Everyone Wants to Have the Google Killer. Is It Vertical Search?
by
on January 12, 2008,
This week saw the launch of Wikia Search, and the revelation that Mahalo is still relying on Google for most of its traffic, using SEO strategy to drive it. And while everyone wants to be the search engine that actually succeeds in drawing users away from Google, no one really thinks that a contender has appeared yet.
Here's the rub: Google is processing over 20,000 terabytes PER DAY. No start-up in the world is going to have the cash to process that kind of data, and even utilizing Amazon's EC2 isn't going to make it affordable to replicate the same quantity of results. And while the buzzword with both Mahalo and Wikia Search is “people” search, there is no way that humans alone can assemble enough data to be all things to all people to make the information relevant.
So what's left? According to Sramana Mitra, it's a vertical search. Rather than focusing on the broad over-reaching crawl of Google and the like, she suggests that companies will roll up into specific areas of interest, using Kayak as an example. By focusing on a single subject, like travel, a site like Kayak can provide everything from travel planning to hotel information without having to sift through thousands of irrelevant results.
Of course, the key here is to get out of the gate before Google realizes that they could branch out and essentially take over the world. There are some sites out there that promise that this sort of vertical searching is coming, such as Zat, but so far, nothing has surfaced. Taking an independent search that has no vested interest in one company over another that could provide independent search results along with product reviews, and a community to compare notes, give suggestions, and poll for information would be a time saver and actually make some of the great technology that's sprung out of Web 2.0 useful for more than passing someone virtual drinks on a social network.
If what Mitra suggests comes to fruition, 2008 may be a year of some very interesting mergers and alliances between little Davids trying to take on the big bad Google.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to profy RSS feed!
aa
Alan Kodzasov
Shallow
CopyrightLawSucks 
kinghajj 
Michael Fidler 
The Google Slayer already exists. MyLocator is a strategic 1300 channel vertical locator domain network.
maybe the next search engine won’t be as search, maybe a smart index
Good post. I find this much more plausible than trying to be a general search using hand-crafted ratings and indexes. Verticals are a classic target for customized and personalized customer service in other industries, it only makes sense to bring that to search.
Daniel, sorry, but MyLocator isn’t even close to being a Google Slayer. Vertical domain location isn’t even remotely close to what people are searching for when they want information. The whole idea of a vertical search is that it would allow you to drill down to find detailed information. A relocation vertical search could involve a roll-up of Zillow, restaurant reviews from MyTripAdvisor, school district information, weather information, etc.
Commenter 2 (sorry I can’t replicate your name.. I can do Polish and English and that’s about it.
) I’m still not sure how smart indexing would help with the relevance of the information. Mitra’s article gave travel as an example; how do you separate out Paris Hilton the quasi-celebrity from the Paris Hilton Hotel quickly and provide that information in context? The hotel information along with sightseeing information, local restaurants, entertainment, public transit, etc. would be ideally suited to show up together. I see inklings of it at Schmap.com.
Location is king to all internet business endeavors. There is only so much premium location to go around. Some got it, some dont! Some get it, some dont! Cindarira have you ever created a search engine? Do you own a vertical location domain network? Do you ever study direct navigation? Have you ever received traffic from a direct navigation domain? My advice is ask questions before you comment. Know exactly what your talking about before you comment. I would not say something if I did not believe it to be true. Lets learn from each other. Do you have any questions? I have one, do you have a website? Says alot about your character.
Daniel, would that be your Mylocator that was called the “worst business ever” by valleywag (http://valleywag.com/tech/worst-business-ever/mylocator-257568.php) ?
Yeah, you’ve done a bang up job.
So you’re going to corner the market for finding plumbers who know how to set up a website, are unlucky enough to find your “service”, and are not smart enough to realize it’s pointless. Woo hoo! Look out Google!
GreenDip look deeper and youll see that mr denton did not put me in the stupidist startups of summer 2008. maybe he had some reconsiderations. stay away from valleywag if you want to advance you intellect. unless gossip rags are your choice media. http://valleywag.com/tech/deadpool/five-stupidest-startups-of-the-summer-292031.php#c2192473
thought of the day.
“there is no substitute for experience.”
“GreenDip”?
You’re quite the professional there… I mean, I’ll come on here and fillet retards like you in comments, but not with my own name while trying to pimp my horrible business… Oh, and if you’re trying to tell someone they’re dumb? It’s usually a good idea to proofread your post, or at least spell check it.
So you’re happy to not be one of the worst startups of the summer? Uhh… they’ve moved on. They listed you as craptastic once, why come back? Also, It’s not the worst of all time, just the summer, so you weren’t even in the running. Maybe you could suggest that they do a worst of all time so you could get some more “press”. God knows it’s the only way anyone will find your site.
Grendel =Jason, I apologized for offending Cyndy. When are you going to stop doing the “comments dance?” Cyndy is NOT guilty, you know? Just stop, man! You are not helping her! You are not helping Profy either. You are offensive, full of rage, completely off focus and your comments (yeah, show me who’s then man some more!!!) are off topic too.
Yes, I do know who you are. I knew it since you first defended Cyndy - since you first appeared into the picture, J! Cyndy even edited the order of the comments (Netscape) to “cover your track.” Come on!
This time Cyndy wrote a fine little article. Don’t shade her! What a pity!
no comment. you win jason. i give.
your a star. 
im retarded.:).
thought for the day.
Personal Integrity cannot be bought or sold. it must be personally earned and preserved, day in and day out in everything we do.
Mihaela, on the post in question, I posted a comment via the blog software and not the web site. At the time, the blog software was set to CST (GMT -6) and my comment posted ahead of another comment, even though it included a response to a comment that then appeared after it. I edited my own comment time to include the time adjustment.
I have never edited any comments other than my own, and don’t even have the authorization to do so in the blog software. I’m not sure what point you are trying to make here by saying I’m covering any track. Or are you saying that only certain people are allowed to comment on my blog posts?
As for Daniel over there, here you have a commenter whose sole purpose in commenting in the first place was nothing more than trying to get hits for his own site, which in no way, shape, or form relates to a Web 2.0 or Web 3.0 vertical search. If this were my own blog, I probably would have deleted it, because it falls under what I consider to be comment spam. I felt that my reply to Daniel was justified as well as polite in explaining that his “product” doesn’t even come close to relating to the topic of my article.
For whatever reason, my articles lately seem to be attracting disagreeable comments, from Daniel’s response to yours in a previous post when you disagreed with me. Your comment here on the article is completely off-topic from any discussion of what vertical search is, could be, or why it would be important. I’d ask that if you have a beef with me or any of my commenters, you would take it offline.
Not a disagreeable comment from me, Cyndy. On the contrary. I loved this one. And I have nothing against “Grendel” either. I am just saying, you are a big girl, you do make your point when needed and you certainly don’t need a shield. That’s all.
Keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Mig
Cindyariocarrera : i definitely dont need hits from this site, you have to be kiddin me, please tell me that you did not mean that. you have a way of spouting out things that just are not true. I am in utter shock to hear that my vertical locator network has nothing to do with vertical search. are we on the same planet? if people are writing stories for profy and spouting at the same time at commenters that can say alot about the character of the site. you still did not answer any of my questions and thats rude. I sincerely enjoyed the article and look forward to any regarding vertical search. maybe next time when the author makes a blanket statement on a commenter they will know what they are talking about, or at least be willing to an open debate. the only reason i came to profy is to learn. check out this link of vertical domains that sold during 2007. http://dnjournal.com/ytd-sales-charts.htm another question for you is why vertical domains are so expensive? we have alot to talk about. lets learn together.
sincerely
I’m not really following the whole comment thread here, but a portion of one comment stood out. Profy Authors don’t have the ability to edit or delete comments - only the blog owner can do that. It is like that since there was some controversy last year over a comment someone thought was deleted out of malice - now there is no confusion for the readers - they know only the blog owner can determine which contents are off topic, link spam, just plain out of line or spreading incorrect or malicious information, etc. A much better system to avoid needless conflict or comment troll issues.