Talk at USC School of Film and Cinematic Arts 2013

1. WHAT IS SEARCH?!
It’s
more
than
a
web
des0na0on
and
a
few
words
plugged
in
a
box
Search
has
become
embedded
in
everything
from
apps
like
Yelp
and
Foursquare
to
Siri
Search
is
a
program
that
organizes
the
world’s
informa6on/data
and
returns
a
list
of
results
based
on
relevance
to
queries
(Hopefully!)

2. But what is search
really?!
Technically
speaking,
Search
is
actually
Database
Keyword
Technology
And
the
other
half
(and
most
important
part)
of
Search…is
being
Found!

3. SEARCH PREHISTORY!

4. The olden days: !
BEFORE GOOGLE !
• CIRCA
1990-­‐1995

5. WHAT’S CHANGED?!
WE
USED
TO
USE
SEARCH
ENGINES
TO
LOOK
FOR
INFORMATION
NOW
WE
USE
SEARCH
TO
FIND
US!
WHAT
WAS
ONCE
TRANSACTIONAL
NOW
SEEMS
AN
EXTENSION
OF
OURSELVES

6. THEN VS. NOW!
CONSIDER
FINDING
THE
CURRENT
TIME
IN
AUSTRALIA:
ONCE
IT
WOULD
HAVE
REQUIRED
THE
FOLLOWING
STEPS:
1) KNOWING
CURRENT
TIME
WHERE
YOU
ARE
2) SEARCHING
FOR
A
REPUTABLE
APPLICATION
THAT
TRANSLATED
TIME
ZONES
3) ENTERING
YOUR
LOCATION
AND
CHOOSING
AUSTRALIA
FROM
A
SEPARATE
MENU
NOW
ON
GOOGLE,
YOU
CAN
SIMPLY
TYPE
OR
SPEAK
AND
GOOGLE
DOES
THE
WORK
AND
UNDERSTANDS
WHAT
YOU
WANT
+
=

7. IT’S STILL NOT A
PERFECT SCIENCE!
AMBIGUITY
IS
THE
ENEMY!
“HOW
BIG?”
“ARE
YOU
LOOKING
FOR
LENGTH
OR
WIDTH?”
“SHOW
ME
THE
MONEY”
VS.
“SHOW
ME
AN
IMAGE
OF
A
DAHLIA”
IT’S
LIKE
GOING
TO
THE
DOCTOR
AND
SAYING,
“GUESS
WHERE
IT
HURTS?”
THE
PRESENT
AND
FUTURE:
STRINGS
ARE
NOW
“THINGS”
GOOGLE
IS
INDEXING
THINGS
VS.
WORDS

8. ENTER THE KNOWLEDGE
GRAPH!
CREATED
IN
2005
AS
DATABASE
OF
WORLD’S
MOST
USEFUL
INFORMATION
BY
METAWEB
500
MILLION
THINGS
LISTED
ALSO
REPRESENTS
CONNECTIONS
BETWEEN
THINGS
CALLED
“EDGES”
TAJ
MAHAL=BUILDING=MUSICIAN=BEER
=RESTAURANT=CASINO,
ETC.
THE
GOAL
IS
ANSWERS
NOT
LINKS

9. HYPERNYMS!!
WORDS
THAT
MEAN
THE
SAME
THING
AS
A
MORE
SPECIFIC
USAGE
“JAGUAR”
HAS
26
DIFFERENT
MEANINGS:
THE
ANIMAL,
THE
MAC
OS,
A
POPULAR
SOUTH
AMERICAN
ARTIST,
ETC.
THE
KNOWLEDGE
GRAPH
IS
ATTEMPTING
TO
CHANGE
OUR
UNDERSTANDING
OF
HUMAN
INTENT

10. HOW GOOGLE SEARCH
WORKS:!
#1 SPIDER DISPATCH!
!
• ROBOT
PROGRAMS
SCAN
NEW
AND
UPDATED
PAGES
AND
INDEX
EVERY
WORD
(EXCEPT
“A”,
“AN”,
“THE”)
• GOOGLEBOTS
FOLLOW
LINKS
FROM
PAGE
TO
PAGE
MAKING
ITS
INDEX
MORE
COMPREHENSIVE

11. #2 INDEXING!
KEYWORDS
PLUS:
• METADATA
INFORMATION
ON
WHETHER
KEYWORDS
CAPITALIZED
• FONT
SIZE
• WHERE
FOUND
ON
PAGE
(HEADERS,
TITLE,
SUBTITLE)
ALL
ARE
USED
TO
RANK
IMPORTANCE
OF
A
WEB
PAGE

12. #3 RANKING!
UNIQUE
FEATURE
OF
GOOGLE’S
ALGORITHM
IS
PAGERANK
RATES
PAGE’S
IMPORTANCE
BASED
ON:
• NUMBER
AND
REPUTATION
OF
LINKS
THAT
POINTED
TO
THEM
• TRAFFIC
• HOW
OFTEN
KEYWORDS
APPEAR
• FRESHNESS
OF
PAGE
AND
SITES
THAT
LINK
TO
IT

13. #4 DEFINITION!
GOOGLE’S
ALGORITHM
USES
OVER
200
SIGNALS
TO
REFINE
A
SEARCH
QUERY
INCLUDING:
• WEB
SITE’S
PAGERANK
• SEARCHER’S
GEOGRAPHICAL
LOCATION
• WHICH
LINKS
A
USER
USUALLY
CLICKS
• HOW
THEY
MODIFY
SEARCH
QUERIES
WHEN
THEY
ARE
UNSATISFIED
• SEARCH
HISTORY

14. 3 FURTHER SEARCHES!
BING
• RELATED
SEARCHES
APPEAR
IN
THE
RIGHT-­‐
HAND
COLUMN
• VERY
REFINED
IMAGE
SEARCH
• INTEGRATES
FARECAST
GIVES
BEST
FARES
• CANT
SEARCH
FOR
SPECIFIC
DATES
• CANT
FILL
IN
GAPS
IF
YOU
GET
SEARCH
TERM
PARTY
WRONG

15. YAHOO!!
• INTEGRATES
RESULTS
WITH
ORIGINAL
CONTENT,
AUDIO,
VIDEO,
IMAGES
• CAN
PERSONALIZE
PAGE
TO
MAKE
THE
MOST
RELEVANT
RESULT
TO
YOU
APPEAR
FIRST
• USER
INTENTION
ISSUE—OFTEN
GIVES
LINKS
TO
IRRELEVANT
SITES
WHILE
GOOGLE
GIVES
SHOW-­‐TIMES
IN
YOUR
CITY

16. YANDEX!
YANDEX
IS
MARKET
LEADER
AND
#1
WEB
SITE
IN
RUSSIA
• LOCALIZATION
IS
STRENGTH
FOR
RUSSIAN
RESULTS
WHEREAS
GOOGLE
FOCUSES
BROADLY
ON
COUNTRIES
• FAR
FEWER
SERVERS/DATA
CENTERS
THAN
GOOGLE
&
CANNOT
INDEX
ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
PAGES
AS
FAST
AS
GOOGLEBOT

17. BAIDU!
• 78%
MARKET
SHARE
IN
CHINA
VS.
GOOGLE’S
18%
• RESULTS
CENSORED
BY
CHINESE
GOVERNMENT
• STILL
BEST
OF
THE
CHINESE
DOTCOMS
AND
#5
RANKED
WORLD
WEB
SITE

18. THE FUTURE: SEARCH
EVERYWHERE!
• What
is
TIVO
but
TV
Search?
• What
is
iTunes
but
Music
Search
• Local
and
Personal

19. THE FUTURE NOW: KEY
TRENDS TO WATCH!
• LONGTAIL
KEYWORDS
RULE
• GEOLOCATION
IS
HERE
• AUTHCODES
ARE
STEALTH
• CLICKSTREAMS
MAKE
SEARCH
THE
NEW
INTERFACE
• THE
SEMANTIC
WEB

20. THE FUTURE NOW:!
SEARCH IS SOCIAL !
• SOCIAL
MEDIA
SEARCH—
TRUE
FREQUENCY
MARKETING
VS.
TRADITIONAL
PAGE
RANKING
• REAL-­‐TIME
POSTING
• COMMUNITY-­‐BASED
SEARCH
(MOG,
SPOTIFY)
• SOCIAL
INTELLIGENCE
AND
REPORTING
(RELISHMIX.COM)

21. THE FUTURE NOW!
• HUMAN
CURATED
SEARCH
FROM
BOTTOM
UP
NOT
TOP
DOWN
(BLEKKO)
• OWNED
VS.
EARNED
VIEWS
• MOBILE
SEARCH
(BOOPSIE)

22. THE FUTURE NOW!
• SENTIMENT
ANALYSIS
• SEGMENTED
SEARCH
ENGINES
(PRODUCT
SEARCH—
DECIDE.COM)
• CONTEXTUAL
SEARCH
(ADWORDS)

23. “THE FUTURE OF SEARCH !
IS VERBS”!
WHAT
DOES
BILL
GATES
MEAN
BY
THIS?
MAYBE
IT’S
THAT
WE
WANT
TO
SEARCH
TO
DO
THINGS,
AND
NOT
JUST
SUGGEST
THINGS
TO
US

24. THE FAR FRONTIER!
IS “UNIVERSAL SEARCH”!
WE
THOUGHT
THAT
WHEN
THE
WEB
UNIVERSE
WAS
COMPLETE
THE
ENTIRE
WEB
WOULD
BE
SEARCHABLE:
WITH
DIGITAL
LIVES
FRACTURED—IN
APPS,
WALLED
GARDENS
LIKE
FACEBOOK,
CLUNKY
INTERFACES—REUNITING
IN
ONE
UMBRELLA
PLATFORM
THAT
IS
SEARCHABLE
IS
LARGEST
PROBLEM
TODAY
(ACCORDING
TO
JOHN
BATELLE,
AUTHOR,
THE
SEARCH)