前员工推出新搜索引擎Cuil挑战Google

Our Philosophy

Never settle for the best
"The perfect search engine," says Googleco-founder Larry Page, "would understand exactly what you mean and giveback exactly what you want." Given the state of search technologytoday, that's a far-reaching vision requiring research, development andinnovation to realize. Googleis committed to blazing that trail. Though acknowledged as the world'sleading search technology company, Google's goal is to provide a muchhigher level of service to all those who seek information, whetherthey're at a desk in Boston, driving through Bonn, or strolling inBangkok.

To that end, Googlehas persistently pursued innovation and pushed the limits of existingtechnology to provide a fast, accurate and easy-to-use search servicethat can be accessed from anywhere. To fully understand Google,it's helpful to understand all the ways in which the company has helpedto redefine how individuals, businesses and technologists view theInternet.

Ten things Google has found to be true

1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.

From its inception, Googlehas focused on providing the best user experience possible. While manycompanies claim to put their customers first, few are able to resistthe temptation to make small sacrifices to increase shareholder value. Google has steadfastly refused to make any change that does not offer a benefit to the users who come to the site:

• The interface is clear and simple.
• Pages load instantly.
• Placement in search results is never sold to anyone.
• Advertising on the site must offer relevant content and not be a distraction.

By always placing the interests of the user first, Googlehas built the most loyal audience on the web. And that growth has comenot through TV ad campaigns, but through word of mouth from onesatisfied user to another.

2. It's best to do one thing really, really well.

Googledoes search. With one of the world's largest research groups focusedexclusively on solving search problems, we know what we do well, andhow we could do it better. Through continued iteration on difficultproblems, we've been able to solve complex issues and providecontinuous improvements to a service already considered the best on theweb at making finding information a fast and seamless experience formillions of users. Our dedication to improving search has also allowedus to apply what we've learned to new products, including Gmail, Google Desktop, and GoogleMaps. As we continue to build new products* while making search better,our hope is to bring the power of search to previously unexploredareas, and to help users access and use even more of the ever-expandinginformation in their lives.

3. Fast is better than slow.

Google believes in instant gratification. You want answers and you want them right now. Who are we to argue? Googlemay be the only company in the world whose stated goal is to have usersleave its website as quickly as possible. By fanatically obsessing onshaving every excess bit and byte from our pages and increasing theefficiency of our serving environment, Googlehas broken its own speed records time and again. Others assumed largeservers were the fastest way to handle massive amounts of data. Google found networked PCs to be faster. Where others accepted apparent speed limits imposed by search algorithms, Google wrote new algorithms that proved there were no limits. And Google continues to work on making it all go even faster.

4. Democracy on the web works.

Googleworks because it relies on the millions of individuals posting websitesto determine which other sites offer content of value. Instead ofrelying on a group of editors or solely on the frequency with whichcertain terms appear, Googleranks every web page using a breakthrough technique called PageRank™.PageRank evaluates all of the sites linking to a web page and assignsthem a value, based in part on the sites linking to them. By analyzingthe full structure of the web, Googleis able to determine which sites have been "voted" the best sources ofinformation by those most interested in the information they offer.This technique actually improves as the web gets bigger, as each newsite is another point of information and another vote to be counted.

5. You don't need to be at your desk to need an answer.

The world is increasingly mobile and unwilling to be constrained toa fixed location. Whether it's through their PDAs, their wirelessphones or even their automobiles, people want information to come tothem. Google's innovations in this area include GoogleNumber Search, which reduces the number of keypad strokes required tofind data from a web-enabled cellular phone and an on-the-flytranslation system that converts pages written in HTML to a format thatcan be read by phone browsers. This system opens up billions of pagesfor viewing from devices that would otherwise not be able to displaythem, including Palm PDAs and Japanese i-mode, J-Sky, and EZWebdevices. Wherever search is likely to help users obtain the informationthey seek, Google is pioneering new technologies and offering new solutions.

6. You can make money without doing evil.

Google is a business. The revenue the company generates is derived from offering its search technology to companies and from the sale of advertising displayed on Google and on other sites across the web. However, you may have never seen an ad on Google. That's because Googledoes not allow ads to be displayed on our results pages unless they'rerelevant to the results page on which they're shown. So, only certainsearches produce sponsored links above or to the right of the results. Google firmly believes that ads can provide useful information if, and only if, they are relevant to what you wish to find.

Google has also proven that advertising can be effective without being flashy. Googledoes not accept pop-up advertising, which interferes with your abilityto see the content you've requested. We've found that text ads (AdWords)that are relevant to the person reading them draw much higherclickthrough rates than ads appearing randomly. Google's maximizationgroup works with advertisers to improve clickthrough rates over thelife of a campaign, because high clickthrough rates are an indicationthat ads are relevant to a user's interests. Any advertiser, no matterhow small or how large, can take advantage of this highly targetedmedium, whether through our self-service advertising program that putsads online within minutes, or with the assistance of a Google advertising representative.

Advertising on Google is always clearly identified as a "Sponsored Link." It is a core value for Googlethat there be no compromising of the integrity of our results. We nevermanipulate rankings to put our partners higher in our search results.No one can buy better PageRank. Our users trust Google's objectivityand no short-term gain could ever justify breaching that trust.

Thousands of advertisers use our GoogleAdWords program to promote their products; we believe AdWords is thelargest program of its kind. In addition, thousands of web sitemanagers take advantage of our Google AdSenseprogram to deliver ads relevant to the content on their sites,improving their ability to generate revenue and enhancing theexperience for their users.

7. There's always more information out there.

Once Googlehad indexed more of the HTML pages on the Internet than any othersearch service, our engineers turned their attention to informationthat was not as readily accessible. Sometimes it was just a matter ofintegrating new databases, such as adding a phone number and addresslookup and a business directory. Other efforts required a bit morecreativity, like adding the ability to search billions of images and away to view pages that were originally created as PDF files. Thepopularity of PDF results led us to expand the list of file typessearched to include documents produced in a dozen formats such asMicrosoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. For wireless users, Googledeveloped a unique way to translate HTML formatted files into a formatthat could be read by mobile devices. The list is not likely to endthere as Google's researchers continue looking into ways to bring allthe world's information to users seeking answers.

8. The need for information crosses all borders.

Though Googleis headquartered in California, our mission is to facilitate access toinformation for the entire world, so we have offices around the globe.To that end we maintain dozens of Internet domains and serve more thanhalf of our results to users living outside the United States. Googlesearch results can be restricted to pages written in more than 35languages according to a user's preference. We also offer a translationfeature to make content available to users regardless of their nativetongue and for those who prefer not to search in English, Google'sinterface can be customized into more than 100 languages. To acceleratethe addition of new languages, Google offers volunteers the opportunity to help in the translation through an automated tool available on the Google.comwebsite. This process has greatly improved both the variety and qualityof service we're able to offer users in even the most far flung cornersof the globe.

9. You can be serious without a suit.

Google's founders have often stated that the company is not seriousabout anything but search. They built a company around the idea thatwork should be challenging and the challenge should be fun. To thatend, Google's culture is unlike any in corporate America, and it's notbecause of the ubiquitous lava lamps and large rubber balls, or thefact that the company's chef used to cook for the Grateful Dead. In thesame way Google puts users first when it comes to our online service, GoogleInc. puts employees first when it comes to daily life in our Googleplexheadquarters. There is an emphasis on team achievements and pride inindividual accomplishments that contribute to the company's overallsuccess. Ideas are traded, tested and put into practice with analacrity that can be dizzying. Meetings that would take hours elsewhereare frequently little more than a conversation in line for lunch andfew walls separate those who write the code from those who write thechecks. This highly communicative environment fosters a productivityand camaraderie fueled by the realization that millions of people relyon Google results. Give the proper tools to a group of people who like to make a difference, and they will.

10. Great just isn't good enough.

Always deliver more than expected. Google does not accept being the best as an endpoint, but a starting point. Through innovation and iteration, Googletakes something that works well and improves upon it in unexpectedways. Search works well for properly spelled words, but what abouttypos? One engineer saw a need and created a spell checker that seemsto read a user's mind. It takes too long to search from a WAP phone?Our wireless group developed Google Number Search to reduce entries from three keystrokes per letter to one. With a user base in the millions, Googleis able to identify points of friction quickly and smooth them out.Google's point of distinction however, is anticipating needs not yetarticulated by our global audience, then meeting them with products andservices that set new standards. This constant dissatisfaction with theway things are is ultimately the driving force behind the world's best search engine.

* Full-disclosure update: When we first wrote these "10 things" four years ago, we included the phrase "Googledoes not do horoscopes, financial advice or chat." Over time we'veexpanded our view of the range of services we can offer –- web search,for instance, isn't the only way for people to access or useinformation -– and products that then seemed unlikely are now keyaspects of our portfolio. This doesn't mean we've changed our coremission; just that the farther we travel toward achieving it, the morethose blurry objects on the horizon come into sharper focus (to bereplaced, of course, by more blurry objects).