It’s hard to compete in the search engine market, but one approach taken by several startups is to sit on top of the big search engines and try to improve their results or interface. Why reinvent the wheel when you can simply add new spokes? Surf Canyon, a bootstrapped startup I wrote about last February, re-orders results on Google, Yahoo, and Windows Live Search through a browser add-on. Previously self-funded, the startup has raised a seed round of $600,000 from angel investors. It is showing that even a search startup can be built on the cheap.
Surf Canyon is probably not going to be the next Google, but it does improve the traditional search interface by pulling up related results that otherwise would be buried on page 12 or page 52 of the regular results. Here’s how I described the service in my initial review:
Whenever you do a search, a little bullseye icon appears at the right of each result. If you click on the bullseye, Surf Canyon inserts three recommended search results that are similar to the one you clicked on. They appear indented under the result you are trying to drill down into.
The results are hit or miss. Surf Canyon basically gets three chances per click to come up with a relevant recommendation. In general, it comes closer than if you hit the “Similar pages” link that Google provides with every search result, but it still feels pretty random. Showing more than three recommended results would help. But what I like best about Surf Canyon is the interface. It doesn’t take you to another Web page. The recommended results just appear underneath the appropriate link. It feels more like an application than a cumbersome Website where you have to click through multiple pages to find what you want. Google could take a lesson in interface design from Surf Canyon here with all of its Ajax goodness.
I find that I still use the Surf Canyon feature on a regular basis. The results, though, are still hit or miss. Maybe the new funds will help them fine-tune their algorithm.
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This could be useful if you use search engines that just stink… (Yahoo, Yahoo Live, Ask, etc) — I rarely need to click “Similar results” in Google. I actually can’t even remember the last time I clicked it.
$600k for a plugin.
What’s the revenue model?
I am still curious to know how will they make money. Yes, in Ryan Merkets words - what is their revenue model?
firstly, why a plugin?? its just a fancy way i guess to get people to continue use google and still be involved in the search process. so its like dogpile but doesnt ask you to break your googling habit.
interesting.
they can do a lot more with this… if they get people to install the plugin. i keep telling people a browser is for browsing not searching. we need a search app that will ride on google and kill it if it will. pm me if you want to know what i have in mind.
“one approach taken by several startups is to sit on top of the big search engines and try to improve their results or interface.”
Any start-ups in this field must take steps to protect their IP.
Another entrant into Search, and another trying to take the cake from Google and repackage it in a shiny new box. I can’t see many people going to the trouble of downloading a plug-in. There really needs to be a more significant point of difference for a Search-based start-up to crack the nut. I like the ‘human touch’ that Mahalo offers, but really, Google is so convenient and so ubiquitous (in America, at least), that it’ll take more than what Surfcanyon are offering to win over any share of the market.
do you honestly think
this will ever reach the general market (everyday non-techie users)?
i dont think so dear,
i,
dont think so
The increase of spyware will create higher oil price, higher food price, unemployment, mortgage crisis, and economic inflation. This is why everything went skyrocketing. The more you steal…. It doesn’t matter…
People will rise the price. So if I download the plug-in and went to banking website. Will Surf Canyon look and steal anything?
if it is an add-on extension from firefox, i’ll add it.
@1/@2/@7: Nah, what they are really after is to decode the various AdSense ad “protection mechanisms” prior to page load using the plug-in so they can pull the AdSense links for use throughout their site as normal links for folks to click on - mo’ money.
Harry “gotcha - just kiddin - or am I’” Wang
Does this go against the terms of service for the search engines API?
wondering how are they planning to make money by sitting on top of search giant
@phenom
Once they have enough people using the service, they could build their own search engine based on recommended links only
I agree with Erick Schonfeld’s comment that it’s hard to compete in the search engine market. I’ve been asking myself what the next stage is in the evolution of search engines. Right now, search engines focus on “information hunters” who are quickly looking for search results that are most relevant to their query term. However, information hunters are evolving into “information collectors” or Internet researchers who want the best ideas regarding their questions. With regard to the latter, search engines from Google and Yahoo provide a piecemeal approach. A disruptively innovative ’search engine’ that is visual and more orientated towards the needs of the Internet researcher is “Galaxy It” (http://search.galaxyit.com). The paradigm governing the design of Galaxy It platform is Total Information Management (TIM).
Rod.
Disclosure: I’m the CEO of Galaxy IT, Inc. The mission of Galaxy IT is to put people in the center of Internet search and collaboration.