Vertical Search: Risks and Opportunities Dave Kellogg Chief Executive Officer Mark Logic Corporation May, 2008

Let’s Start with Nick Way

Oh, It’s Nick Wey “ Universal” search

Google Custom Search Engine Build your own vertical search engine, for free, in about 15 minutes Append “motocross” to every query Domain-specific crawl

Crawl / Slice Value: My Motocross Search Engine Risk: not adding value beyond this Where and how else can you add value?

Media Type Value Blogs: Technorati Understands structure (posts vs. pages), emphasis on recency Pictures: Flickr Upload, share, tag Importance of UGC and meta-data  had nothing else to index Videos: YouTube, MetaCafe Upload, share, convert , tag Presentations: SlideShare.net Upload, share, convert, tag, social graph Documents: Scribd Upload, share, convert, tag, social graph

Blogs: Technorati

Understands structure (posts vs. pages), emphasis on recency

Pictures: Flickr

Upload, share, tag

Importance of UGC and meta-data  had nothing else to index

Videos: YouTube, MetaCafe

Upload, share, convert , tag

Presentations: SlideShare.net

Upload, share, convert, tag, social graph

Documents: Scribd

Upload, share, convert, tag, social graph

Navigational Value: Trulia Navigation / refinement Map mash-up

Informational Value: Trulia Statistics -- for a high involvement purchase

Next-Step Value: Kayak Navigation / refinement Matrix navigation = awesome! Farecast-like fare and timing info Next step: buy the ticket

Community Value: AdultFriendFinder Emergent strategy (born FriendFinder), 100% UGC Sold for $500M in 12/07

Application Value: Oxford Islamic Studies Crawl / slice / content, informational, navigational, and next-step value

Application Value: ImagingCONSULT Crawl / slice / content, informational, navigational, and next-step value

The Essence of “Vertical Search” What are you searching for? Motocross information A blog post A house An airplane ticket A business contact A friend with benefits A comedy video A radiology image What do you want to do next? Read it Read it, blog about it Figure out if you want to buy it Buy it, and perhaps a hotel room Get an introduction Setup a date Watch it; watch similar ones Make a diagnosis Gaining competitive advantage over generic solutions by knowing (1) who is looking, (2) for what, and (3) what are they likely to do next Carving up the long tail

What are you searching for?

Motocross information

A blog post

A house

An airplane ticket

A business contact

A friend with benefits

A comedy video

A radiology image

What do you want to do next?

Read it

Read it, blog about it

Figure out if you want to buy it

Buy it, and perhaps a hotel room

Get an introduction

Setup a date

Watch it; watch similar ones

Make a diagnosis

The “Vertical Search” Opportunity Crawl / slice / content value Media type value Navigational value Informational value Next-steps value Community value User-generated content The social graph Combining these various sources of value to create applications to help users accomplish a task or goal Don’t think “vertical search” Think “content application”

Crawl / slice / content value

Media type value

Navigational value

Informational value

Next-steps value

Community value

User-generated content

The social graph