As noted in the Weekly Wrapup, one of the 2 big news announcements this past week was Google rolling out "Universal Search", where they integrate search results from across their properties (news, video, etc) into the main search. (the other big news was Microsoft acquiring aQuantive). Read/WriteWeb has two analysis pieces on the Google news - Josh Catone compared Universal Search to other next-generation sandbox search initiatives, and Alex Iskold drilled down into the impact on vertical search engines. Both pieces are well worth reading, but in this post I want to pose the question that Alex asked: will vertical search engines survive this latest move by Google?
Before you answer, I'd encourage you to read Alex's post - and the comments. For example, Alex wrote in his post that "...no vertical is now safe. What would stop Google from including music, movies, jobs and travel in the list of right-hand contextual search navigation? Nothing really, it is just a matter of integration and a little time. No vertical is safe anymore."
However Nitin Karandikar notes in the first comment that "the best Vertical Search engines do a lot more than simply offering search results limited to a given domain; often, they provide specialized UI paradigms, domain-specific parameters, communities, partnerships within the domain, related services, and so on. Until Google can start focusing on these additional strengths (and I'm guessing they will stick to some key domains for the forseeable future, like jobs, real estate and travel), VSEs will continue to dominate specific domains. As an example, Zillow and Trulia provide results and services in real estate that go far beyond simply finding relevant web documents."
Alex responded that Google's vertical search integration will be 'good enough' for most consumers. Both are compelling arguments (and other commenters provide great food for thought too). What do you think? Please take part in our poll below and let us know.
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It would be much easier to say that google will win this race if anyone could approve the market shares of the biggest search engines. without sourcing this will it be hard to predict future development.
My personal oppinion is that google won't be stopped. They're most innovative, most flexible and most advanced.
Posted by: Stefan Klose | May 19, 2007 12:09 AM
I think many will be impacted negatively, but let's face it: many of them won't be, and wouldn't have been, around in a few years anyway. And I'm not sure I agree with Alex when he says, "What would stop Google from including music, movies, jobs and travel in the list of right-hand contextual search navigation? Nothing really ..."
I think Google has to be careful not to clutter their search results. Unless they can figure out how to accurately gauge the intent of searchers, it would be dangerous to include everything under the sun in their general search (i.e., universal search might get too universal and just annoy people or dilute their results). That said, Google has more resources than most companies and they can certainly enter any vertical search market they want -- but that's not a new development. :)
Anyway, I voted for option #2... many will survive (and many of those will probably be acquired), but those that die might have regardless of Google.
Posted by: Josh Catone | May 19, 2007 12:12 AM
To amend my comment ;) ...
Adding verticals to the right-hand side box, as Alex said, is probably a good idea for Google. (I read that wrong initially -- sorry, Alex!)
But universal search, as I understand it, is really about more tightly integrating the different verticals they already have (web, images, video, blogs, code, news, products... am I forgetting any?). I.e, now the main search results sometimes give you a news article, a blog post, a video, etc.
Doing that with jobs, travel, and every vertical under the sun could be very risky, and perhaps ill-advised as it could really dilute the results.
I have no doubt that Google will enter more verticals, however, and probably dominate them. They have the technology and the resources ... and it just means more advertising revenue, so there's no reason for them not to. But I don't think that's a new development... they've already been doing that--they're just now pushing them more to the forefront.
Posted by: Josh Catone | May 19, 2007 12:23 AM
Great post. I agree with both opinions to some extent. My thought is that vertical search engines should be concerned, but not because they'll be replaced by Universal Search. Rather, Universal Search will increase Google's power as the starting point for all types of searches and the verticals will become that much more dependent on Google traffic (SEM + SEO). I agree with your point that Trulia and others will offer unique features superior to Google for some time. Still, many (perhaps most) people like to start their searches in one place for convenience and this development will likely increase Google's role as the starting point for any type of search... even if the searcher clicks through to a Trulia or Zillo result.
Posted by: joe laz | May 19, 2007 2:05 AM
I don't see it killing the other *real* vertical SEs. To take an analogy: if you want a watch that will just do for now, you can get some really cheap ones - they work, maybe for 2 years. If you the real thing you get yourself a Patek Philippe or a Rolex. In this analogy, Google is the cheap and cheerful for the masses and the rest are the high end. Frankly, most people won't be able to tell the difference.
This of course assumes the Google users accept the UI changes and it becomes "successful", which is a big assumption given how much of a change (and a bit of a mess) the UI is.
Pierre
Posted by: Pierre Far | May 19, 2007 3:09 AM
It will have some impact... I definitely won't use Google for verticals - instead, I use Google to FIND the verticals :)
Posted by: Robert Dewey | May 19, 2007 7:32 AM
I'm going to be interested to see how Google implements this fully. I personally prefer to go to different parts of Google when searching for a specific medium online.
Posted by: Jason - CleverTools.com | May 21, 2007 12:56 AM
I believe this is a positive development that will benefit verticals rather than harm them. The exception would be verticals that are not adding any value, or not enough value for the consumer, and in that case they don't deserve to survive anyway.
Posted by: Jon Lyles- Eximius Personnel | May 21, 2007 5:34 PM