What is metasearch and why should we care?
Gavin Somers, marketing director at InfoSpace Europe on metasearch and it provides and alternative for agencies and brands
Internet users trust their search engine of choice, without question, but are they too trusting? There are literally billions of pages available on the Internet, and this number is growing exponentially with new communication initiatives such as podcasts, vodcasts, Weblogs (Blogs) and Wikis adding to the rapid growth of information available.
Unfortunately, there are still an extraordinarily high number of users that rely on only one engine when conducting a search. With metasearch (the ability to search more than one engine simultaneously) Internet users can cover more of the Internet in less time – which is inarguably valuable.
InfoSpace provides Internet search and directory services (based on its metasearch technology; offering users access to the best results from the most popular search engines – Ask, Google, MSN, Yahoo! and more besides, all in one place with one click. InfoSpace is not the only metasearch player by any means, but it is the only one to possess so many relevant engines under its metasearch umbrella.
With metasearch, users can gauge how searches are represented differently by different search engines isolating and comparing the top results from the leading search engines with a single click, and highlighting those listings that are only found by one engine.
This is why InfoSpace’s UK metasearch engine WebFetch.com has a Search Comparison Tool
http://comparesearchengines.webfetch.com that aims to educate users on how to fully maximize the vast array of information that is available at their fingertips; which they are not currently tapping into.
Most people believe search results across all four of the major engines are the same, when, in fact, the vast majority of the results from each engine are different. A study conducted by InfoSpace’s US metasearch engine Dogpile.com in conjunction with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania State University found that only 1.1% of first page results were the same across Ask.com, Google, MSN and Yahoo. The full results of the study can be found at
http://CompareSearchEngines.dogpile.com/whitepaper.
So, what impact does metasearch have upon brands? Common practice now is to turn directly to a search engine over your bookmarks when attempting to find previously viewed pages by tapping in the keywords and key phrases and being able to locate the exact gems that were found previously. As it is with anything, Web users are more likely to get the results they really want when they don’t place all their eggs in one basket.
Combining all the results in one place creates an excellent user experience which in turn generates improved loyalty and more traffic to a Website. For Website owners this means increased revenue per page, by presenting only the most relevant paid and unpaid results - thereby helping information seekers to reach their destinations more quickly with a more favourable end result.
The advancement of search engine optimisation and the production of user friendly websites (which incorporate metasearch based web search capabilities), is allowing information to be located with greater ease, which will only improve as search becomes more understood to the wider audience. Search engines are doing a fantastic job, but not without the help of those that use them, and those that are ensuring they are represented well within them. It is great that audience traffic is driven to sites, but we must not miss the trick in generating revenue whilst the audience is there and have the opportunity for the audience to truly connect with a brand and interact with it.
Website owners can increase usability and strengthen customer loyalty by presenting a search capability that is more powerful, relevant and appealing to their audience without diluting their brand by having their search capability white labelled. This enables the potential of metasearch to deliver a solid range of interactive search services such as toolbars and RSS-driven content to their users whilst preventing any problems that could arise due to brand conflict. In doing so, website owners can provide a platform to create partnerships that possibly could not be struck up otherwise without distracting from the reason why a user is at their site.
This becomes invaluable to audiences, especially as they become intuitively accustomed to the information that is presented and the tools are adopted by the sites of ‘choice’ resulting in the birth of long-terms relationship and loyalty.
If you would like to get something off your chest or wish to share your expertise contact us for our guidelines and submission process.
Read more