Google Search Has A New Boss: Prabhakar Raghavan Steps Down via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google has announced that Prabhakar Raghavan, the enforcement overseeing the company’s hunt motor and advertizing products, volition beryllium stepping down from his existent role.

The quality came connected Thursday successful a memo from CEO Sundar Pichai to staff.

Nick Fox To Lead Search & Ads

Taking implicit Raghavan’s responsibilities volition beryllium Nick Fox, a longtime Google enforcement with acquisition crossed assorted departments.

Fox volition present pb the Knowledge & Information team, which includes Google’s Search, Ads, Geo, and Commerce products.

Pichai expressed assurance successful Fox’s quality to pb these important divisions, noting:

“Throughout his career, Nick has demonstrated enactment crossed astir each facet of Knowledge & Information, from Product and Design successful Search and Assistant, to our Shopping, Travel, and Payments products.”

Raghavan’s New Role

Raghavan volition modulation to the recently created presumption of Chief Technologist.

He volition enactment intimately with Pichai and different Google leaders successful this relation to supply method direction.

Pichai praised Raghavan’s contributions, stating:

“Prabhakar’s enactment travel astatine Google has been remarkable, spanning Research, Workspace, Ads, and Knowledge & Information. He led the Gmail squad successful launching Smart Reply and Smart Compose arsenic aboriginal examples of utilizing AI to amended products, and took Gmail and Drive past 1 cardinal users.”

Past Criticisms

This caller announcement from Google comes successful the aftermath of earlier criticisms leveled astatine the company’s hunt division.

In April, an opinion piece from Ed Zitron highlighted concerns astir the absorption of Google Search nether Raghavan’s leadership.

The nonfiction cited manufacture analysts who claimed that Raghavan’s inheritance successful advertising, alternatively than hunt technology, had led to decisions prioritizing gross implicit hunt quality.

Critics alleged that nether Raghavan’s tenure, Google had rolled backmost cardinal prime improvements to boost engagement metrics and advertisement revenue.

Internal emails from 2019 were referenced. They described a “Code Yellow” exigency effect to lagging hunt revenues erstwhile Raghavan was caput of Ads. This reportedly resulted successful boosting sites antecedently downranked for utilizing spam tactics.

Google has disputed galore of these claims, maintaining that its advertizing systems bash not power integrated hunt results.

More Restructuring

As portion of Google’s restructuring:

1. The Gemini app team, led by Sissie Hsiao, volition articulation Google DeepMind nether CEO Demis Hassabis.
2. Google Assistant teams focused connected devices and location experiences volition determination to the Platforms & Devices division.

Looking Ahead

Fox’s takeover from Raghavan could shingle things up astatine Google.

We whitethorn spot faster AI rollouts successful hunt and ads, positive much predominant updates. Fox mightiness revisit halfway hunt quality, addressing caller criticisms.

Fox mightiness propulsion for quicker adoption of caller tech to fend disconnected competitors, particularly successful AI. He’s besides apt to beryllium much savvy astir regulatory issues.

It’s important to enactment that these imaginable changes are speculative based connected the constricted accusation available.

The existent changes successful enactment benignant and priorities volition go clearer arsenic Fox settles into his caller role.

Featured Image: One Artist/Shutterstock