SMX West - Generation Next: Search In The Coming Decade

The panel of speakers included representatives from the major search engines - Brad Goldberg of Microsoft, Larry Heck with Yahoo! and Peter Norvig of Google - discussing where they see search going in the next decade.

Larry noted that consumers are having more expectations for search. Search will absolutely survive and verticalization will increase.

Peter said that search will disappear as it will become invisible and more interactive, more second nature and part of core life. We've all become cyborgs in a way.

Brad said we're not going to throw search away, but build upon it, evolving gradually. What's going to change more is the user experience - where they ask it and on what device. Search will become pervasive.

People are likely to pose queries differently on other devices, as opposed to on a PC, said Brad. Peter says average queries will probably become longer, but harder to get results back on tiny screens.

Larry sees advertisers more able to take advantage of mobile opportunities for promotions for pushing discounts, directions, etc. As that grows and advertisers come online, we'll see more there.

We need to maintain the distinction between actual results and advertising, though, he said.

Peter sees the user having more control over ads in the future, whether it's TV or search.

Larry sees search playing more in the foreground and in the background, targeting people to specific queries, for instance what comes up on their personal search or at the office.