According to Compete - vertical search tools are growing faster than Google
Most of you will not be surprised to learn that Google is the most popular Internet search tool. However, a Forrester study[1] indicates that only 20% of Google users use Google exclusively when performing their web searches. This provokes the question: what other Internet search tools are being used by the remaining 80% non- exclusive Google users? According to data presented in this article, the Vertical Search Market is growing faster than Google.
When comparing unique-visitors growth rate between the core search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN) and a sample of alternative Internet search tools, it becomes obvious that the vertical search market is growing at a faster pace.
In preparing the graph below, I looked up the growth rate of the core search engines (in blue) in the well-know Web analysis site Compete.com and compared it with 10 Internet search tools (orange) which specialize in people (LinkedIn), companies (Hoover’s), jobs (Indeed), travel (Expedia), video (Metacafe), pictures (Flickr), answers (Wikianswers), blogs (Technorati), articles(Highbeam) and shopping (A9-Amazon). Due to space considerations I had to exclude many other great search tools.
The vertical search market is growing rapidly when measuring growth based on unique-users. However, if we measure the market growth based on number of searches rather than users we’ll find a much lower growth rate.
According to an Iprospect research[2], users seem resistant to seek an alternative search tool when the web search turns unsuccessful. About 82% of users will modify their query on the same search tool instead of looking for a better fitted source.
There are several possible rationales for the lack of enthusiasm to seek an alternative Internet search tool when results turn sour at the core search engine.Possible causes which deter the user to turn to the vertical search option more often are:
1. "Leaving Anxiety": This may sound as a minor issue, but it seems to be a tough hurdle for many services, not just search tools. Needing to "leave" the existing web location (especially if you’re on your favorite core search engine) either by changing the current web address or opening a new tab/window is an activity which most users are reluctant to do.
2. Knowing Your Options: The need to become aware and familiar of a few dozens of web search tools (considering the number of different topics and formats a typical user may query)
3. Deciding: Being aware of the many different search tools and knowing your options is an important step. However, having to decide which tool best fit the specific query or desired format may just be too much of a demanding task for an every-day usage.
Given all these issues on one hand, and the clear need of the users on the other hand, I foresee that there is still a lot of innovation to be witnessed in the field of search and vertical search especially. I strongly believe that if there were ways to help the typical search user to confront the above obstacles or to eliminate them completely, the vertical search market would grow at a very rapid pace. Not only in the number of unique users as it is growing today already, but also in the number of searches.
References:
[1] Forrester study
Alex Rinsky is a Co-Founder of Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/according-to-compete-vertical-search-tools-are-growing-faster-than-google-835803.html
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