Google is synonymous with search, but could be onto to something greater: inference. Amit Singhal, Google Fellow and tweaker of Google’s search algorithm since 2001, says search is beyond key words and at the door step of understanding language.

Amit Singhal discusses the future of search at the SABEW conference. (Photo: Chris Prentice)

Singhal speaking at the annual SABEW convention in Phoenix used some examples. If you google “GM cars,” you get General Motors, but if you google “GM food,” you get genetically-modified.

“Search is about matching meaning to what users want,” he said.

Another example, if you google “panasonic lock TV,” you get hits about “parental control.” Singhal says marketers probably didn’t like the word “lock” and went with the nicer “control.” But Google infers the difference. Other interests to journalists:

• Information wants to be free he said, but that doesn’t mean Web sites shouldn’t impose a pay wall, citing that good content costs money. But differentiating that good content from “McContent” – quick, cheap generated content – is difficult since the language between the two is often similar.

• Web content is suppose to be free. And citizens with information are better ones. Singhal sees China inhibiting its best interest by restricting search.

• The Future of web search is still based on the what made google popular: speed. “We are crazy about speed,” Singhal says. He noted that if a users is slowed down by 200 milliseconds, the site will end up losing traffic. Revelvance algorithms are now more important than ever, he said. “As the amount of information has exploded, the importance of relevance has gone through the roof,” he said.

• The kind of information that people seek on phones is much different than what people search for on their computer. Singhal sees a future in location-based advertising.