Today marks the day that Larry Page takes over as CEO of Google. As Brafton reported back in January, Eric Schmidt is stepping into the role of executive chairman, while Google co-founder Page will serve as chief executive officer. With Page's reign underway, there is already buzz about new patents and new search experts surrounding the company.
Google has remained mum about Page's first day as leader, with no mention of the transition of power in the corporate blog. However, the company has announced that it is going after an aggressive patent portfolio. Having a “formidable patent portfolio … helps maintain your freedom to develop new products and services,” the company says, explaining its bid for Nortel patents.
The announcement may be a sign of new creative endeavors to come under Larry Page's direction. It also closely follows Google's release of +1 – a search recommendation tool announced last week.
While new products and services may be on the horizon, an announcement from Matt Cutts makes clear that the company will not forget its dedication to quality search results – perhaps it will even redouble its efforts in this realm.
Matt Cutts made a post in his personal blog today announcing that the company is hiring new search quality experts. “We work on everything from synonyms and spell correction to core ranking, UI changes, evaluation and – yes – even webspam,” said Cutts.
Search marketers must stay tuned to see what's in store for Google under the leadership of Larry Page. At present, he holds the keys to the search kingdom, with Google accounting for nearly two-thirds of the search market in February 2011.
