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Google's Orion :: The Next Shining Star or a Burnt Ember?
By Rob Sullivan (c) 2006

By now you have probably heard that Google bought a new
algorithm developed by a university student down under.

Many in the industry have speculated on what this could mean.
Will this transform Google yet again? Or, will it merely be just
another piece of technology they buy but don't appear to use.

In this article, I look at the implications of Orion and what it
could mean to the future of search.

In order to understand the issues at play, we must first
understand just what the heck Google bought.

Orion is a new algorithm which in a nutshell works like Ask or
Clusty in that it will not only match results based on keywords
but also similar results based on concepts around those
keywords.

For example, if you were to search for "Canada" you may get not
only the Government of Canada website, but also websites dealing
with history, sites talking about the official languages of
Canada (there are two official languages in case you were
wondering) and more.

Similar to how Ask allows you to drill up or down to narrow or
broaden your search.

Many people feel that Orion will "revolutionize" Google.  And,
while it will be interesting to see what Google does with the
technology, I'm more inclined to agree with Danny Sullivan's
assessment. In a recent article he basically says "So what?"
(http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060410-075616)

Mind you, I don't think this is as ho-hum an issue as Danny
makes it out to be. However, I also don't think it's as huge a
deal as others have made it.

For example, Danny says, "When Google acquired the three people
from Kaltix along with their search technology back in 2003, it
hardly created a revolutionary change for us soon after." And
I'd have to disagree with him.

While the results of the Kaltix acquisition weren't immediately
obvious, they did show up, at least partly, a little later on in
the "update from hell" as many webmasters still call it today.
It was also known as the Florida Update.

I do agree with this assessment also made by Danny in the
article: "It sounds like Allon mainly developed an algorithm
useful in pulling out better summaries of web pages."

Because, the way I see it, that is all this is: A way to make
the search experience a little more useful.

Will This Revolutionize Search?

I don't think so. But it does do a couple of things for
Google:

For one, it makes it easier for users to find the data they want
on Google. Which, in turn, improves loyalty to the engine
ultimately increasing the company's bottom line.

And another big reason for the purchase? To keep the technology
out of the hands of the competition. Namely, Yahoo! and
Microsoft.

So What Will Orion Do For Search?

Well, as I mentioned, it will make it easier to find information
on Google. For example, if you can't find what you want in the
immediate results, if you can scan some related terms to find
other terms which could match what you are looking for and then
view results there, it can help.

Also, look at what such a search does to the searcher. No
longer does the searcher hit a result and leave the engine.
Now, they could spend longer on the engine, potentially
reviewing more results and obviously being exposed to more ads.

In reality, while this is a nice bell or whistle, the only one
who's really going to benefit is Google. That's because it
increases ad exposures; meaning that more ads get seen, which
means a greater chance of an ad being clicked on.

Will the Average Person Use It?

In all honesty I doubt it. I think it's a tool guys like me will
use. You know the type – always into the latest and greatest
(if buggy) things. Those things that have a coolness factor.

But, in reality the average person doesn't care about these
types of gimmicks. They just want the search engine to show them
the right result every time. If you force users to hunt for the
right results, you risk them switching engines until they find
what they're looking for.

Therefore, the average user will probably say "hmm that's
interesting, but what I really want to see better be in the top
2 or 3 results."

In the end Orion will do a couple of things for Google. It will
add some new functionality that some will (but most won't) use,
and it ensures that Microsoft and Yahoo! have to build the
technology to remain competitive.

In the end, Danny was mostly right: Google gets another good
employee and the technology may give them "another evolutionary
change that may improve things over time, rather than
instantly."
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Rob Sullivan is a SEO Consultant and Writer for
Textlinkbrokers.com (http://www.textlinkbrokers.com/).
Textlinkbrokers is the trusted leader in building long term
rankings through safe and effective link building
(http://www.textlinkbrokers.com/).
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