Google has been personalising search results for years, using our search history, device preferences (especially mobile) and social signals, and attempting to integrate them to deliver the most useful results and relevant information to each user.
Mobile searches now outnumber desktop searches globally, eliciting the need to further enhance the capabilities of voice, visual and location-based searches.
Search has always been about bringing people the most relevant information in the shortest amount of time. People, of all ages now, have become tech savvier and with less patience. Search engines are revolutionising the way we access information through the growth of data and precision of targeting. When you turn on your phone, Google already knows where you are, providing additional context around our lives. It may only be a matter of time before someone decides to utilise such data to create a "decision engine".
Sergey Brin (Google) once said, "My vision when we started Google.. was that eventually you wouldn't have to have a "search query" at all.. You'd just have information come to you as you needed it.."
The rise of Smart Apps and next-gen personal assistants such as Apple's Siri, may have shifted some people away from searching on Google and towards 'direct answers', by channeling certain interests and delivering specific information. I do believe that Search engines will always have a place regardless, perhaps just in a more sophisticated shape and form.. watch this space!
Happy searching!
Yana
