What is a vertical search site?
Below is a definition that is entirely my own, vetted by no one, but it’s a starting point. A vertical search site or application must exhibit four key characteristics: 1) It focuses on a specific category. 2) The primary functionality revolves around search. 3) There are multiple competing content providers contributing to the results. 4) The natural results are ranked by relevance. To better understand the definition, let’s look at examples to see if it might affect how we perceive vertical search. Google: This is easy. Its broad focus disqualifies it from being a vertical search site. Froogle, its shopping site, qualifies as vertical search. Google News is trickier. One can peruse Google News much in the same way one reads a newspaper: Scan the headlines and read what’s interesting. Searching aids the functionality, but do users see the site has a headline aggregator or a news search source? Yahoo!: Clicking any of the tabs from the home page such as “News” and “Products” points to
