Specialized Search is a Next Big Move for Search

I have been discussing specialized search a bit (for example, see: Will Yahoo's Changing Search Strategy Cause it to Pick Up Niche Services?). Well, Yahoo is not the only mover in this direction. As reported by Venture beat, Google is planning to launch a music search service with music sites Lala and MySpace-owned iLike, according to multiple reports. Of course, Google offers other specialized search services such as blogs. There are also many specialized search tools entering the market such as Attivio, Exlead, and MindServer

The article states that with this new service, you will be able to search for a musician, then play songs streamed from partner sites like Lala and iLike. CNET describes the goal as providing ╥everything a music fan may need when searching online for a favorite artist, while TechCrunch says the pages will be modeled on Google results for public company searches.

It goes on to add that this sounds like a smart move for both Google and the music companies, giving Google a cool new service without requiring the it to host the music or strike deals with the record labels on its own, while bringing more exposure to Lala and iLike.

I certainly agree and feel that specialized search services are one of the next major directions with search. The Google page rank approach has been around for some time. It keeps getting refined but you can take it only so far.  It was a huge improvement over what was available. But you still get many false positives and lots of stuff to shift through. Specialized search can get you there faster. 

Darwin, a firm I am part of, offers both an alternative to the Page Rank approach but it also allows you to set your own level of specialization. You can search on a general basis like Google or set a very focused attractor and specify the area within the Web that you want to focus. It can be formal or informal.  You find out more at our Darwin Discovery Engine blog.