Commentary

Cranky Search for Seniors

On the major search engines, queries like "Britney Spears upskirt" and "World of Warcraft" top the charts, but at Cranky.com it's all about "arthritis," "brain-builders" and "jobs after retirement." Billing itself as the first "age-relevant" search engine that applies a "50-plus" lens to the Web, Cranky.com is a downsized Google for seniors. Boomer-oriented publisher Eons partnered with research firm Compete to analyze the surfing habits of 500,000 Webizens over the age of 45 and review the top 5,000 sites targeting the demographic. The search results are oversized for aging eyes and targeted to the specific interests and needs of boomers and seniors.

Cranky gets its sponsored links from Ask, but it also features content from the Eons

Web site in its search results. Eons launched last summer with founding partners

Hyatt, Harrah's, Humana, Liberty Mutual, and Verizon.Eons CEO Jeff Taylor, who helped create Monster.com, says he named his search engine "Cranky" because of his own moody response to the search process.

Of course, it's not as if everything changes when you turn 50. Like every other search engine on the planet, the top term even at Cranky is "sex." Hey, they're old, not dead.

Next story loading loading..