I’ve been spending time with vertical search lately; though a long time fan and advocate of social search networks like Del.icio.us, I want to revisit my experience with vertical search and catch up on some of the new options and opportunities.
Vertical, or specialized search, describes engines that are the focus on a specific business or topic. For years analysts have foretold the year of vertical search with each year the the tipping point. As one can assume more accurate results from an engine specific to the theme in which one is searching, these are the developments with which to pay attention.
I like to think of this category of search as having four segments: Topical, Local, Industry (or the more accurate use of “vertical”), and Personalized.
Personalized, of course, includes Yahoo’s new Alpha platform, Google co-op, and even my personal Online Marketing search engine from Swicki (which could also be characterized as topical but truly is personalized by me and its users). These are engines constantly in a state of change as they are tweaked, updated, and optimized by its owner and audience. The subject of the engine itself can be local or topical content but the quality of the results are massaged by amateur editors.
Industry, or vertical search, supports a business channel such as travel (with Sidestep), shopping (of which there are dozens of engines; a frequent topic here), or autos (Edmunds). Without question, this segment is ever evolving as entrepreneurs and engineers find newer and better ways to support users; consider The Find or the new Ajax based CarsDirect technology. One might even consider the search capabilities of Last.fm, music search.
Balihoo, the vertical engine I just mentioned last week, recently released to, literally, each of us, the ability to search for media products that are most relevant to our advertising campaigns. Online advertising buyers and sellers can gather and analyze information about display media products as well as interacting with owner/sellers to build and execute media plans.
A demo launched to a select group of advertisers and media buying firms from small media companies to global advertisers and their agencies. This new search engine will be broadly available to the rest of us later this year.
In my mind, Local presents the most attractive sector growth as engines learn to present results that are, specifically, right for “You.” Yahoo! Local has my attention when it comes to business search with their engine having replaced my Yellow Pages. Results are sorted by distance while a user feedback loop improves the results by rating.
Consider too the new possibilities as an audience of local event search. Not only are results sorted by region and rating but popularity and personal preferences can factor in to create a recommendation engine feeding you suggestions for upcoming concerts, festivals, and sporting events. With Zvents, we even have a group to which anyone can join to receive an iCalendar or feed of all Online Marketing events and conferences.
That leaves us Topical search, a wonderful way to end your day in the office as these are the engines that can be best described as time wasters. We have Big Cartoon Database, Yellowpet (the cat search engine), UFOSeek, and Celebhoo.
Whatever your fancy, there is an engine for you so ask yourself before you next visit those general results, is there a better way?
Nice article Paul.
I thought I would add a few things that you might find interesting. A Jupiter research report in 2004 discovered that 41% of people said the results they get from broad search engines are not relevant to their query.
The problem is particulary present in the B2B space where a Coversa study from 2006 indicates that only 43% of business professionals find what they want from a horizontal engine after several attempts. That same study indicates that half of the users that don’t find what they’re looking for will turn to a vertical search engine to get better results.
The point that I’m making is that vertical search exists…and continues to get more steam…because of the incredible volume of information out there. A vertical search engine allows you to put “context” around your search to give you the results you’re looking for.
Can you imagine searching Google to book your next business trip? No, you’ll use Travelocity or Expedia or one of the many other vertical search engines for the travel industry.
I think vertical search in all of it’s forms…industry, local, mobile, etc., will continue to grow as users become more sophisticated and want better results.
The “Vertical Search Survey 2008” has just been released. To download a free online copy of the full report, click here https://www.convera.com/survey/
CPM will be fastest-growing revenue stream for publishers in 2008
Online revenue set to increase while print income flattens or decreases
Content owners must ensure visibility within fragmenting digital landscape by embracing RSS, widgets and toolbars.
Publishers see vertical search as opportunity to reclaim the online community from Google.
The fastest-growing revenue streams for publishers in 2008 will be internet display advertising and online sponsorship.
Some 72% of publishers are expecting an increase in income from CPM advertising next year and 67% are predicting a rise in digital sponsorship, while print revenues are more likely to flatten or decrease. Just under two thirds (64%) are expecting a rise in paid search (PPC) revenue.
The findings come from a survey which was circulated to members of the Association of Online Publishers (AOP), American Business Media (ABM), Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB UK) and E-consultancy?s early-adopter community of internet marketers.
The research also highlights the need for specialist publishers to react quickly to major changes in the digital environment in order to maintain and increase their market share and visibility.
Publishers need to adapt to maximize their digital revenues at a time of shifting advertising budgets. Trends in digital marketing are leading towards a fragmentation of the online landscape and ?atomization? of content. Content owners have a great opportunity to increase visibility for their content through the effective use of vertical search, feeds, widgets and toolbars.
The level of uptake for feeds and customized homepages is very high among this early-adopter audience surveyed but this kind of online behavior will soon become more widespread among knowledge workers across a wider range of industries.?
Some 93% of more than 500 media and internet professionals said that they would be ?very likely? or ?quite likely? to use a search engine that focused on serving their specific business or work needs.
More than 70% of publishers perceived ?reclaiming the online community from Google? to be either a major benefit or a minor benefit from vertical search.
To download a free online copy of the full report, click here https://www.convera.com/survey/