What is Vertical Search?

The Vertical Search Opportunity

As search has become the dominant internet activity and driver of online advertising revenue, a need has emerged among vertical audiences and vertical marketers to provide solutions for their industries.

It has always been difficult for B2B and specialized audiences to find relevant results on general search engines. Google and Yahoo! index millions of pages across the Web, the vast majority of which do not contain authoritative content for most vertical industries. Every vertical audience has a unique vocabulary and specialized information needs and general search engines often fail to answer the precise requirements of many business, professional, medical, scientific and technical searchers.

Vertical search fills this gap.

A New Kind of Vertical Publishing

Vertical search means the development of a search property whose content, architecture and user interface have been customized to meet the information needs of a specialized audience and to deliver unique value to its online community.

These solutions help publishers further engage their audiences and increase online advertising revenue. Convera is currently partnering with vertical publishing companies to provide custom search solutions in the following sectors:

Business and professional niche communities—active, sophisticated Internet users—needing deeper, more relevant, trustworthy information to do their jobs.
Lifestyle—B2C niche consumer communities—including hobby and enthusiast Web sites.

Vertical Marketing Solutions

Marketers are having an increasingly difficult time efficiently reaching vertical audiences. Vertical marketing requires precision targeting—the major search engines deliver a broad-based audience which leads to a significant waste of marketing dollars.

Vertical search engines present an ideal solution for marketers. Messages can be placed directly in front of a highly targeted audience while it is engaged with a leading brand in its industry. Through keyword-triggered advertising, category sponsorships and a range of other programs, these search engines are creating vertical marketing success stories for both large and small advertisers.

< Market Overview | The Convera Service >