Thursday, June 15, 2006
Did You Mean? Free!
UPDATE: Welcome Diggers! the direct demo is at Properspell
I was doing a website integration recently, and the client asked for a way to provide suggestions for their search results which were unobtrusive to the user, but could provide some feedback to the administrator to analyze traffic and search flow. I had never really thought about suggestions for search on a retail website, but the thought of traffic flow and analysis really piqued my interest level. The first thing I thought of to accomplish this was the Google-API.
I had worked with the Google-API in the past, and knew of its limitations but figured someone has been in a similar situation and can up with a clever solution. Well, I was right and wrong in that assumption.
I didn't really find any backend-ready means to do this, but I did find an amazing AJAX 'Did you mean' implementation of the Google-API that is fully hosted with analysis and reporting features. It was exactly what I was looking for.
It turns out that Properspell.com and it's parent site Jaunter have worked out some commercial arrangements for the use of the Google-API, which is one of the first that I have heard of.
I signed up out of shear curiosity. From what I have gotten out of it so far, I am most pleased. Prompt communication, and willingness to modify based on user suggestions.
It literally is a few lines of JavaScript dropped into any web form, and suggestions are displayed asynchronously on the results page. A working example of it is The Daniel Boone Regional Library. I never knew Missouri was a test bed of AJAX madness.
My client is looking forward to deployment, and I am looking forward to my paycheck for the Summer. If you have 10 minutes to play with a new bit of Web 2.0 goodness, I'd recommend this
I was doing a website integration recently, and the client asked for a way to provide suggestions for their search results which were unobtrusive to the user, but could provide some feedback to the administrator to analyze traffic and search flow. I had never really thought about suggestions for search on a retail website, but the thought of traffic flow and analysis really piqued my interest level. The first thing I thought of to accomplish this was the Google-API.
I had worked with the Google-API in the past, and knew of its limitations but figured someone has been in a similar situation and can up with a clever solution. Well, I was right and wrong in that assumption.
I didn't really find any backend-ready means to do this, but I did find an amazing AJAX 'Did you mean' implementation of the Google-API that is fully hosted with analysis and reporting features. It was exactly what I was looking for.
It turns out that Properspell.com and it's parent site Jaunter have worked out some commercial arrangements for the use of the Google-API, which is one of the first that I have heard of.
I signed up out of shear curiosity. From what I have gotten out of it so far, I am most pleased. Prompt communication, and willingness to modify based on user suggestions.
It literally is a few lines of JavaScript dropped into any web form, and suggestions are displayed asynchronously on the results page. A working example of it is The Daniel Boone Regional Library. I never knew Missouri was a test bed of AJAX madness.
My client is looking forward to deployment, and I am looking forward to my paycheck for the Summer. If you have 10 minutes to play with a new bit of Web 2.0 goodness, I'd recommend this
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
ADWords Next Gen
My prediction, based on this little tidbit Google Click To Call is that in the foreseeable future, AdWords will mutate. In addition to pay for placement, you will be able to pay for lead. What does that mean?
Well, simply, if you are logged into google, and you click on an advertiser AdWord or GoogleBase item, for a small fee, the merchant/vendor can elect to get your contact information and be able to follow-up. If they are already paying $2 and upwords for the annonymous web traffic, they would surely pay that, if not more for a verifiable email lead with all the fixings (browsing habits, interests, etc).
They are already pin-pointing the target audience via Mappable AdWords. Little by little we are seeing all thier services intergrating for pure geo-specific advertising - free-wifi, google-talk, AdWords, you name it.
It would be a great move to provide verifiable leads generation. They'd be one of the fist all intensive players to do it, other are doing it and charging $20+ for the lead (industry specific Mortgage/Real Estate). Why not cut the feed at the source and just take advantage of all the convergence they are running with thus far.
Well, simply, if you are logged into google, and you click on an advertiser AdWord or GoogleBase item, for a small fee, the merchant/vendor can elect to get your contact information and be able to follow-up. If they are already paying $2 and upwords for the annonymous web traffic, they would surely pay that, if not more for a verifiable email lead with all the fixings (browsing habits, interests, etc).
They are already pin-pointing the target audience via Mappable AdWords. Little by little we are seeing all thier services intergrating for pure geo-specific advertising - free-wifi, google-talk, AdWords, you name it.
It would be a great move to provide verifiable leads generation. They'd be one of the fist all intensive players to do it, other are doing it and charging $20+ for the lead (industry specific Mortgage/Real Estate). Why not cut the feed at the source and just take advantage of all the convergence they are running with thus far.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Drill Down Search
I still haven't quite gotten my grasp on the drill-down method for GoogleBase. It seems like the options provided are a Top 5 result, or you can do a simple text bassed seach.
For example, a Real Estate Search yields the agent drill down. The top 5 agents based on property inventory appear. Selecting one of the agnets yields the properties listed by that agent.
For some Base Categories, this could make a whole lot of sense, for some, such as this agent drill down, it seems limiting. The next question that this brings up is if two users using the same category create the same custom attribute for their data, will GoogleBase start allowing the searching against these mutual atributes? If that is the case, its time to start coming up with standards for different industries. Did anyone say Rets?
For example, a Real Estate Search yields the agent drill down. The top 5 agents based on property inventory appear. Selecting one of the agnets yields the properties listed by that agent.
For some Base Categories, this could make a whole lot of sense, for some, such as this agent drill down, it seems limiting. The next question that this brings up is if two users using the same category create the same custom attribute for their data, will GoogleBase start allowing the searching against these mutual atributes? If that is the case, its time to start coming up with standards for different industries. Did anyone say Rets?
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Where is Map Search?
I was toying around with the people profile and it dawned on me: 'Why can't the location based search be driven by the map?'. We have seen so many great implementations of the API and AJAX for powering the dynamic server-side searches, yet GBase and Google-Local both seem to be lacking this feature.
As you move the map, it should refresh with what matches in the new bounding area, it shouldn't just be confined to the location search as defined. A good example of this extends over to Google Local. I search for pizza in 60610. It shows some results, but if there is a pizza place just outside that zip, it wont show. Let me control my search area with the map, not boxing me in to where I put for a starting point.
Its much easier for me to narrow a search based on the map window, then to flip through a series of results in the results pane, that for the most part do not seem to be in any categorized order, outside of matching the criteria which I used for the search.
This would extend both interfaces so much, that Google could start to leverage the kick ass technology that they pioneered even more.
As you move the map, it should refresh with what matches in the new bounding area, it shouldn't just be confined to the location search as defined. A good example of this extends over to Google Local. I search for pizza in 60610. It shows some results, but if there is a pizza place just outside that zip, it wont show. Let me control my search area with the map, not boxing me in to where I put for a starting point.
Its much easier for me to narrow a search based on the map window, then to flip through a series of results in the results pane, that for the most part do not seem to be in any categorized order, outside of matching the criteria which I used for the search.
This would extend both interfaces so much, that Google could start to leverage the kick ass technology that they pioneered even more.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Craig Killer?
Honestly, I love Craigslist. I admit, I go there at least once a day. Over the past year, I have seen it go from little recognition and use in the area I live, to something that all the hipster,trendster chad and trixies use. It is a community. It being a community is part of the reason I say NO to GoogleBase killing it.
There is something about its simplicity that makes it unique. There is something about how it is categorized and ordered which make it 'Inutitively Obvious to the most casual bystander' (thanks Mrs. Speedling for drilling that statement in my head).
GoogleBase on the other hand is relying on its search approach to find information. I am not saying that Google hasn't mastered the art of index and search, I'm saying that for the general public, being able to get into a search category make them feel that they are in the right place. For example EBay, that stuff is so cross posted that you never now if you are actually looking in the right spot, and it does get frustrating, and may turn some users away. Similiar scenario here, not the CL has any silver bullet to stopping miscategorizing or even blatent ads going up, it just makes you feel 'Well if I am looking for Women seeking men, how can I be wrong with clicking the link that say WOMEN SEEKING MEN?'
Somwhere in between the two search interfaces lies the ultimate search interface. Something based on time posted, categories and a kick ass google contextual search. UNfortunately though, GoogleBase is not a community, and CL is that before it is really a classified listing site. So no, Craig will be around.
There is something about its simplicity that makes it unique. There is something about how it is categorized and ordered which make it 'Inutitively Obvious to the most casual bystander' (thanks Mrs. Speedling for drilling that statement in my head).
GoogleBase on the other hand is relying on its search approach to find information. I am not saying that Google hasn't mastered the art of index and search, I'm saying that for the general public, being able to get into a search category make them feel that they are in the right place. For example EBay, that stuff is so cross posted that you never now if you are actually looking in the right spot, and it does get frustrating, and may turn some users away. Similiar scenario here, not the CL has any silver bullet to stopping miscategorizing or even blatent ads going up, it just makes you feel 'Well if I am looking for Women seeking men, how can I be wrong with clicking the link that say WOMEN SEEKING MEN?'
Somwhere in between the two search interfaces lies the ultimate search interface. Something based on time posted, categories and a kick ass google contextual search. UNfortunately though, GoogleBase is not a community, and CL is that before it is really a classified listing site. So no, Craig will be around.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Off to the races
Well, we all got a little view of what GoogleBase was going to be about a couple weeks back. Who would have thought that it was that close to actually being released. Definately got some time in testing today. First thing I noticed was that 'Housing' was left off the list for available categories to post into, yet many of the examples, including the bulk uploader go into extensive detail about the 'Housing' data schema.
Maybe it is just me, being too over-zealous, but the Bulk Uploader just doesnt seem to want to take the extended attributes, both the Google Defined ones (g:) as well as custom one. Tried with 2 of thier examples as well as a custom data pull, but all that got entered into GBase was the Title and Description. Any comment on that??
For the most part, just going to document our use of the GBase, point out some interesting uses, and hopefully give some feedback and help where applicaple. Thus far, it seems that the main help group is Google Base Help Discussion. Not sure if the GBase team will get an official group going, or for that matter, an official blog. But here goes a shot!
Maybe it is just me, being too over-zealous, but the Bulk Uploader just doesnt seem to want to take the extended attributes, both the Google Defined ones (g:) as well as custom one. Tried with 2 of thier examples as well as a custom data pull, but all that got entered into GBase was the Title and Description. Any comment on that??
For the most part, just going to document our use of the GBase, point out some interesting uses, and hopefully give some feedback and help where applicaple. Thus far, it seems that the main help group is Google Base Help Discussion. Not sure if the GBase team will get an official group going, or for that matter, an official blog. But here goes a shot!
