Nine By Blue » Selected Magazines

hakia Helps Librarians With Credible Search Results

Vanessa — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:54:08 +0000

Hakia, a natural language search engine that uses semantic analysis of the Web, recently launched a new initiative with librarians to identify “credible” content on the Web. The program is designed to provide searchers with a quick way to access lists of sites that they know professionals have vetted as an alternative to the list of all-Web results that search engines typically provide. Hakia is the first search engine to integrate librarians’ collective knowledge of credible Web sites into search results to guide searchers. Hakia’s credible sites program initially covers health and environmental Web sites, although it hopes to expand to all topics. Hakia isn’t the only search engine that realizes that the Web contains a wealth of inaccurate as well as accurate information and that searchers can benefit from vetted results.

Black Hat or White Hat?

Vanessa — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 04:48:53 +0000

I previously wrote a blog post about black hat SEO. I revised this post for a different audience as an article for Audience Development magazine, which is aimed at those in the business of magazine publication.

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The search engines’ guidelines are built on a core guiding principle—create unique, high-quality content that meets searchers’ needs. Rather than try to get a site to rank highly via deceptive practices, invest in making the site the best possible result for relevant queries. That’s a long-term investment in your business that keeps search engines, searchers and your company happy.

Read the article on Audience Development

The Search Implications of Syndicating Content

Vanessa — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:12:18 +0000

Online publications share articles for a variety of reasons. But syndication—pushing your content via partnerships or an automated solution to multiple sites to broaden brand exposure, audience reach and boost link-back traffic—has become a top component of an online marketing strategy. But from a search engine perspective, syndication can cause a bit of a conundrum. If an article is a relevant result for a search, the search engine wants to show it to the searcher. It does not, however, want to show it twice (or three times or more). And that makes sense. If you’re searching for something, you don’t want multiple results that all lead to the same content even if that content is on different sites.

How To Harness The Evolving Online Search Landscape For Better Customer Relationships

Vanessa — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:15:32 +0000

The online landscape is changing. People are becoming more comfortable on the Web, which is leading to evolving customer behavior and changing search results pages. Publishers who adapt to these changes can enjoy richer customer interactions that can lead to increased loyalty and return visits. But how is this evolution taking place?

Pew Internet Study Finds Americans Turn to the Internet

Vanessa — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:22:22 +0000

A recent Pew Internet & American Life Project study looked at how Americans use libraries and how libraries can better serve the one-third of the US population with low Internet access. The study surveyed 2,796 Americans and focused on how people use the Internet, libraries, and government resources when they need to solve problems. Those with high-speed access were more likely to turn to the Internet for answers and were generally more satisfied with their ability to get answers and solve problems. The majority of people said that they were very satisfied with results they received from government agencies (65%), libraries (64%), and the Internet (63%). Overall, the study is positive news for public libraries. And there’s great opportunity for librarians to become more useful and relevant in the lives of those who need it the most.

Read more in Information Today magazine

The Promise of Natural Language Search

Vanessa — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:24:45 +0000

In addition to verticals that claim to generate entirely new approaches from the major search engines and “human-powered” sites, the newest buzzwords have been “natural language search” and “semantic indexing.” Natural language search engine Hakia has done a bit better, launching a search engine in 2007 that uses portions of its natural language technology. Hakia analyzes the query to determine user intent. Search engines are tackling the challenge of determining user intent in a number of ways, including using personalization, overall user behavior, and social networking. But even if search engines such as Hakia can engineer this breakthrough, they still need query behavior to change to bring true value.

Read more in Information Today magazine

The Anatomy of Personalized Google Results

Vanessa — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 03:19:51 +0000

Google actually tailors results for individuals to deliver the most relevant, useful results possible, which may sound like a good thing overall. Google personalizes search in the following ways. These are: 1. dealing with search history, 2. Web history, 3. use of other Google services, 4. previous search and click behavior, 5. location, 6. language and country restriction, and 7. fluctuations between data centers.

Read more in Information Today magazine

Leveraging Universal Search

Vanessa — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 03:26:28 +0000

Universal search is the “new black.” Google started this fashion trend back in May when it launched universal search to great fanfare at its Searchology conference. Google is initially incorporating five vertical search results into the regular Web results. At Searchification Day in September, Microsoft announced Live Search enhancements that sound not unlike what Google is doing. Ask points out that it has been providing a variety of result types longer than anyone (although these results generally have appeared on separate portions of the page, rather than blended in a relevantly ordered way). Over time, the engines will continue to incorporate more types of results, which will be an improvement as well as a drawback.

Read more in Information Today magazine

The Search for People Search

Vanessa — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:29:19 +0000

As the Web continues to grow and people rely more on search, vertical search engines become more important and more useful in sorting through the exponential expansion of content. The author investigated three search engines that deal with people search and spoke to members of each individual team about how the search engines differ and what features they have that offer the most value to researchers. Wink (http://wink.com) hopes to harness the data available through social networking sites. Wink includes a social networking component, but it centers on search. Spock (http://spock.com), which is the newest kid on the people search block, was launched in private beta earlier this year and opened up to everyone in August. Spock says its edge is in its ability to focus on people-specific data. ZoomInfo (http://zoominfo.com) is a little different from Wink and Spock in that it is more of a business-related search engine than specifically a people-focused one.

Read more in Information Today magazine

Searching for People in All the New Social Places

Vanessa — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 03:31:04 +0000

Information professionals are well skilled at hunting down facts about people. But these days, it is even easier because people are offering plenty of information to the world via social networking sites. As social networking sites continue to grow, they are a potential gold mine for information professionals. Facebook, which is the second most-popular social property on the Web after that hip, cool upstart MySpace, recently announced that it is one of the 20 largest search engines and the most-used people-search engine on the Web. Facebook was a site for college students, but it recently opened up to everyone. LinkedIn made its name as a professional networking site, so it is primarily filled with resume-like profiles.

Read more in Information Today magazine