Is Google Search Dead? Not Necessarily
It’s pretty much the same abroad as it is here in China. We’ve been chanting “Baidu is dead” for years (I’d say it’s basically true—everyone’s on Bing now), and overseas, people are always declaring “Google search is dead.”
The main reason is that the major brands with real resources have cornered the keywords. After decades of evolution, there’s hardly any untapped niche left. In other words, the prime spots in the market are already snapped up by well-known companies, making it nearly impossible for newcomers to break in. When you search for something, you’re mostly seeing the same results: the top result might be original, but everything below it is just copied or rehashed.
But the author points to an old Google patent that proposed rethinking the ranking algorithm. Under this system, content would be ranked by originality, pushing copies and reproductions further down. Additionally, it would reward “information gain.”
Information gain means: compared to what already exists, are you providing something new and valuable? Think personal insights, company perspectives, or hard-won experience—ensuring users always get the best possible results. (This essentially forces content marketers to step up their game. Before, covering topic A was enough to rank first. Now, you need to also cover B and C. Otherwise, if someone else includes D and offers more incremental value, your ranking will drop.)
In short, simple copy-paste content will increasingly fail with Google. To stay competitive in search, you’ve got to keep delivering meaningful, value-added content.
