SearchEngineWatch recently named Google its "Outstanding Search Service" for the past year. It won most other awards, too, including "Best Design." But it wasn't a total sweep, and SearchEngineWatch associate editor Chris Sherman says Google is far from invincible.

SHERMAN: We saw some really strong performances from a number of other search services other than Google. In the Outstanding Search category for example, we really felt very strongly that All the Web and Yahoo were just about on par with Google. It was a really difficult decision for us to make. We didn’t give them the award in the end, simply because Google has the broadest array of search services available. Had All the Web or Yahoo been able to match that, we think the quality of the searches they provide is as good or better than Google, and they’ll certainly be in the running next year for winning that Outstanding Search Service award.

Besides All the Web and Yahoo, what companies are gunning for Google and might present more of a challenge in the coming year?

SHERMAN: We’ve seen a very strong showing from Ask Jeeves. This is a search engine that sort of fell out of favor and they’ve really done an excellent job at improving what they’re up to. And of course we have Microsoft now saying they’re going to enter the Web search space. Who knows what they’re up to and how well they’ll be able to compete.

So in you’re view, Google hasn’t cemented anything -- the loyalty they’ve built up could go away?

SHERMAN: I think so. In fact there was research released this week comScore, which actually tracks behavior of Web searchers. comScore is saying there really is very little loyalty among search users. They’re saying people don’t hesitate to switch from one search engine to another when they’re not finding what they need. And if you think back to the late 1990’s, the reason that Google actually became as popular as it did was because the other search engines that were really popular at the time, like Alta Vista and Infoseek, really took their eye off the ball. And we’re seeing signs today that Google isn’t as highly focused on searching as it used to be. They’re buying all these companies. A social networking company for example, the blogging company. There’s a variety of things it is doing that really has nothing to do with search. So they need to be careful in terms of really keeping their eye on the ball. People love Google, but it’s something they’re going to have to keep earning.