Vertical search

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Vertical search, part of a larger subgrouping known as “specialized” search, is a relatively new tier in the Internet search industry consisting of search engines that focus on specific businesses. While Google, Yahoo!, and the like will continue to dominate the online consumer search market, research analysts say myriad specialized search engines are emerging to address the particular information needs of niche audiences and professions.

1 Origins of vertical search
2 Vertical search vs. broad-based search
3 Who is the vertical search user?
4 Who is the buyer in vertical search marketing?
5 What’s driving growth in vertical search?
6 Vertical search design and advertising models
7 References

[edit] Origins of vertical search

Niche search engines aren’t exactly new. Web sites that help users find people, shop and get business information have existed for years. But the number of these search engines being introduced has greatly increased in recent years.

In fact, in the last three years, research analysts at Forrester Research, Jupiter Research and MarketingSherpa have identified a new tier in search dubbed “specialized search,” which includes “local,” “topical” and “vertical” search. Local search is already a burgeoning subset, with Google Local and many newspapers offering this functionality (see www.wickedlocalsearch.com, for example). And in the topical genre, there is a host of travel search engines such as www.sidestep.com, www.kayak.com and www.travelzoo.com. This latter field, which comprises search engines designed to served the needs of businesses in specific industries, is still evolving as new technologies and innovative entrepreneurs create new opportunities.

Like consumers, businesses use the Internet for a variety of needs. Sometimes they’re looking for all the information they can get, and for that the likes of Google and the Yahoo search engines are used. But more often they’re looking for something very specific related to their businesses. That’s where vertical search sites come in. Vertical search engines deliver to businesses what the big sites can’t without the use of complex keyword combinations: relevant and essential content versus an exhaustive return of information.

[edit] Vertical search vs. broad-based search

To see how these sites differ, it’s helpful to know how they are designed. The term “search engine” refers to a software program that searches the Web and Usenet groups to find documents for a specified keyword and returns a list of documents in which the keyword was found.

Broad-based search engines such as Google or Yahoo fetch very large numbers of documents using a Web crawler. Another program called an indexer then reads these documents and creates a search index based on words contained in each document. Each search engine uses a proprietary algorithm to create its indexes so that, ideally, only meaningful results are returned for each query.

Vertical search engines, on the other hand, send their spiders out to a highly refined database, and their indexes contain information about a specific topic. As a result, they are of most value to people interested in a particular area; what’s more, the companies that advertise on these search engines reach a very focused audience. For example, there are search engines for veterinarians, doctors, patients, job seekers, house hunters, recruiters, travelers and corporate purchasers, to name a few.

[edit] Who is the vertical search user?

As the broad-based search engines have gotten broader, so have their search results. This has become increasingly frustrating to users who have turned to search engines to find information on a specialized topic, be it local information, travel sites or specific business channels.

This is especially true of the latter. In the business marketing profession, terms that have very specific meanings in certain industries will yield a host of irrelevant results when used as keywords on the big search engines. For example, say a dentist is looking for information on ceramics, a common material used in dental work. If the dentist performs a Google search on the keyword “ceramics,” Google will serve up millions of results, but most of the entries on the first few pages will concern hobbies like pottery. On the other hand, if the dentist performs the same search on DentalProducts.net, a well-regarded media company Web site, it will return much more relevant results.

LookSmart, an online media and technology company that has launched more than 180 vertical search sites, contends that Web users will increasingly use the Internet the way they do cable television, opting for specialized channels that speak directly to their concerns. This company says vertical search engines will chip away at Google’s and Yahoo’s audiences the same way cable TV channels such as TLC and the National Geographic Channel have eaten into network audiences.

[edit] Who is the buyer in vertical search marketing?

On the simplest level, the vertical search buyer is a marketer that wants to be found by the user of one of these specialized search engines. When a business person searches the Web through a search engine or a directory, that person is considered to be in “hunt mode.” Marketers understand that this hunt mode means the searcher may very well be somewhere in the buying cycle. That makes search engine results some of the best sources of targeted traffic, whether that traffic originates from “organic” unpaid search listings or paid advertising listings.

“Vertical search providers will play an important role in the paid search market in the next five years,” said Zia Wigder, vice president and research director at JupiterResearch, a division of JupiterMedia. “Search marketers must establish a robust management strategy and an efficient testing and inclusion process to profit from this growth.”

[edit] What’s driving growth in vertical search?

Advertisers on vertical sites are able to reach potential customers who are much closer to making a purchase decision than the average user on Google or Yahoo, according to Greg Sterling, an analyst with The Kelsey Group. He told Forbes.com that that’s the whole motivation for advertising on vertical sites. For example, he said someone doing a search on Edmunds.com, an automobile search engine, is probably more serious about buying a car than someone doing a car search on a general search engine.

The cost of advertising on the large search engines is also likely to drive more marketers to vertical search.

“Increasing competition and rising keyword prices should motivate search marketers to look for newer, viable opportunities to diversify their incoming traffic,” said Sapna Satagopan, research associate at JupiterResearch.

“Vertical search is about to happen,” says Gary Stein, director of strategy at Ammo Marketing and a former senior analyst at JupiterMedia. “Market conditions are setting up for it: the popularity of search engines; the availability of tools to build it; and opportunities to make money—advertisers are competing for keywords.”

A study by JupiterResearch called “Vertical Search: Early Marketers Will Reap Rewards of Low Pricing” found that paid search is densely concentrated within primary categories, or verticals: retail, financial services, travel, and media and entertainment. These accounted for 79% of spending on paid search in the United States in 2004.

Some trends to consider:

$7.4 billion was spent on search engine marketing in 2005 (16% of which was business-to-business).
More than 40% of the average marketer’s budget is devoted to search.
Nearly 38% of Yahoo’s advertisers are defined as b-to-b.
More than 50% of Google’s target advertisers are b-to-b.
Nearly 64% of search engine users search for business information first.

[edit] Vertical search design and advertising models

In terms of design and implementation, several models are emerging in vertical search:

The vertical search engine as a destination or portal: Examples are VetMedSearch, Gizmocafe.com and Loupeit.net. Often media companies that own these destination sites optimize them and buy keywords on Google to drive their audience to visit.
Vertical search as a complementary Web site application: This model entails embedding a search engine box on an existing, already trafficked site. One example is CertMag.com.
Parametric search: This tool, more prevalent in engineering and other product-specific, information-intensive, procurement-driven industries, often allows for face-to-face product and manufacturer comparison.

In terms of revenue that these vertical search engines generate, a variety of advertising programs are gaining favor, including:

Cost per click, in which the advertiser pays only for each time that a user clicks on its ad.
Cost per thousand/cost per impression/cost per view, the standardized, traditional method of online advertising, is now emerging as an option in vertical search environments.
Cost per action, an emerging model in which the advertiser pays, not on click, or for impressions, but only if the consumer performs a specific action, such as purchases a good.
Flat fee/fixed fee, the most popular early ad model for most of the vertical search engines.
Web order entry/self-service, a system whereby marketers can buy, monitor and revise their ad campaigns themselves simply by entering their credit card information through a password-protected interface.
Paid inclusion, the practice of inserting “editorial-like” ads or more traditional ads into the actual organic search results.
Paid listing, in which ads appear on top of or beside organic listings and are clearly identified as sponsored links.
Free, plus, in which the site is completely free for both those listing and those searching, with additional features available for those who pay.