Yesterday at SES Toronto's Searcher Behavior Research Update panel, it was indicated that Google is wining in search. The question : But was it due to Google's brand or due to Google's search results?..

Whats the opinion of users here ?

I think in around 1998-2002 Google had the hands down best search results. Today I think Yahoo is coming close, but I don't know if they're quite there. Only sometimes I use them to compare a top result and oftentimes they have the same as Google. The tricky thing is that the "long tail" of search which I think is very important to Google – the millions of exotic three-word queries we do everyday, looking for "that right page" – is incredibly hard to measure. Which result is "the right one"? We know when we search for it and see it, but to reproduce this in a lab is something else. While both Google and Yahoo get the obvious results ([coca cola company] and stuff) right, I'm not sure Yahoo is as good with the long tail.

And the Google brand? Certainly they have the best image when it comes to search. But if their results would be significantly worse than a competitor one's, I think people would switch fairly easy (maybe it would take us 1-3 years...).

Phillipp, if google positions themselves into the relam of voice activated serp and NLP methods (futuristic vision) – Will not the chunky part of the long tail be consumed by google ??

After all results are one thing , ease of interfacing is another thing.. I think that Google is winning in the later game.. well that my opinion only...

As for "think people would switch fairly easy... ". Lets assume for the sake of discussion results can only be aggregated to the 'nth" degree and thereafter it will trend to be gibberish. e.g. asking a smart terminal the question : " I want information of an apple". As it stands today, the SERP are pretty messy for such an "alan turing" question..

Now ,the scenariio may like this in two cases where
(a) The smart terminal is installed in a grocey store and
(b) where the terminal is placed in a computer shop.

If the results are 'found' to 'measure' up to the user's expections (yes, I'll forfeit and say both terms are hard to define for this thought process) – however, won't the conumser have a great 'stickiness' to such methods ??

Thus, wont google (hypothetically) have a big chunk of the long tail ??

FYI.. just throwing thought around .. feel free to shot me down :)-