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View Full Version : Can vertical search enable publishers to reclaim their online community from Google?


Andy Black
12-11-2007, 08:00 AM
[A survey] has just been released and reveals some very interesting information.

CPM will be fastest-growing revenue stream for publishers in 2008
Online revenue set to increase while print income flattens or decreases

Content owners must ensure visibility within fragmenting digital landscape by embracing RSS, widgets and toolbars.

Publishers see vertical search as opportunity to ‘reclaim the online community from Google’.

The fastest-growing revenue streams for publishers in 2008 will be internet display advertising and online sponsorship.

Some 72% of publishers are expecting an increase in income from CPM advertising next year and 67% are predicting a rise in digital sponsorship, while print revenues are more likely to flatten or decrease. Just under two thirds (64%) are expecting a rise in paid search (PPC) revenue.

The findings come from a survey which was circulated to members of the Association of Online Publishers (AOP), American Business Media (ABM), Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB UK) and E-consultancy’s early-adopter community of internet marketers.

The research also highlights the need for specialist publishers to react quickly to major changes in the digital environment in order to maintain and increase their market share and visibility.

Publishers need to adapt to maximize their digital revenues at a time of shifting advertising budgets. Trends in digital marketing are leading towards a fragmentation of the online landscape and ‘atomization’ of content. Content owners have a great opportunity to increase visibility for their content through the effective use of vertical search, feeds, widgets and toolbars.

The level of uptake for feeds and customized homepages is very high among this early-adopter audience surveyed but this kind of online behavior will soon become more widespread among knowledge workers across a wider range of industries.”

Some 93% of more than 500 media and internet professionals said that they would be ‘very likely’ or ‘quite likely’ to use a search engine that focused on serving their specific business or work needs.

More than 70% of publishers perceived ‘reclaiming the online community from Google’ to be either a major benefit or a minor benefit from vertical search.

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beu
12-11-2007, 09:25 AM
Google "Universal" offers one holistic search experience across all verticals.

Andy Black
12-11-2007, 11:54 AM
Holistic is not a term I would use about Google

AussieWebmaster
12-11-2007, 12:06 PM
I seriously think the only way to beat Google's search dominance is through building verticals and niched communities.

NewKidOnTheBlock
12-22-2007, 11:41 PM
This whole field would become so much more exciting if Google wasn't so dominant. In the US you "only" have to deal with 70% Google market share over here in Germany (and the rest of non-English speaking Europe) it's more like 95%.

If different search engines had a good piece of the pie and it would be worth bothering with how they work that would be interesting. And it would be even more interesting if stuff was to be broken down into niche and vertical search.

Actually, I could imagine this happening. One marketing phrase I'll always remember is "people always prefer a specialist over a generalist" as I think it's really true. It's even true for myself even though I know it's just perception.

I could definitely imagine people talking like "hey, there's this new search engine which is focussed exclusively on sports!" and even if it's not better they might assume it's better. But then again, I must admit I doubt this is going to happen..unfortunately ;-(.

Marcia
12-28-2007, 03:39 AM
...if Google wasn't so dominant

Dominance is created by the people's choice, in overwhelming numbers. Where would vertical search engines get their traffic from, other than via paid PPC or organic search from the major search engines that have major market share?

Do publishers really have a "community?" Or is it, rather, just individual publishers all scrambling, scratching and clawing against each other for a piece of the share of the eyeballs that are out there?

AussieWebmaster
12-28-2007, 03:24 PM
I mean real communities like ours or seomoz etc... where people come to see news, posts etc about a topic they like... a community of shared interests will build and then use a search box that they can use while at their "club"

richrf
01-09-2008, 12:52 AM
Hi there,

I own a domain Links.com, which gets pretty decent type in traffic, where I have been experimenting with vertical searches, using Google Custom Search Engine (CSE). The results, while quite preliminary, has been surprisingly good, both in terms of traffic and monetization. It appears that vertical, subject matter, high quality searches (I only included valued sites in my search), does have an impact on people.

My results are far from conclusive. I am not sure how much repeat traffic I am getting, but it is something that is worth further investigation. I am thinking about putting a whole page of custom search engines together, if I can determine good subject matter to target.

I took a brief look at the Wikia search engine, but I think they are on a totally wrong track which will probably end up no where. However, a vertical approach, I believe, has tremendous potential. Ironically, Google is providing the best technology to implement this approach at this time. And they are getting richly rewarded in ad revenue. CTR for the search engine is 3X better than regular header ads.

I welcome any comments and suggestions.

Thanks,
Rich