Finding, Saving and Sharing Information – Vertically
by Administrator
Posted on 02.02.2006
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A Review of Vertical Search and Interview with LookSmart CEO David Hills
If you could promote your products on a level that consistently appealed to a
targeted group of sophisticated niche users you would do it, right? Of course
you would – it’s the dream of those responsible for online marketing and
advertising.
Vertical search is increasing in awareness these days among the search world for
good reason. Find a provider (and yes, they do exist) that can serve your
advertising or promotional content to the prospects you are in pursuit of on a
level that converts then you’ve successfully tapped a market you’ll want to stay
in over the long term. Vertical search provides such an opportunity.
LookSmart is one such company offering a simple way to “find, save and share
information” on a vertical level through customized search results and content.
Looksmart focuses on providing “essential, not exhaustive information” to users
of their service says David Hill, CEO of LookSmart. Catching users at different
points in the sales process (or sales funnel) is something immensely valuable to advertisers and
what LookSmart is providing.
Why is Vertical Search the next logical step for the Web?
As industries (take television or radio, even newspapers for example)
mature, they tend to lean toward providing more specialized content. This
provides interesting opportunities for everyone; content providers, merchants
and even advertisers. So why is vertical search the next logical step for the
Web? According to Hill, “as you develop a passion around something, you tend to
rest on smaller niche sites that help you find what you’re looking for.”
Late October 2005 saw LookSmart unveil 181 vertical websites in thirteen
categories that are impressively focused and demographically defined, making
them the largest single provider of vertical search destinations on the Web. The
Company's "brand promise" is to provide consumers with essential information for
passions, needs and repetitive tasks encountered in everyday life.
LookSmart is not alone in the vertical space, but it is certainly one of its
established leaders. Other providers include About.com, Business.com, Kayak.com,
WeddingChannel.com, HealthLine, WebMD and hundreds of other specialized
properties.
Hill had some valid perspectives on why users end up on vertical destinations,
and indicated that while Google and Yahoo still rule when it comes to
aggregating general information, companies like LookSmart that have developed
vertical search products (where Web users look for a certain type of
information, product or service) provide the ability for users to search among
providers of that product and information on a more refined level.
It’s essential in the vertical search arena (or any business industry for that
matter) that you truly understand what your consumers want and be dedicated to
providing it. It seems clear to Hill that consumers want a trusted brand to
provide the specialized content they are passionate about.
For each vertical category, LookSmart has developed an array of niche sites. For
example, LookSmart's Money web sites include: mutual funds, real estate,
retirement, savings, stocks, taxes and more. Unlike many other sites, content
and articles found on LookSmart's vertical search sites are freely accessible
and from a wide variety of sources. “Over time, when people get hooked on
something, they tend to go to places on the Internet that are vertical.”
While vertical search may not be top of mind for the savvy ‘Net marketer now, it
very well may be in the near future. There are several core components to
LookSmart’s successful, albeit brief, time as a leader in vertical search. When
asked about this, Hill stated “Exhaustive aggregation of all content in that
vertical - If it's not exhaustive, it's not fulfilling its promise.
Other core components of success in vertical search are strikingly similar to
those related to the success of search as a concept in general - primarily ease
of use and unbiased information. “A user needs to trust that the search engine
is working for them, not a bunch of paying customers,” said Hill. Relevant
content is also a core component. “The search results need to be pertinent to
the search term. If users need to continually refine their search to get what
they want, they will abandon the site,” said Hill. LookSmart achieves its
“exhaustive aggregation of content” for its verticals through a constrained
publication search (from which they produce vertical results), a standard crawl
and index general ‘Net backfill as well as its new Furl product.
Looksmart’s Furl: LookSmart is poised to make a dramatic impact on the
world of search with its recent acquisition of Furl, a service which gives users
the ability to browse the web and save any page with a single click as well as
retrieve and share pages easily. Furl’s extremely detailed and versatile
reporting, help make LookSmart a search engine worth considering experimenting
with and comparing results with similarly placed search engines not set up for
vertical search. LookSmart and Local.com announced that LookSmart's Furl.net
("Furl") will be the archiving technology powering the "Save" feature on
Local.com.
Click Fraud: You can not really speak to anyone in the search industry
without the concept of click-fraud rearing its ugly head. Looksmart has been
pegged in the past as a source of poor converting traffic. When asked what steps
LookSmart has taken to ensure better quality, Hill stated “We’ve developed some
good systems and a good understanding of our vertical… we’ve dealth with it
(click fraud) decisively.”
LookSmart releases fourth quarter earnings on February 9th. Information about
its Web conference call can be obtained at http://shareholder.com/looksmart
Corporate Information Regarding LookSmart:
LookSmart is an online media and technology company specializing in vertical
search. The company provides relevant content, advertising and technology
solutions for consumers, advertisers and publishers. LookSmart’s owned and
operated vertical search sites are where customers look for what they need. The
Company’s sites and web tools offer essential search results with the ability to
find, save and share articles. In addition to owned and operated properties,
LookSmart’s distribution network includes selected, monitored syndicated
publishers and search engine partners that maximize advertiser ROI. Distribution
partners include Lycos, CNET, InfoSpace (Excite, MetaCrawler, Webcrawler), Cox
Interactive, Apple's Sherlock, and U.C. Berkeley. LookSmart offers a
comprehensive and customizable set of syndicated solutions for publishers to
grow their advertiser relationships and audience.
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