Transcript slides

The Future of Vertical Search
ASIDIC Fall Meeting
September 11, 2006
What is Vertical Search Anyway?
 Is it about traffic?
 Is it about advertising?
 Is it about content?
 Is it about finding something quicker?
 Is it about stuff?
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One Person’s Quest to Find a Definition
 “Please tell me that I am not the only person vexed
by the term vertical search? Did I lose touch? Has
the blogosphere passed me by? Did Web 2.0 ruin
my brain?”
 WebWord Blog – John S. Rhoads
 ”So what is vertical search? It is a specialized
search engine that mines data for one narrow niche
of the market place. Say jobs or travel. Or even high
end real estate. Because the data sources are so
fragmented, there seems to be an opportunity to
massage the data and present it in a manner that is
simple to use and easy to consume. Sort of meta
search for niches.”
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Favorite Simple Vertical Search Definition
It is search focused on a specific vertical.
(We can all go home now)
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Some Quotes on Vertical Search
 "The challenge for vertical search engines is to first
let people know they're out there in a world where
so much attention is put on one or two companies"
 “This type of content verticalization improves
advertising results, too.”
 “Vertical search engines often include "deep Web"
information, such as documents in specialized
databases.”
 "Advertising on vertical search engines is all about
fishing where the fish are.”
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The Vertical Search Opportunity
 Vertical search hasn't escaped the radar of Google,
Yahoo and the other leaders in general Web
search. They all let users search through local
business directories and provide driving directions
and maps. Some have job engines. Others provide
different levels of multimedia content search. But
these search engines aren't generally considered to
go deep enough into specific areas, which is where
others are finding the opportunity.
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The Future of Vertical Search Panelists
 Jeffrey Dearth, CEO, VerticalSearch.com
 Howard Ko, CEO Infocious
 Julian Steinberg, Inform.com
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