Google draining the British economy

[Ali-v-8]

I read this article and I was wondering "WHEN"? When will we realise we need our our Search Engine.

Few year ago I was working alongside others to develop UK based Search engine. The principle was that with it being UK based and UK businesses got priority there would be to keep advertising revenue and control in UK.

In one year Google only paid 10 million in tax but did 4 billion in UK Profits.
Surely by now we should have our own search engine.

 

[MancunianCreative]

Any UK centric one isn't going to be able to compete with Google, let alone Bing :redface:

Plus that's only looking at it from google's point of view. What about British exports, found because of google?

 

[Cheapwebdesign]

I would agree that there does need to be another search engine however you just can't compete with Google, plus people see anything other than Google, Bing, Yahoo or Ask as spammy and stay well away from it. It's like when your son or daughter download's a free game on there laptop and then a new search bar is installed to the browser just looks spammy as hell because of the way they went about getting it installed.

Wish you all the best though, would be good to see something like this take off.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Like I said - I was apart of one that government look to back and invest into. What happened? They said it wasnt a profitable scheme. Now i would be happy with 1% of 4 billion if i only spent £100,000

 

[Nuno]

I think the French have tried this a couple of times: a state sponsored search engine that will promote the Glory de la France!

After wacking gazillions of Euros at it there was nothing to show.
There were lots of very affluent 'le consultants IT'.

So, no surprises there then.
We can be glad they caught the cold rather than us trying it out, I suppose.

 

[Ali-v-8]

I love the way the french have perused Amazon and Google for unpaid taxes _ definitely something we should do,.

 

[NitroSEO]

I would love to see a uk based search engine that ranked websites based on social popularity, built by consumers of the UK who would submit their favorite websites.

 

[Ali-v-8]

directories like free index kind of do the with reviews

 

[NitroSEO]

directories like free index kind of do the with reviews

Yeah, i know what you mean, although i was thinking more along the lines of websites that are ranked based on facebook likes, google +1s, diggs and social shares in general, also reviews. Its an interesting thought.

 

[allsquare]

Few year ago I was working alongside others to develop UK based Search engine.

I remember it http://www.searchers.co.uk and still use it sometimes as generally pleased with the results.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Yeah thats the one!
It was a great idea - It worked well - but alas government didnt help.

 

[allsquare]

I remember the homepage changing to the Union Jack face-painted chap a few years ago so looks like it's been well and truely put on the back burner.

One progressive search engine and a relatively newcomer (est 2008) is www.duckduckgo.com/
Again, good results and looks like they are really getting somewhere.
Well worth signing up to help with testing.

 

[deniser]

I remember the homepage changing to the Union Jack face-painted chap a few years ago so looks like it's been well and truely put on the back burner.

One progressive search engine and a relatively newcomer (est 2008) is www.duckduckgo.com/
Again, good results and looks like they are really getting somewhere.

Still brings up mostly US results though. In our sector we appear as the first UK result at number 12 for our main search term.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Yeah - They were testing some new spider nicknamed "cyril" - some how when it collated data it flagged up websites that would be classed as link farms - one of the websites listed was a member on here - she had no idea till I showed her.

 

[Surminga]

It is highly annoying how Google are a dominant factor within the web, but if somebody has a lot of money, time, talent, possibly ex google employee then I see why it can't be beaten or have competition.

The only way to beat google is to design something that Google won't and don't do - that's the hard part. It would still take years or around 10+ to even get noticed up against the big G. But yea, I'm all for a local search engine based in the UK.

 

[360interactive]

I read this article and I was wondering "WHEN"? When will we realise we need our our Search Engine.

Few year ago I was working alongside others to develop UK based Search engine. The principle was that with it being UK based and UK businesses got priority there would be to keep advertising revenue and control in UK.

In one year Google only paid 10 million in tax but did 4 billion in UK Profits.
Surely by now we should have our own search engine.

It's funny, just this week I was using google to find a few things and I was getting frustrated with the amount of US sites appearing in my results. I had to specifically select UK sites only from the options to get what I wanted, i've never had to do this before on google.co.uk.

 

[terryuk]

Sounds great if you want to deliver a straight non-profit search engine with purely the consumer in mind

 

[Ali-v-8]

non profit wouldnt work - data would need to be stored so cost will be incurred. advertiser would be a revenue to cover cost, but the cash would stay in the UK

 

[webgeek]

Don't recall Google needing the government to build their engine for them, or Yahoo, Lycos, Netscape, Microsoft...

Wouldn't you reckon that such a great commercial idea would be something private enterprise could handle on its own?

Sorry, but the Libertarian in me screams, "NO" when commercial ventures and government are mentioned in the same breath.

 

[eventdomain]

I'm all for a local search engine based in the UK.

Although I can see why UK businesses would want this, as they'd expect it to be free.... but whoever takes this on might have other thoughts about that, and as above, a charge to be listed is certain...

You see, entrepreneurs need to feel like they've created value, made a difference.... I don't see how another all-purpose search tool can reach the top, even if it was UK only segmented. It would be great for SEO value, but its how to target it for maximum visitor/supplier matching when there's too much untargeted traffic flow, which there will be with this idea.

 

[Websitehandyman]

My main gripe with Google this week - I have a new one every week - is that just because I search on a street name or postcode does not mean I want to know house prices or have an house to sell. Surely if someone is registered as an owner of a domain and then publish their address on that same domain then that site should be the best place to find their personal info like address. That's the problem with google, it assumes you are a customer for every search.

 

[garyk]

It is highly annoying how Google are a dominant factor within the web, but if somebody has a lot of money, time, talent, possibly ex google employee then I see why it can't be beaten or have competition.

Thats already been done, some ex-googlers created 'cuil' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuil but it didnt last that long. I do think this idea *could* have legs but I guess the big unknown is how many people actually find the non UK results in the big G results a problem?

I've seen here over the years so many people wanting to/actually starting an ebay clone because they believe 'everyone is hacked off with ebay'. Sure there might be alot of disgruntled punters but its still tiny compared to those that are happy.

Look at Bing, slowly eeking out a slice of SE market share but hardly troubling google. I never use it. why? Because it's just *another* search engine which doesn't do anything better or different so why would I switch?

Agree with Webgeek a private/public enterprise would be horrendous.

Gary

 

[allsquare]

I see that Google own the domain www.cuil.com
No 301 re-direct set-up though
http://www.cuil.com/

 

[david64]

non profit wouldnt work - data would need to be stored so cost will be incurred. advertiser would be a revenue to cover cost, but the cash would stay in the UK

A non-profit could work if they still aimed to make money, but direct the majority of funds into the search engines. Though you are probably right that for-profit would be the best model.

As for Google not paying much tax. I don't have a problem with this, but I have a problem that I have to pay it and they don't!

Certainly it would be good to have more competition in search, but it seems to be a very difficult market to break into. I also think the potential for Google to become some sort of Biff Tannan (from Back to the Future II) nightmare is a real possibility. All with the smiling face of Kim-jong Un.

In society, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the information-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

 

[bizrep103]

Interesting comment. Google claim to be for the entrepreneur but are only in it for themselves. I used to run a print publication and I regularly read articles from google directors saying how they were helping the publishing industry and how the two worked hand in hand. Fast forward to their recent ad campaign this year where they placed ads in print publications basically mocking print publishers lol.
Google aims to be the only gateway to the web, this can't be a good thing. When you have that much scale it will eventually stifle innovation and new talent.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Take Google out of the equation and the void will have to be filled. The tax lost to the British economy is phenomenal, but trade and services should also be considered.

A while ago when doing campaigns for casinos the USA changed the law so that its economy would not be affected by the high profits these gambling sites were making. Why cant the UK do the same. Cap the amount of revenue Google can make.

 

[david64]

Why cant the UK do the same. Cap the amount of revenue Google can make.

Because that is central planning of an economy. If you go down that route, it sets a precedent that companies should be punished for success. If Google are clearly infringing on people, they should be punished. At current, they are providing the best services. People are using them and it doesn't seem (to me at least) there is much of an angle for 'ethical' gripes.

What is needed is more competition. There are a couple of possibles there, but I think the crux is that people are now entrenched with Google, much in the same way PC users are entrenched with MS Winblows & Internet Borker.

So my question would be to people who want to attack them: What infringements are they causing that they should be punished for?

 

[stoo]

Im sorry if this has been mentioned already, i read most of the posts, then skipped to the end, sorry, but i wanted to mention an idea of mine.

What about a search engine/homepage that actually paid you a revenue for either clicking ads, buying game coins(facebook) shopping (affilliates) and everything else that google facebook etc monetize from? The way in which you gain revenue though would be from the members who use this hompage who you have referred to it(helps spread the word).. a bit of a MLM scheme to be honest in that respect, but worth it in that YOU can make money instead of these big organisations.

It's a bit complex i agree, but basically YOU make money, say 20%, from each of the members you get below you who use this new "homepage" The rest would help towards costs for this growing organisation as more servers are required.

 

[Websitehandyman]

Im sorry if this has been mentioned already, i read most of the posts, then skipped to the end, sorry, but i wanted to mention an idea of mine.

What about a search engine/homepage that actually paid you a revenue for either clicking ads, buying game coins(facebook) shopping (affilliates) and everything else that google facebook etc monetize from? The way in which you gain revenue though would be from the members who use this hompage who you have referred to it(helps spread the word).. a bit of a MLM scheme to be honest in that respect, but worth it in that YOU can make money instead of these big organisations.

It's a bit complex i agree, but basically YOU make money, say 20%, from each of the members you get below you who use this new "homepage" The rest would help towards costs for this growing organisation as more servers are required.

The are 100s of these sorts of sites already, well they call them browsers but the are sites too.

 

[stoo]

The are 100s of these sorts of sites already, well they call them browsers but the are sites too.

Really? I have yet to see one that pays YOU for using the internet through a certain homepage? :|

 

[Websitehandyman]

Really? I have yet to see one that pays YOU for using the internet through a certain homepage? :|

Those tend to be a dedicated browser application or plugin.

But the are also site that exchange traffic and offer rewards for clicking, filling in forms and playing games. They are similar to this one http://www.outadwords.com/clixsense/ but not all trade on the marketing some just offer money to click ads.

 

[stoo]

Yes i understand the type you mean now, but i was referring more towards this type of website.. it is VERY MLM.. but it caught my attention a few days ago..
http://www.smartmediatechnologies.com/