Vertical Search
Vertical search engines (VSEs) are becoming increasingly popular as the general search engine marketing field continues to grow and become even more competitive. Vertical search engines limit the search results to only relevant web pages or topics, making it easier for internet users to find the information and resources they need. According to Vertical Search Report 2008, a survey that gathered data from over 500 media companies and internet professionals, found that vertical search is especially useful amongst industry professionals, who are more likely to use a search engine that caters to their specific field.
What is Vertical Search?
Vertical search, or topic specific search, is a kind of specialized search field composed of search engines that focus on specific kinds of internet content (usually content related to one specific industry or informational topic). To give an example, a medical vertical search engine will only produce results that are related to the specific field of medicine, regardless of what the search query is. Likewise, a video search engine will produce only video results. There are literally an unlimited number of ways in which a vertical search engine can be formatted. VSEs can be location specific, industry specific, or designed to focus on any number of differentiating criteria.
If you think of vertical search engines as television channels, magazines and other such topic-specific media outlets, it helps to understand their purpose and appeal. A television viewer interested in news will flip to one of the major news networks for information. A male magazine reader looking for formal wear fashion tips might browse through an issue of GQ magazine. Similarly, an internet user looking for news about the agricultural industry in the U.S. will turn to VSEs like AgWeb Search for information.
Advantage Over General Search Engines
So why would a farmer, for example, use a VSE instead of one of the major search engines to find the products and information he needs? Try typing in the word “combine” on Google. You’ll find dictionary definitions, videogame information and high school football news in the top ten results. If what you’re looking for is a $200,000 + piece of farm equipment, this can be a bit frustrating.
Every industry has its own jargon, its own phrases, acronyms and buzzwords that overlap with general speech. Any term that has a specific meaning in a certain industry will yield a ton of irrelevant results when you run it through a major online search engine. Vertical search engines that specialize in the VSE user’s industry of interest, on the other hand, are more likely to know exactly what the user is looking for and thus be better able to point him or her in the right direction.
How a VSE Can Benefit Your Site
A vertical search engine can be a great addition to your website. By having a VSE as part of your site, you will be giving your visitors a useful industry tool that will keep them coming back to you again and again. Think about a website VSE as an informational hub for your visitors. Installing a vertical search engine on your site will provide visitors with targeted information from all over the web. If you’re an interior design company, for example, your VSE will enable users to find interior design articles, news, tips, blogs and other valuable resources. The more your website has to offer visitors, the greater the chances will be of them coming back. This will result in increased organic traffic, which will in turn serve to raise your website’s overall online ranking and help your sales.
As a leading Internet marketing company, we specialize in creating industry specific vertical search engines for our clients. Regardless of what your company’s field is, we can come up with a customized, domain-specific search tool that delivers specialized search results.
Today’s internet users are especially receptive to the potential benefits of VSEs. As the major, broad based search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo! and Bing) have grown exponentially, their search results too have become exponentially broader. Many search engine users have thus become tired of casting their nets too widely every time they enter a query, which more often than not provides them with a few of the things they need and a lot of other things that they don’t need at all. VSEs give search engine users a more industry specific net that allows them to find more relevant results.
To find out more about how VSEs can benefit your website and your company’s online marketing strategy, contact us today.
