Searching for Search News

There was lots of search engine news this week. There's news about Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and much more. Here are the Murdok Editors' choice for the Top Ten Search stories of the week:

1. Yahoo Leading Local Search? In the competitive field of search services, Yahoo is gaining ground on its top competitors, according to a survey by Market Researcher Keynote. While Google, Yahoo and MSN were the top choices of the 2,000 consumers surveyed, Yahoo maintained the highest user loyalty, primarily because of its localized search. All three companies are targeting local search moving into the future, but Google and Microsoft haven't yet found their groove.
2. A FireFOX In The Google Hen House Now that's interesting. He will work for Google and also continue his work on Firefox. He will also sometimes stop in at his old office ... which I presume they will keep intact. Why would Google let him do this? Could this be part of the legendary 10% of the time they allow employees to spend on seed projects? Or ... Could this simply be a prelude to buying Mozilla? I think the answer to that question is yes.
4. Google Dramatically Increases Word Limit ResearchBuzz is reporting that Google has raised their previous 10 word search limit to 32. That's quite a leap. From ResearchBuzz!: ""AH! I see. They have a new query limit. After putting in a goony large query, I got the following error message: "'sixty' (and any subsequent words) was ignored because we limit queries to 32 words." There you have it. Google now has a 32-word limit. Of course they have this limit now, since Google Hacks 2E just came out... It looks like Google News may continue to have a limit. You can type in more than ten query words, and Google will not give you an error message, it just won't count the extra words.""
6. Ask Jeeves Developing Wireless Search Service Catching-up on this story. Ask Jeeves talks about its plans to launch a wireless search service for cell phones. I spoke with Ask's Snr VP, Jim Lanzone about this last February. He hinted then that cell phone's would play an important role in search's future. "Cell phones will probably adapt more to this device, ultimately, than the other way around, due to usability issues, and the user's desire to carry only one device. Standing on a street corner and using this device, you will search for a local restaurant, or a cab company, through the Internet. Instead of going to the cab company's website, you will click a link and initiate a phone call. The search engine will be compensated for the call (this is the traditional Yellow Pages model of "metered calling") rather than the click."
Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News Your source for investigative ebusiness reporting and breaking news.