Mid-Week Update: Retrevo, SimplyHired, TechCrunch, Market10 and Search Insider

Notes from around the web
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Alex Iskold just added a great article about Retrevo, the consumer electronics search engine, on Read/WriteWeb, discussing some of the specialized functionality offered by Retrevo, as an example of the rich capabilities a vertical search engine can provide. For VSE-watchers, this article is definitely worth checking out!

I'm a big fan of Alex's writing, but in this case, I disagree with his thesis that current VSEs embody what vertical search will become - I would take it much further, and say that the rich features that Retrevo is currently offering (which are already compelling by themselves, like the new Daily Deals feature) are barely scratching the surface of industry-specific search services. It seems likely that specialized vertical search engines, such as Retrevo, will continue to evolve progressively more domain-specific and richer "findability" features, so that eventually these sites may look nothing like our general-purpose search engines of today.

[Imagine a navigation/parametric "find" interface for electronics products, that allows you to find all the DVD-players within a given budget, that support specific audio-visual features AND are compatible with your existing big-screen HDTV; and then looking for a cable that will provide the best impedance-match between the two. Try doing that with Google!]

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SimplyHired, one of the leading vertical search engines for jobs, has just announced a partnership with The New York Post and MySpace: it will provide its job search capabilities to nypost.com and has launched Resume Post, its resume syndication service, on MySpace Jobs. Interestingly, this "cheeky" press release is written more in the style of a hollywood tabloid story than that of a staid tech-oriented business article. Methinks SimplyHired must be a really fun place to work!

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From Hollywood tabloids to dating sites ...

Over at TechCrunch, Steve Poland complains that online job search still sucks. What he would like to see, he says, is a progressive startup that does for jobs what eHarmony has done for online dating - specifically, have candidates go through a 30-min application and testing process, and then match those candidates with their ideal job openings.

I think the basic idea is sound, although a 30-min application process may be carrying it too far - a more subtle approach that starts with a short initial questionnaire that is continually updated and refined as the search engine learns more about you, might work better. Even a candidate who is not actively in the job market might happily subscribe to a "job feed" of matching openings by industry, technology, geographical location. This could work equally well for other markets - a "house feed" of open houses in a given location and price range, or a "deals feed" for special deals on a particular type of stereo equipment.

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Speaking of job search sites, I recently came across Market10. Started by Rob McGovern, founder of CareerBuilder.com, the company bills itself as "the Top Performer's job market". In many ways, Market10's approach comes close to "e-Harmonizing" the job market, exactly as Steve was suggesting in the TechCrunch article. The company has raised financing from Menlo Ventures and New Enterprise Associates (NEA).

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A knewworld article has Q&A with David Berkowitz, director of strategic planning at 360i and a regular columnist for MediaPost’s Search Insider publication, in which he discusses search engine issues and barriers for adoption for Google CSEs.

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Comments

[Aviv]

"are barely scratching the surface of industry-specific search services"

I completely agree with you. Today's Vertical Search engines (really in any niche) are as useful as Excite and LookSmart were for general-purpose search 10 years ago - they work, but you just *know* that there's a better way.

As for Google - their current versions of OneBox, Co-op, and CSE are nothing like what a true VSE experience should be like.

VSE's, at least the ones that have a truly disruptive innovation, need not to worry about Google's foray into their niches. If anything, the more users get accustomed to offerings such as OneBox, they will begin to realize that better search capabilities are out there and that the big 3 engines may not be the best way to plan their next trip, find out why their iPod won't boot, or research their health condition.

Conventional wisdom holds that VSE's have (or should have) a far deeper understanding of their niche than general-purpose engines do. This is the key ingredient for a successful (and useful) VSE, and is something that will be very hard for any of the leading search companies to nurture internally. Throwing 6 Refined suggestions will just not cut it for tomorrow's informed search user.

Excellent blog, Nitin! I'm glad I found it.

[NitinK]

Hi, Aviv. Thank you, and welcome to the Software Abstractions Blog!

Exactly - for users to remember and return to a vertical search engine, the results must be significantly better than those from one of the big three (not just marginally better), and should offer other related services or information as a differentiator.

Not to worry - VSEs keep improving, and I've no doubt better and more powerful solutions are coming!

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