. Via Boris Mann.
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