vertical search - challenges and opportunities
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by Graeme McCrakken CEO of Reed Business Search at the AOP Vertical Search event on Jan 21st 2008TRANSCRIPT
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Graeme McCracken Chief Operating Officer, RB Search
Vertical Search: Challenges & Opportunities
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Search: A growing market!Search: A growing market!• Forrester predicted $34b by 2010, we believe it will be closer to double this with at least $11b
in B2B• 59% of dollars migrating from other media budgets (print, web display ads, shopping
directories, email, direct marketing, etc)• 35% of user sessions initiated by a query, making site search the most used application on a
typical web site• B2B site search success rate is only 58%• 30% of visitors abandon a site with each failed query• Industry/Vertical search typically yields a 30 – 60% increase in page views per year – 50%
from new customers
8%
27%
37%
28%
I never found what Iwas looking for
Researched online,purchased offline
Researched andpurchased online
Still researching
“What was the result of your online research?”
83%
8%
3%
2%
Yahoo!
AlltheWeb
MSN
Google most used in B2B markets
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The Fried Egg ModelThe Fried Egg Model
Addressed Market
“Bonus” audience
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It may feel safe….but for how long?It may feel safe….but for how long?
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Frogs are SO! hot
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Understand your market, content & searchUnderstand your market, content & search
ResearcherDomain queries
Focused vocabularyInitial broad queries
RefinementQueries in related domains
User Profiles:• Researchers• Buyers• Browsers
• Researchers and buyers behave similarly, as they are both goal-oriented. The system need to be designed with their needs in mind
• Browsers are ancillary and will benefit by proxy
BrowserBroad queries
Generalize vocabularyLonger sessions
BuyerGoal seeker
Domain queriesFocused vocabulary
Specific queriesRefinementClick-thrus
Search Platform
Typical Searches:• Goal-oriented, precise• Multi-term with no conjunctives• Most likely to include category or solution
domain terms• Refinement, sorting and filtering will be
important aspects of the results UI• Users will rely heavily on system to
“return the right thing” or to help them “find the right thing”
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The problem with search todayThe problem with search today
Precision
• Mention vs. About• Noise & Spam
Recall
• Breadth vs. Depth• Context & Semantics
Refinement
• Navigation• Mindset & Intention
Impact
1. Searcher Frustration
2. Advertiser ROI
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The other problem with search – an inverse modelThe other problem with search – an inverse model
The more relevant/targeted the advert….the less you pay
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RB SearchRB Search
Technology Platform3. Improve results and implement testing methodology4. Develop UI and Usability competence5. Continue to develop product
Zibb.com & Zibbsearch.nl1. Build best in breed B2B Search
Engine
Zibb on Demand2. Build best in breed Vertical Search &
Widgets for all RB websites
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What does search do for us?What does search do for us?
Millions of B2B Spec Sheets,
Catalogs, Press Releases, White
Papers
Topic Taxonomy Content Indexing Product & ServiceOntology
Geographic Taxonomy
Individual/ Position
Over 2 billion B2B Web Pages,
News & Blogs
3 million companies
220k Products/ Services
Millions of Attendees & Exhibitors
• Taxonomy links all B2B content together
• Crawl – RB proprietary plus B2B web content
• Aggregate Content – a holistic design principle
• User Interface/Branding Architecture
• Not one site, but a multitude & powers all 900 websites and more
• Benefits: Answering B2B queries; Web /Blog plus site search; Adsense for Search; Traffic Cascade to RB sites/CPM & CPC Revenue
B2B Web
The Search Engine
Company Taxonomy
+5 million News Articles
Multiple Repositories
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What is the Value to the Consumer?What is the Value to the Consumer?
From… ...To
Content Source All the Web/Site Specific Industry Specific
Search Failure Rate > 50% < 5%
Relevance Broad and Arbitrary Contextual & Explainable
Interaction Pull Push & Pull
Perception No Alternative Useful
Disambiguation None Navigation
Productivity Gather Links Analyze Information
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What is the Benefit to the Business?What is the Benefit to the Business?
From… ...To
Search Traffic (% of Total) 1% More than 10%
Overall Traffic Impact Limited Source of Differentiation
Revenue per Search $? $0.05
Standards None Scale & Advantage
Search Roadmap Not a Priority Competitive Advantage
Other Monetization NA Incremental
Maintenance & Support Site Specific Centralized & Dedicated
Sources: Outsell; Forrester
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Zibb – branded vertical searchZibb – branded vertical search
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ZIbb – Better Answers by MarketZIbb – Better Answers by Market
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Zibb On Demand – Beyond Search !Zibb On Demand – Beyond Search !
Video & Part Search
112 ive ZoD’s+70 live with News Feeds, Related Items, Infusion on sites that generate +50 million page impressions per month
driving 54% YOY increase in page impressions Driven by 15 million ZoD/widget, 130 million queries and more than 2 million direct searches per month Growing at +30% per month
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Domain Expertise – better answersDomain Expertise – better answers
Content Type – the web is a medium, not a type of content!• Disambiguation – did you want news/product/blog/catalog, etc?Market – you are special, so is the content within our index• Market specific, quality content – own your own index!Taxonomy, Ontology, Folksonomy – describe your market• Answers, not questions – lotus car or lotus position• Aboutness
– Everything you ever wanted to know ‘about’ …… but were afraid to ask! – A specific zone for all our specialised users
• RB Search classifies all our content by multiple taxonomies by Topic, Product, Company, Geography, Individual/Job Position
• Web 2.0?……………. no more like Web 3.0 (the Semantic Version)
…………………………………………………………..In short it is about Answers, not Questions!
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You may think I am decoupled…and you would be right!You may think I am decoupled…and you would be right!
XML
XML XML
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Raising the Sea Level – Reverse ThinkingRaising the Sea Level – Reverse Thinking
950 websites
EDN
Flight
Variety
Powder Bulk Solids
ECN
Yeserday Today
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Not a silver bullet – you only get one of those!Not a silver bullet – you only get one of those!
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Then you get carried awayThen you get carried away
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Key takeawaysKey takeaways
• Search fundamentally changes the game – both for internal and external content – Google proves this
• You can exploit this to do internal and external developments faster, cheaper and better• Always choose the best product for that specific purpose, do not make do! Even second best
costs you money and more importantly time• It is not cheap…..but as an infrastructure and game changer it is very reasonable • Business models are challenging and you need to be nimble in order to exploit opportunities• Apply standards/taxonomies globally, do not try to standardise systems globally - its quicker,
better and simpler• Decouple, decouple, decouple….keeps it simple to manage, fast to integrate and incredibly
flexible• It can power far more than you would ever believe possible - it breaks the RDBMS rules and
can make you agile• It’s about speed and aggression – that is what drives innovation
• ……..it is also a little frightening, as it breaks rules, challenges business and IT and liberates you
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Questions