Giving Search A "Semantic" Understanding
Search startup Hakia is creating what it likes to call "semantic" search, which means that Hakia's engine will try to understand user search queries rather than relying on statistical methods like linking, keyword analysis and user history to return relevant search results. Here's the idea: Search for "headache," and Hakia will presumably know enough about what you want to return "Tylenol," "Advil" or another brand name.
Right now, the only way for brands to get in front of "headache" is by buying keywords. However, this kind of understanding is a massive undertaking for a search company--it may be the key to the future of search.
Hakia's technology is so complex, its creators have spent years researching its foundation. The group has been at it for 36 months, having raised $16 million--all from institutional investors. If the technology works,it would open the door to whole worlds of esoteric long-tail content left to rot by Google and other engines' search crawlers, which rely heavily on counting and weighing links to content to compile results. Queries of three words or more would be particularly well-served by such a technology.
Recent Around the Net In Online Marketing Articles
-
TripAdvisor Grabs Mobile App GateGuru June 19, 11:26 a.m.
Travel portal TripAdvisor has scooped up mobile app GateGuru for an undisclosed sum. GateGuru’s app offers ... -
Amazon Frowns On Binge Streaming June 19, 11:24 a.m.
Unlike Netflix, Amazon apparently doesn’t want viewers binging on its original content. As such, Amazon’s new ... -
Fab Takes Another $150M June 19, 11:23 a.m.
High-flying ecommerce startup Fab has raised an additional $150 million, bringing its total investment to $310 ... -
Facebook Hits 1 Million Advertisers June 19, 11:22 a.m.
Facebook on Wednesday said it has reached 1 million advertisers. Forbes interprets the number as signaling ... -
Samsung One-Ups Apple With Jay-Z Promo June 18, 9:38 a.m.
What’s one way for Samsung to steal cool points from Apple? Feature Jay-Z in an ad, ... -
Digg Preps RSS Aggregation Service June 18, 9:34 a.m.
Remember Digg? The social news pioneer, which was acquired by Betaworks last year for a half ... -
Yahoo Could Pay $50M For Qwiki June 18, 9:33 a.m.
With no end in sight to its shopping spree, Yahoo is reportedly close to dropping as ... -
Microsoft Bowing Windows 8 Ad Format June 18, 9:27 a.m.
Microsoft today is expected to debut new native ad formats for Windows 8 “The new ads ... -
Samsung Plans Faster Galaxy S4 June 17, 12:01 p.m.
Samsung says it will soon launch the world's first smartphone with a network connection boasting ultra-fast ... -
Apple Tries To Clear Its Name June 17, 11:37 a.m.
Trying to make good with consumers in the wake of reports that technology companies cooperated with ...
Be the first to comment on "Giving Search A "Semantic" Understanding "
Leave a Comment