The Next Generation Of Search - Find

It's Time To Concentrate On The Real End Game

By David Miranda

Search has become one of most pervasively discussed subjects in marketing today. Seemingly overnight, an entire industry vertical has emerged with its own unique vernacular. Search engines, keyword search, advanced search, metatags, search algorithms, search engine optimization, behavioral search, paid search, etc. etc. etc. Specialized firms have been established on providing ways and means to "beat the system", the "system" typically being a mathematical "sudoku" created by search engines for participants to solve.

It's high time to concentrate on the real end game - find.

For both businesses and consumers, the real objective is finding, not searching. Take travel, for example. Travelers are only interested in travel as a means to an end - their destination. People don't hop on planes, trains, and automobiles to enjoy the ride. They are going to or from somewhere. It's the somewhere that drives the travel. If people have no where to go, they don't travel. Such is the case with search.

Consumer want to find the information, goods, or services they require. Business want to find consumers that will buy their information, goods, or services. If a consumer has a toothache, they want to find a dentist, not search for one. If a consumer is hungry, they want to find a place to eat, not search for one.

It is time for the word find be substituted for the word search. Google should be a find engine. Search optimization should be find optimation and paid search should be paid find, or better said, finder's fees, a more accurate description of providing finds to the advertiser.

Both consumers and advertisers should hold the search industry more accountable.

The new mandate should be: "Find me what I am looking for".