The claim that Google revolutionised search is almost certainly indisputable. Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed a solution that made the increasingly impossible task of indexing and searching the Internet a reality. They also seeded something that would grow to become a multi-billion dollar industry.

Google’s solution is certainly a better fit for the problem of indexing an ever-growing amount of data. The traditional system used by former search giant Yahoo! in the 1990s, involving hundreds if not thousands of staff to manually approve and index website submissions for their search index, may have been feasible in the beginning. As the amount of content available on the web began to grow exponentially, however, this system fast became too expensive and too slow for the demands of a growing web audience.

Google is certainly meeting the demand for providing quick and relevant search results. But as Gandhi once said, “There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.” I would argue that there is still an important place for digital curation in modern day Search – a sort of ‘slow search’ movement, if you will. As the amount of web ‘junk’ and recycled content continues to rise, the need for manual cataloguing of niche content by independent thought leaders has become essential.

Some examples of digital curation projects include Jason Hirschhorn’s Media ReDEFined, Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings and Australia’s own The Fetch newsletter. The curators behind these projects spend hundreds of hours a month trawling the Internet looking for the best quality content that fits their niche and informs their audience. It’s not an easy job; it certainly takes a lot of time and effort to provide this service on a regular basis. But there is a guarantee of quality that lends authority to the curation project, increases trust in the curator and builds a dedicated and satisfied audience.

While Google keeps tweaking the way it produces the most ‘relevant’ search results – and SEO experts keep trying to game the system – digital curators will continue to provide an independent source of quality content. Maybe a little slower but, as they say, good things come to those who wait.

[ This post is a response to Download: The True Story of the Internet, Episode 2 – Search ]