January 2nd, 2004

The year 2003 was, generally speaking, a good year for the search engine industry. While for some that may have got hit hard with the Florida update in November, the balance of the year was good. I predict 2004 will be even better, albeit you should expect some major changes. 2004 will be a year of consolidation, if there is such a thing in this rapidly changing industry.

While in the year 2003, some search companies such as Looksmart and Espotting had more than their share of problems, especially in the case of Looksmart, I predict there will be a few newcomers.

2004 will be a year where you can expect news to hit this industry on a daily basis. In 2003, hardly a day went by that there wasn't something happening at one company or another. Expect 2004 to be even busier.

Additionally, 2004 will be a year where the stakes are getting higher- much higher, and not just for Google! The level of competition among search engines will get tougher, in a race to land what I call "targeted eyeballs".

Will it be GOO, GOG, GLE, GGG or simply GO?
As you must have read or heard about it by now, 2004 will also be the long-expected year where Google is supposed to transform itself into a public company, with all the advantages and the pitfalls that it entails. Google won't have a choice but to go public in 2004. The reason for this is because of a little-known SEC rule in the US that forces American companies to issue quarterly statements once their number of employee-shareholders have surpassed a certain threshold.

Article written by Serge Thibodeau,
President & CEO,
Rank for $ales
Copyright (c) Serge Thibodeau 2003

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