Amit Singhal has built Google’s search engine for the last 15 years but now he is in the middle of dealing new challenges as the internet giant faces threat from niche mobile-based search applications. The IIT Roorkee alumni, in a conversation with BusinessLine, talks about how Google is facing these challenges and the future of search. Edited excerpts:

You were among the first to call out the shift from desktop to mobile. How has this panned out for Google so far?

It was obvious to us that mobile will be the device that will always be with users. It’s a one hand single thumb device but people need more answers like nearest restaurants or malls and they need it on the go. So, we invested in Knowledge Graph, which has been a key shift from traditional search engine to modern search where you can ask anything and Google will provide the answer to the degree we can. We also invested in speech recognition and we are pushing scientific boundaries on that front. We have invested in languages so that the input is easier. The culmination of all that is what we have today which looks nothing like what it was in the desktop.

How do you see the threat from the app ecosystem, which is now providing very niche search capabilities?

Pages in web browser or in an app are covered by the same database. The difference is the rendering code...in one case, it’s coming on the fly and on the other, it’s preloaded. At the end of the day, the information is coming from a common database. So, we built ‘app indexing’ . It has been tremendously successful because, when people look for something on Google and if that information resides in an App and it’s indexed on Google search, we can today open that page in your app. App indexing is becoming default in Android and even in iOS. Studies suggest that very small number of apps reside on a mobile phone, mostly related to communications and entertainment. But, when it comes to information like learning about some disease, while there is lots of choice, Google search is still very useful.

So, what are the big challenges that worry you the most?

There are ecosystem challenges. India has about 350 million internet users which will go up to 500 million in 2 years, of which 300 million will be on mobile. But our aspiration is to have 800 million or a billion to be online. That’s why we are excited about the Digital India programme. Everyone should have access to information. For example, we launched health panel in the US and we want to bring that in India so that everyone has access to health-related information. The other challenge is the lack of good regional content. I would love to see much more good content. When these ecosystem issues are solved, people will lead a better life because they will have better information related to their government, things like education and healthcare.

What is the future of search?

I would like search to be intelligent assistant who is always with you. Today, only the privileged can afford an assistant. What if the whole world can have a personal assistant which knows you and gives information that you need.

Regulators in many countries, including in India, have raised concerns over how Google runs search. How does that impact the way you think?

I have devoted my 25 years to building the best search system. Our job is to serve every user, to give people answers they need. That’s how the entire team thinks. We build for our users. I understand we are big and with our size, comes scrutiny and we welcome that. But, we have been doing everything right for users; so, nothing changes in my thinking.

But the issue is about trust. How can users trust Google when regulators accuse you of being anti-competitive?

You are right. Our users’ trust is the biggest earning. FTC in the US has looked at these issues. There is a clear division between the church and state, that is, between our monetised part of the page and organic part of the webpage. Everything we monetise is clearly marked. Our biggest advertisers cannot do anything to earn better ranking on search. We have actually taken action on ourselves when some part of the company did something that was not allowed by the search guidelines. At the end of the day, all I can do is to operate with utmost humility and rigour.

What do you have to say to the specific comments made by the Indian competition authority?

We are looking at what the CCI report says; so, don’t have any specific comments.

If every country brings its own laws, is there a danger that the user experience may change in each country?

We have to abide by the country’s law in the country that we are in. One could debate whether these laws are in favour of the citizen but we will abide by it.

At some point, the citizens have to figure out if the laws being passed by their government are crossing a line that they don’t want. Generally, we believe in free information, we generally do not like governments putting barriers between good information and people. But ,we understand cultural sensitivities and we have to respect that.

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