Google has long been the top dog of search, with all of the others trailing far behind. But could that be about to change with the announcement of Yahoo's customizable Alpha Search Engine?

Yahoo Inc. is quietly testing a search engine which users can customize
by adding, removing and rearranging components, suggesting that the
company may plan to make it easier for users to tailor search sites to
reflect their interests. Having done some preliminary tests, it appears to do a good job. Initial searching is easy, but to customize the engine one needs to register. Yahoo Alpha Search is still in beta, so there could more changes to come. Time will tell if it delivers want people want.

 The original article can be found on PC World, Yahoo Tests Customizable Alpha Search Engine.

Increasingly, Google Inc's impartiality is being called into question, especially when it comes to living up to their motto, "do no evil". From complying to requests from the Chinese government to censor search results, to allowing the American military to post video clips of Iraq operations on it's newly acquired YouTube, to the recent doctoring of Google Maps satellite imagery. Up until this week, Google Maps displayed the damage to New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina. Google Maps now displays pre-Katrina imagery of the city. One is left questioning why.

Google Maps returns to pre-Katrina status, leaving some wondering why

One is also left to remember that we are dealing with a corporate giant, and it of course has vested interests. We tend to forgo the thought of any bias, and look to Google as our trusted source of answers and information. How much of our online business is being shaped by the designs of one company? The term "google" even has a place in dictionaries now, a clear mark of the impression Google has on our minds. Is Google really that a good of a search engine, providing us the results we want, or have we now been trained to provide Google with the information it wants? 

When we talk in terms of SEO, it is almost always in terms of what Google wants.