[keenmaster]

Then why not further personalize search? I know that search results already vary according to things like the user’s location, but the entire search algorithm should be tweaked according to the user. Machine learning could potentially do a good job of this.

Google can also allow users to self-select. The way to do this would be to have a survey with multiple sliders that allow the user to demonstrate, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much they care about a certain parameter. There would be default profiles that automatically set the sliders for you, like “academic.”

Even if Google doesn’t take this route for global search, they can add more features to advanced search. Google Advanced Search is underpowered, given Google’s technological capabilities.

Finally, with regards to the Advanced Search approach, Google can allow the user to create several search buttons that always appear on the Google front page. For example, an Arab American researcher may have a default search button, an Academic search button, and an Arabic search button, all of which can be tweaked along multiple parameters, as described above.

[UweSchmidt]

There seem to be very few "sliders" in today's web. I suspect all kinds of advanced functionality would go directly against what those companies are all about.