> ## Content Index
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> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Looking ahead and ranking
- URL: https://www.lorcandempsey.net/looking-ahead-and-ranking/
- Published: 2004-12-29T01:12:51.000Z
- Updated: 2004-12-29T01:12:51.000Z
- Author: Lorcan Dempsey
- Tags: Systems

John Battelle’s [predictions](https://battellemedia.com/archives/001151.php?ref=lorcandempsey.net) for search, rss, blogs and other stuff for 2005 are an interesting read. My eye was caught by number 7:

> 7\. Yahoo and Google will both test systems that **combine local merchant inventory information with search**, so that merchants can use search as a direct sales channel. By the end of the year, there will be no question that the search companies are in direct competition with the ecommerce companies, but it won’t matter – there’s room for them all. Paul Ford will continue to get droves of readers to his related, and very prescient, [three year old post](https://www.ftrain.com/google%5Ftakes%5Fall.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net) on how Google takes over the world. \[[John Battelle’s Searchblog: A Look Ahead](https://battellemedia.com/archives/001151.php?ref=lorcandempsey.net)\]

This is a prediction, but we already see, for example, many bookselling sites returning hits in a search.  
As more materials get indexed in Google, the page rank algorithm may be less applicable to some than to others. Google Scholar seems to have moved to more of a citation based approach, for example. This will be something to watch …