Is there life beyond Google?

Tech-savvy entrepreneurs and astute venture capitalists are striving for the next ‘small hit’ in search engine domain. The question to be asked whether there is life beyond Google. Though a number of search alternatives are popping up, they are wary of taking the search giant head-on.

With almost three-quarters of all search traffic, Google’s position is almost unassailable. However, potential competitors are keen on developing new ways to find information. They are busy hunting down the investors to support them. More than 50 new search firms have raised almost $330 million in venture financing.

So how are these budding search engines moving ahead? Mostly, by not opting to follow the example of Cuil.com, pronounced ‘cool’! Cuil means ‘knowledge’ in Gaelic; it might as well denote ‘cautionary tale’. The company was formed by former Google executives. It made a big splash on its debut by bragging of a search index that was nearly three times the size of Google's. Cuil received the early impetus, but traffic cooled off rather quickly as people turned to Google again.

However better Cuil might have been than the search giant, it wasn't perhaps better enough to get loyal users to make the permanent switch. So has the lesson been learnt? The right approach, investors believe, is the sort of niche-oriented and targeted search. But whether it will work remains to be seen.