John Holland, Co-founder of SearchMe

MD: John, the whole search engine marketing world is currently talking about your new search engine and many of us are a part of the BETA testing. What gave you the idea to create a visual search engine and how long did it take you to develop the product as it is right now?
JH: We wanted to create something different in search. We got the idea by asking ourselves how the Internet had changed in the last 5 years. One of those ways is broadband, another way is that it’s a lot bigger. Our visual interface and categorization address today’s Internet. We’ve spent 3 years on our technology, with various research stops along the way.
MD: John, many of my readers might not know you (yet). What is your background and what would you consider your main area of interest?

Here’s my bio: http://www.crunchbase.com/person/john-holland

My main interest with regards to the net is how the internet is transforming culture. on the side, i like music, politics, film, art, food, and travel.

MD: OK for the life of me, I cannot figure out your algorithm. The results are slightly different than the other search engines, or rather Google in particular. Without the need to reveal too much (of course every SEO wants to know as much as possible), what is your algorithm based on and how important of a role do you believe it will play when it comes to the future of SearchMe.
JH: The order is determined by a number of factors. Every major search engine uses a combination of algorithmic and editorial features to rank results by relevance. We do the same, but we also categorize the results to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. This algorithm will be essential, especially as we tune it for categories and visual search.

MD: John, everyone I have spoken to is into SearchMe and predicts a great future. What are your predictions? Not just for SearchMe, but internet search within the next few years.

JH: I think search is going to get richer, and simpler. Search has to live on mobile phones and TV, not just the Internet. And it has to work for real people. Scanning rows and rows of text is neither simple nor natural for many people. Now, I personally am a text-based search geek. But I meet many people who aren’t, and I think they will be very important in the future of search.

MD: What were some of your biggest obstacles to overcome and how did you overcome them?
JH: Imaging a billion pages is a challenge. After brute force, you have to get intelligent about how you image. Our other big challenge was a category schema and suggest engine. We did this with a combination of human information scientists, and machine learning.

MD: John, are you friends with anybody in the search engine marketing industry? We all know that Google has Matt Cutts. How closely are you going to network with SEOs and what purpose do you believe hanging out with SEOs serves?
JH: Haha, I have all kinds of friends. My background is marketing, so I’ve worked in the past more with SEOs than SEMs. One way or another, you have to “pay to play,” and I’ve found SEM more straightforward. That said, I think SEO’s do a real service to users if it’s done right.

Other than search engines, technology and the internet, what are your passions and what inspires you?
JH: Charity. All of us in technology are so fortunate for the things we have. I’d like to find ways to help us all give a little.

MD: You are the co-founder. Would you introduce your team to us and give us an insight on who the biggest players are?
JH: EVERYONE in our company is a big player, perhaps because we are a small company. My partner and our CEO, Randy Adams is amazingly talented and creative, and the product owes a lot to him. We have a whole group of engineers, information scientists, and web developers that is fantastic.

MD: John, thank you so much for this interview. Is there anything I didn’t ask you that you would like to be able to share with our readers?
JH: Probably that we’re just getting started. Our approach opens up a world of possibility, and we’re excited to be a part of the search ecosystem.

Thanks for the opportunity!

To find out how you can become a BETA tester and experience visual search on your own, go to Searchme.com and tell us what you think!

Check out the press page as well.