That is a question that Rebecca Lieb asks in an article at ClickZ after Google CFO George Reyes makes the public statement: "Clearly our growth rates are slowing."

Rebecca writes, "Google's share price slid and -- poof! Search is over, or at least you'd think so judging from this week's headlines in mainstream and financial media. Dispatches concerning Google included headlines such as: 'sounds an alarm,' 'spins its wheels,' 'spooks market with specter of slow growth,' 'bubble banners,' 'loses its go-go,' 'soft underbelly is contagious,' and "investors focus in on its risks."

At the same time she points to a ComScore Media Metrix study that shows search has increased 11 percent in January 2006 compared to January 2005.

She goes on to say, "Is search over? Hardly. Not when Carat CEO David Verklin told an audience at a Yahoo! event last week that search is, in essence, the future of advertising. When, in fact, virtually all the global ad agencies are developing in-house search expertise. Not when a friend who launched a new search ad firm six months ago told me over dinner last week of the blue chip clients his new shop has landed. That's led to near-immediate positive cash flow and profitability."

A good read as Rebecca provides additional information to prove that while search's period of hypergrowth may be slowing but rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated.