Google: Similarity Function Drifts from Relevance

March 12, 2015

I ran a test query for “Concept Searching,” an indexing outfit. I noticed that Google generated a list of companies with the label “People Also Search For.”

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What I find interesting is that the list of companies is a bit of a grab bag. Here is the list presented to me:

image

  • X1 Technologies, now in the eDiscovery business
  • GenieKnows, an SEO outfit
  • Funnelback, Squizz’s search solution which has gone quiet since David Hawking shifted roles
  • dtSearch, a Microsoft centric desktop and CD-ROM search system for Windows
  • Northern Light Group, now a research firm
  • Coveo, the ageing startup once focused exclusively on Microsoft centric solutions
  • ZyLAB Technologies, a legal document management and search solution
  • Metalogix, a SharePoint migration specialist
  • Convera, one of the spectacular business implosions which I documented in the Xenky profile available at www.xenky.com/vendor-profiles
  • Dieselpoint, a search outfit that went quiet a couple of years ago
  • Axceler, now a unit of Metalogix
  • Fast Search & Transfer, the search company that has the distinction of a financial misstep and a founder with a painful brush with Norwegian law enforcement
  • Exalead, now a unit of Dassault Systèmes, a company which has largely faded from the North American market
  • Expert System, a quite good semantic vendor based in Modena, Italy
  • Vivisimo, a metasearch outfit acquired by IBM and now part of the IBM Big Data machine.

Quite an assortment. I assume that these suggestions are helpful to the LinkedIn experts, the failed webmasters now rebranded as search wizards, and wanna-be academics looking for consulting revenue.

For me, the list is an illustration of what Google wants to do, provide on point suggestions. However, the list makes vivid the limitations of the Google methods. Hey, the company is focusing attention on balloons.

Stephen E Arnold, March 12, 2015

Comments

2 Responses to “Google: Similarity Function Drifts from Relevance”

  1. Code 5 Group on March 12th, 2015 6:12 pm

    Code 5 Group

    Google: Similarity Function Drifts from Relevance : Stephen E. Arnold @ Beyond Search

  2. Grove OK Dentist on March 13th, 2015 7:15 pm

    Grove OK Dentist

    Google: Similarity Function Drifts from Relevance : Stephen E. Arnold @ Beyond Search

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