Would you pay to use a search engine? Here are some ideas as why you might and why someone might try it as a business model.

Let’s say, hypothetically, you have a search engine that is capable of producing results at near-Google quality. For the sake of my thoughts here, I’ll just say it’s Bing (since it’s generally accepted as a solid alternative to Google) and because for all intent and purposes, Yahoo is now Bing anyway.

Google Knows Too Much

In order for Google to be as effective as it is, it needs to know as much about you as possible. And they know an absolutely frightening amount of information about each of us. They currently keep nine months of data about every user (it used to be two year’s worth). That’s a lot of personal data. And it doesn’t matter that it’s Google. If you went to Yahoo they keep the same information (although they only keep it for three months). They just haven’t figured out how to use it as effectively yet.

Bing and other search engines can’t compete against Google when it comes to search results and advertising. Sorry, but Google has that pretty much tied up. So why not attack something Google can’t (or, most likely, won’t) change? The advertising model.

Hello, Big Brother

It wouldn’t be hard at all for, say, Microsoft, to tactfully-yet-pointedly educate (read: scare the ever-loving snot out of) the public with regard to how much information Google collects about each of them and then offer an alternative: Search with Bing and absolutely no information about you will be saved. That, plus 25 GB of online storage and email for $1 per month or $10 per year (or whatever the nominal cost would be). Searches would be completely anonymous and there would be no advertising. It wouldn’t have bots reading your email and putting messages next to it. It wouldn’t track where you click, how long you’re on a page or what you’ve purchased.

Pure, unadulterated search. No strings, records, logs or ads attached. Plus 25 GB online storage and email. $1 per month.

The Price of Privacy

According to Mashable Bing had nearly 50 million uniques during its first month. Let’s pretend they stick around and are willing to pay for privacy (or, if they aren’t, that a comparable number of people come from Google and Yahoo to replace them). That’s $500,000,000 in annual revenue without having to worry about a sales force, paying insanely bright people insanely high salaries to figure out/tweak advertising algorithms, maintain ad networks, or deal with EU and FCC investigations. Just take the search engine they have and get rid of the ads.

Half a billion dollars doesn’t sound too bad when you consider at the end of 2008, Microsoft was losing about a half a billion dollars a year in their search efforts. And the more information Google collects, the more attractive Bing’s offer would be.


Supply the Real Demand

Instead of spending a lot of time and money trying to 1. effectively put ads next to search results, 2. convince businesses they need to advertise with Bing when Google does it better and 3. try to show average everyday people why they should Bing instead of Google, maybe Microsoft should buck the trend, charge for a service and give people something that’s truly unique and absent from the web: privacy.

Microsoft isn’t in the business of organizing the world’s information. Nor is it in the advertising business. Yet it spends billions of dollars trying to out-Google Google. Perhaps the most innovative thing for it to do is do what it’s been doing all along: create software and sell it.

What do you think? Are you concerned about the amount of info Google and others have about you? Would you pay for privacy online? Sound off in the comments.