LookSmart launched vertical search (via John Battelle). It’s an interesting approach, trying to embed vertical search at the front page of a “general purpose” search engine. At first try, my results were mixed, but certainly the ads got more targeted as I went down in the hierarchy.
Vertical Search is probably one of the hottest topics in Silicon Valley today. There is a ton of start ups in many different verticals: Jobs (simplyhired.com, jobster.com, indeed.com, yorz.com…), Travel (sidestep.com, kayak.com, mobissimo.com, tazzoo.com…), Health (healthline.com, webmd.com…), Classifieds (oodle.com,…), video (blinkx.com, truveo.com, loomia.com…), audio (podscope.com, odeo.com…), shopping (fatlens.com, become.com…), real estate (redfin.com, zillow.com…). And I am sure this is only a tiny fraction that just happened to come to my mind.
Generally, I like vertical search and think it can be extremely helpful. For example, I am a big fan of price comparison in the travel markets - I use it for every flight. Yet, the sheer number of players and the constant threat of “Google or Yahoo launch the same thing” make me wonder how many players will make it.
However, apart from a few exceptions I haven’t seen too much activity in this market in Europe just yet. If you know any interesting initiatives on this continent, please drop me an email.
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Hey, I agree with your assessment of the helpfulness of vertical search. As for real estate, I found an interesting new site called www.homepages.com. It integrates neighborhood info, home listings, and aerial maps on an easily searchable site. Check it out and see if you like it.
Zillow is just a tool. I thinks its a great value research tool for sellers when their just thinking about selling. But in the end a Pro is probable going to give the best current market value.