Google is making a number of changes to the executive team that runs Google Search:
- Liz Reidwho led core search practices, will now become Head of Search at Google.
- Cheenu Venkatacharya It will be the new leader of search quality and ranking.
With these changes, Pandu Nayak is leaving his position as lead for search quality and ranking and will become Chief Scientist of Search. In another variation, Cathy Edwards Moves to the Long Term Bets on Knowledge and Information team.
What Google said. A Google spokesperson sent the following statement to Search Engine Land:
- “We are excited to share that we are consolidating the Search organization under Liz Reid, a long-time and respected leader with deep product and technical knowledge at Google. With recent improvements in search quality, new ways to search like Circle to Search, and features that use gen AI to help with more complex questions, we’ve got big speed in Search. For example, SGE, which is still only a Search Labs feature, has already been used for billions of queries. We are happy to bring our search teams together under his leadership.”
Liz Reid. About three years ago, Reid was named head of the core search practice Prabhakar Raghavan. He will continue to report to Raghavan in his new role as Head of Search.
Reid joined Google in 2003. He is recognized as one of the early pioneers of Google Maps and Local Search, and helped Google redefine modern mapping with artificial intelligence. Reid was also the first female engineer to work in the company’s New York office.
Reid specifically helped with the search:
Liz Reid shared on LinkedIn “Today I’m taking on a new role leading Search and I’m excited for the opportunity to shape the future of this important product.” You can read his full message LinkedIn.
Cheenu Venkatacharya. Venkatachary will lead the Google Search quality and ranking teams, assuming Nayak’s role. Venkatachary first worked at Google from May 2013 to December 2014, then went to a company that was bought by Apple. Returned to Google in October 2022.
Pandu Nayak. Nayak becomes Chief Scientist of Search, where he will continue to advise and focus on technical challenges in Search. Google told us that it will continue to be deeply involved in Google’s broader efforts to understand content, rank it, and explore how new AI technologies can improve Google Search.
Google recognizes Nayak as a leading expert in algorithms, ranking and information systems. Nayak is Google’s latest inductee into the National Academy of Engineering.
Cathy Edwards. In 2021, Edwards, who led Google Apps, News, Discover and ecosystem efforts, returns to Australia and will join the Long-term Bets team. Co-founder of Chomp (acquired by Apple), Edwards will help incubate new product ideas in collaboration with Knowledge and Information leaders.
Why do we care? How this might affect Google Search and overall search quality remains to be seen. Google often makes high-level changes with its executive teams and people move on. I’m sure there will be a lot of speculation as to why these moves are being made, but overall, really smart and respected people are filling the roles of those moving on to other roles within the company.