If there is one thing you can take to the bank in the year of 2007 is that Google will still be at the top of the mountain; however probably not for the most obvious reasons that you might think.
Sure, you are probably thinking it will be because of their search but algorithms can change and improve over night. While each search company may have its own methodology for getting you your results they all in their own way provide enough appropriate links to keep you happy.
Mathematics will not keep Google on top. They stay on top; and most likely will for years to come regardless of who tries to dethrone them because one one very simple thing – they took control of the human vernacular. The moment Google became a verb they won the battle and no amount of math will turn the tide.
Microsoft Live.com can try all they want, Ask.com can try as many interfaces as they like and any number of search wannabe’s can scramble for the scraps but none of them have the verb. Google would have to do a really big screw up of a major scale to lose its throne but even then unless the competition can steal the verb Google will still win.
If there will ever be anyone that will dethrone the king of search it will be a dark horse, a college student in some dark coffee stained dorm room who discovers two things – a slightly better algorithm but more importantly he or she will discover a new verb that can take the human vernacular away from Google.
On the web these days ideas are cheap to bring to market, making them useful is expensive and making a profit is even more expensive. This is readily apparent in the world of search engines with just as many failing as there are starting all with the eye on the great Googledom as the prize.
