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Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Search.com Gets a Face Lift, but Will Anyone Want to Look at It?
It looks like CNET Networks, the owner of a valuable domain name called search.com, has finally begun to pay attention to this nice piece of virtual real estate. Search.com has gotten a face lift and a number of new features. But don't call it a comeback...
Search.com has been around for several years. It began life as a metasearch engine known as SavvySearch.com, which CNET purchased in the late '90s. At some point thereafter, CNET came into possession of Search.com, before the latest search-engine craze that was started by Google.
However, CNET didn't really do much with Search.com. It was barely promoted within CNET's vast network of tech-related sites, and it's user base probably consisted of early adopters and tech geeks who didn't use Google, for whatever reason.
But, now that paid search engine listings are proving highly profitable, CNET is finally throwing its hat into the search engine arena big time with a relaunched web site that is nearly as spartan as Google's, but not as cluttered as other metasearch engines like Metacrawler or Dogpile. Search.com now searches "Google, Ask Jeeves, LookSmart and dozens of other leading search engines to bring you the best results," according to the Search.com home page.
Whether anyone really uses Search.com is anyone's guess. I still don't quite get why anyone uses metasearch engines, since experts generally agree that Google's results are the best, but pretty much equivalent to AlltheWeb or Teoma. So why not simply use one of them and not all of them at the same time?
Still, I think Search.com has a pretty good chance of gaining traction in the search business, thanks to its great name and branding potential as well as CNET's vast network of tech sites.
Posted by
Cory Kleinschmidt
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