The rise of help engines
Searchengineland.com was one of the first websites I began obsessively reading upon discovering search engine optimization. I still read the latest and greatest news everyday and am chomping at the bit to attend SMX East this fall. I literally can’t express enough praise for this incredible search engine news resource.
Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of searchengineland.com, is one of the more eccentric yet perspicacious search industry innovators as far as i’m concerned. His articles touch on a broad spectrum of topics relating to the world of search and his tonality is perpetually inspiring.
His recent admonishment of Eric Clemons mind numbingly ignorant article about “Why Advertising is failing on the internet” reflects a growing need for expert level direction on the evolution of search…and why it’s so critically important to the future of communication technology. Misinterpretation, misnomers, fallacies, and distortions of facts are rampant in the search engine optimization industry…and as the industry grows, so will the bullshit.
The strength of an SEO is largely dependent on three things: 1.) education 2.)experience 3.)adaptability. It takes significant hours of study and research to stay on top of evolving trends. As search engine algorithms continue to shift in an effort to provide the most effective and resourceful search experience possible for users, the job of the SEO will shift accordingly.
To me, the rise of social media, networks of trust if you will, is a fascinating step forward in communication technology. Reaching out to a network of trust on a topic is a natural instinct, whether it be friends, family, colleagues, or credible experts in a position of authority on a subject. It’s remarkable to consider it was only a matter of time until this mostly instinctual behavior fused with a technological counterpart.
In his strikingly astute article, The Rise of Help Engines, Sullivan explores the concept of why people have begun to include social media based networks of trust in conjunction with search engine usage. The message is clear:
“On Google, you might seek answers to all types of things. A word definition. The location of a web site. Perhaps resources to aid you in making a purchase decision. Sure, all of these are types of help requests. But sending a query through Twitter or Vark, you’re seeking human help. You’re yelling out “hey, I need help with this,” and these help engines get answers back to you quickly, from those you trust.“
Sullivan points out that search engines fail when it comes to subjective questions…despite the consistent use of subjecitive terminology in search engine queries. The fact of the matter is that a fairly sizeable group of search engine users don’t consider Google or Yahoo to be algorithim based…they somehow expect search engines to cough up answers to “what’s the best doughnut recipe?” or “what was the worst movie ever made?” It’s evident if you look at the questions people ask search engines on a regular basis.
But “help engines”, as Sullivan explains, are the remedy:
“The unifying factor among social search engines is that a human element is used to help refine static results, typically information that’s been found from crawling the web. In contrast, help engines aren’t using social networks to refine pre-existing listings. Those in the social networks generate the listings when they receive questions, on the fly, live.“
Is this a natural evolution of search technology? Is this the logical next step in the evolution of social media? I think so. In fact, I think this is what the internet has needed for some time now.
One of my favorite articles on this subject is Danny Sullivan’s Search 4.0: Putting humans back in search. Not only is this article a vivid exploration of search history, it sets the stage for the next step forwards. Logcial, intutive, and trustworthy search engines.
What a concept right?
