In search beyond Google some interesting questions are posed regarding Google’s dominance. It also provides information about what other companies (like Microsoft) are doing to improve in this area. Be forewarned, the article is long, and I only perused it, but it made me curious about some of Google’s competitors.

For instance, it mentions two search engines (Teoma and Mooter) that I took a look at but immediately noticed something: they look strikingly similar to Google. If people are copying Google, that indicates to me that they’re still the leader. However, even if that’s the case, it doesn’t mean they can rest on their laurels, because as Google’s director of technology Craig Silverstein observed, “It’s very easy to move from one search engine to a better one.”

He’s right. If a new search engine were to come out that was head and shoulders better than Google, in a few months Google could be a thing of the past. There’s no physical umbilical cord that ties us to a particular search engine. That’s really a good thing for us because it forces them to continue innovating or to lose out to something better. In the end, the users get to use the superior technology.

Anyway, as I was saying, other major search engines (AltaVista, AllTheWeb and Mamma). look quite similar to Google’s main page. It looks as though either Google found the ideal layout for search engines or there are a lot of uninventive web designers out there.