Metasearch Systems: Some Thoughts
February 12, 2010
I fielded a phone call yesterday from a person who wanted to know the status of metasearch systems. I ran through some basic information and mentioned the three metasearch systems that I looked at recently for an investment bank. These services are:
Dogpile.com, owned by InfoSeek. (Note: I have in my notes a comment that suggested the search plumbing was some home brew and some Fast Search & Transfer.)
Ixquick.com, owned (according to my musty files) by Surfboard Holding BV. (Note: the application was developed by a former whiz in the investment banking sector)
Search.com, owned by CBS. (Note: you can download the WebFerret desktop application from http://www.webferret.com/)
Metasearch functions are available from “enterprise search vendors”, a phrase that I really dislike, but folks use it. These vendors include:
BrightPlanet.com. See http://www.arnoldit.com/search-wizards-speak/brightplanet.html for an interview with William Bushee, lead technologist for BrightPlanet, for more information.
Deep Web Technologies. See http://www.arnoldit.com/search-wizards-speak/deep-web.html for an interview with Abe Lederman, the founder of Deep Web.
Vivisimo. See http://www.arnoldit.com/search-wizards-speak/vivisimo.html for an interview with Raul Valdes Perez and Jerome Pesenti, founders of Vivisimo.
There are other outfits with “federating” and metasearch functionality, but these two lists provide a foundation for my observations.
First, I think that as Google’s share of the search market rises, traffic to these public metasearch sites will be under pressure. You can see what’s happening with Dogpile.com, Ixquick.com, and Search.com.
Each of these services is “flat”, assuming, of course, that the Compete.com data are reasonably accurate. For purposes of comparison, Compete.com reports that Google has about 145 million unique visitors, which seems low, but the relative traffic difference is the point. Metasearch is commanding a modest share of the search traffic.
I like the Ixquick.com service, and I hope that the owners can pump up the traffic. I will have to look into this situation later this year.
For the enterprise search vendors, I think the picture may be different. BrightPlanet, Deep Web, and Vivisimo can deliver injections of third party content to their enterprise customers. Will these firms be able to generate traction as Fetch and Kapow ramp up? Will these firms compete or complement the expanding offerings of i2.co.uk, particularly in the law enforcement and intelligence sector. Will these firms have a counter to slow the push of Mark Logic Corp. into these potentially lucrative enterprise customers?
I don’t have answers to these questions, but I think the metasearch sector is going to become more interesting in 2010.
Stephen E Arnold, February 11, 2010
No one paid me to write this article. I will report this poverty assurance plan to to the General Accountability Office when the snow melts in DC.
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