Reportlinker's blog : Web 3.0, Vertical Search, Information Industry and Market Research News

We are uploading for our readers chapter extracted from an conference of the 2007 Online Information Show. The last chapter is on hos way : How Web 3.0 new search services help information professionals mining the web for valuable open access information ?

Billions of pages that compose the WWW are growing faster and faster. Since a few months, this phenomenon has been speed up as social media democratisation (ex : blog) allows anyone to produce and broadcast content.

This great amount of information make specific content identification more and more difficult as today’s search engine approach is general and exhaustive. Content identification on Google or MSN is based on keywords correspondence.

Moreover, the first ranks of their organic list of results are filled in by merchant content. Slowly but surely, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategies did their job making more difficult for user to find information that nobody has been promoted.

In 5 years, average length of business information searches on the Internet get 40 % longer Outsell Inc says. This evolution made to the detriment of analysis time has an estimated costs for the companies of € 300 M worldwide.

The birth of tools allowing identification and diffusion of business information is a natural consequence of today’s situation, and is necessary for every company, however large it may be (Multinational or SME).

Specialised search engines, such as vertical ones, were the first one to simplify their index. They choose to cover a restricted scope of information, but with much better search features that can offer any generalist search engine.

We will present today their main features and identify technologies. We will present two of these new search engines in the business information market (Zoominfo and Reportlinker) next week.

A/ Why are vertical search engines emerging ?

If the amount of information published over the Internet is more and more important, it is also more and more fragmented. Each piece of information has a limited value compared to the value of each of them linked together.

So the understanding that a vertical search engine has from its environment allows it a sharp exploitation of semantic technologies, to offer users genuine and innovative added-value services.

Specific information processing is done to fit their vertical features :

• Index visible and invisible web
• Analyze and extract each vertical specific concept (company names, market segment, executives names…)
• Information made uniform from heterogeneous sources

Vertical search engines aim at addressing homogeneous users’ needs (business executives search, industry reports search..) and create value-added services from their knowledge of restricted users scope of expectations.

That’s the best formula to reduce search time from Internet users. In doing so, they provide users friendly application that allows users to more efficiently mine the web for value added information.

B/ Vertical search engines features and technologies : One vertical axis, three features

Vertical search engines offer 3 mains features : a vertical index, vertical search features and a vertical contextualisation tools

C/ The semantic is back to the hearth of the Internet

Three technologies characterize web 3.0 search engines : Semantic, Thesaurus and Concept Extraction.

Semantic Search Engine :

“A semantic search engine is a search engine that takes the sense of a word as a factor in its ranking algorithm or offers the user a choice as to the sense of a word or phrase.”

Taking care of the meaning of a text corpus, semantic analyses enable the pre-treatment and filtering of search results :

• Search results clustering into thematic categories (categorization)
• Automatically adds tags to document description
• Displays additional stories linked to the document, even when the same keywords are not present

Semantic technologies play a very important role into vertical search engines as it allows to precisely organise the information among a finished number of dimensions.

For instance Farechase.com, the travel search engine, organise its result among the following dimensions :

• Prices
• Airlines
• Departure Time
• Flight duration
• Direct flight or not

A sharp management of document context is almost impossible in a general search engine as it would be necessary to create as many index as specific point of views users would like to have to analyze data (example : Webfountain Technology from IBM).

Thesaurus

Thesaurus Semantic analyses are based on thesaurus, a structured organisation of keywords. Thesaurus building and management will allow the definition of a semantic dimension of a document. This structured organisation is hierarchic, but also transversal. Link between concepts is established in thesaurus. That's how general sense of a document is understood by artificial intelligence.

Concept extraction

Semantic technologies are able to automatically recognize and extract concepts, based on different elements of a sentence : syntax, grammar, meaning, context... Thus, it is able to recognize specific entities, such as : - date - place - people - company - ........

As explained we are uploading for our readers chapter extracted from an conference of the 2007 Online Show in December. We will present you How to search, identify and evaluate valuable open access industry information ?.

Nowadays, general search engines such as Google or Yahoo! favour, despite them, merchant contents to the detriment of free contents.

Off the shelves reports brochures (such as Datamonitor) manage to get high rankings within search engine results. This is the consequence of their deep knowledge and practice of Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization, and their collaboration with Webmarketing Agencies.

As a consequence, free reports are more and more difficult to identify, because mostly relegated in the deep results pages. And this happens despite the fact that they are many more private reports.

In this newchapter, we propose you a step by step methodology, allowing you to get the best from the search engine, and to identify these free reports.

The 2 most important functions that can help you to easily identify free market reports on the Internet

1. Limit the search to a domain Possible on Google, Yahoo, Live
2. Limit the search to major format (Pdf, Doc, Ppt) : Possible on Google, Yahoo, not possible on Live

How to limit a search to a domain ?

On Google

Google offers the possibility to use the Boolean operator “Site:”

If you include site: in your query, Google will restrict the results to those websites in the given domain. For instance, automotive industry site:www.oecd.org will find pages about automotive industry within www.oecd.org. help site:com will find pages about help within .com urls. Note there can be no space between the site: and the domain.

This functionality is also available through Google Advanced Search page , under Advanced Web Search > Domains

On Yahoo!

The usage is definitely the same, but you still can change few options :

• limit search to specific domain suffix
• search multiple domain is at the same time (which will make you gain a lot of time)
  

Here are instruction from Yahoo ! help menu

''The site/domain yahoo! Advanced search option Restrict your search to sites with a specific domain suffix, such as .com, .edu, or .gov. For example, if you'd like to search only web sites of non-commercial organizations, click the radio button and select ".org" from the pull-down menu. To specify more than one domain, or one not listed in the drop-down menu, click the upper radio button and type the domains into the text field, separated by commas. You can also use this field to search within a particular web site, such as yahoo.com.''

You can also directly use the operator “site:” to find all documents within a particular domain and all its subdomains. operator on Yahoo! search box.

On Live

Using advanced search function on Live is more complicated than through its competitors websites. You can create a search query by adding or excluding terms or other parameters that narrow your search. But you have to launch the query first, and then add the criteria clicking on the advanced search link.

''Type the web address in the text box, select an option, and then click Add to search. You can specify any of the following: * Websites such as Microsoft.com * Root domains such as .edu, .gov, .com, .net, or .org * Country or region-specific domains such as .ca, .co, .uk, or .de''

How to limit a search to some specific document format ?

Limiting the document format have two advantages :

• limiting the number of results you have to evaluate
• most of the market research reports published on the Internet have been converted into pdf format, as a universal format
  

On Google

The operator “filetype:” followed by pdf, ppt or doc (for respectively pdf, power point presentation and word document) will allow you to specify the file format you would like in your results.

This function is also available on the advanced search box, through the option “File format”

On Yahoo!

You can choose to restrict your search by a specific file type, other than the default settings (all file-types). Currently supported formats are:

• .htm, .html—Standard HTML
• .pdf—Adobe PDF
• .xls—Microsoft Excel
• .ppt—Microsoft PowerPoint
• .doc—Microsoft Word
• .xml, .rdf, .rss—RSS or XML feeds
• .txt—Plain Text Format

This option is only possible on Yahoo! Advanced Search box

As explained we are uploading for our readers chapter extracted from an conference of the 2007 Online Show in December. We will present you why the open access market research reports are valuable for business research needs ?.

This is part of the public service mission to provide statistics. Being published by governing bodies, state, regional or local authorities, these types of information have the peculiarity to be “primary”, which means that public publishers are the first to provide them in the information distribution value chain.

Moreover, they cover a wide range of industries (not only major ones but also niches), as editorial choices are not guided by commercial aspect.

At last, public domain information are most of the time unbiased.

As a consequence, private reports are massively based on public information, even if they are completed by desk researches and analysis.

The time frame for private publishers to include public data in their reports increase the time-lag between public and private reports publishing. Public reports are thus more relevant.

Basically, each of them has its own characteristics. We will present them here one by one.

Public Domain Reports

• National Statistics
  

What for ?

To forecast trade, and local sales

Where is it possible to find some ?

For National Statistics, JPMorgan published in July 2004 the “Global Data Watch Handbook”

Chamber of Commerce and Trade Union also publish Trade Statistics and Local Statistics ( Regional Reports)

1. http://www.chamberfind.com/ is a worldwide directory of Chamber of Commerce
2. I haven’t find any for Trade Union yet. If someone knows one… It would be grateful to send us its URL !
   

Feedbacks

Often difficult to analysis them as a single indicator, much more readable in a long term analyze.

• Embassy Reports
  

What for ?

To assess an industry investment climate in a foreign country

Where is it possible to find some ?

http://www.embassyworld.com/ will help you for each country to find local Consulate or Embassy.

Feedbacks

They are often very good indicators for a first investigation on a country investment climate. Definitely not enough to make decision. Thus, embassies propose ad-hoc services for that purpose.

• Evaluation Reports
  

What for ?

To get a deep insight into a market competition, and a detailed presentation of each player (market position, market shares, pricing policy, distribution …) Evaluation reports are prepared by Competition Commission to prevent conflicts when leading companies merge.

Where is it possible to find some ?

http://www.clubi.ie/competition/compframesite/WorldsBiggestAntiTrustSitesList.html

Feedbacks

While they are amazingly detailed, they are never updated, and thus quickly outdated.

• Trade statistics
  

Refer to National Statistics

• Customs Data
  

What for ?

To identify new trade opportunities for your products across the world; to measure market share; to identify growth areas; to forecast trade and to analyze patterns.

Where is it possible to find some ?

http://www.wcoomd.org/ie/index.html will help you to find out the customs website of the country you are researching.

Feedbacks

That’s sometimes difficult to query the customs website, and even more to understand how to analyze the raw data.

• Country Reports
  

What for ?

To get the latest available demographic, socio-economic, political data related to a specific country.

Where is it possible to find some ?

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ : The CIA factbooks is continually updated. It is also possible to directly use the National Statistics Institute of the country you are researching. For that, you can use this directory : http://www.insee.fr/en/liens/liens_pays.htm

Feedbacks

The CIA website is one of the most up-to-date database for country intelligence.

• Demographic and Social Reports
  

Refer to country reports

• Official Business register
  

What for ?

Get the latest players financial statement, their status (who are the shareholders), the number and localisation of offices.

Where is it possible to find some ?

Each country has its own National Business Register

Feedbacks

Not always free, this depends on the countries. Moreover, in some countries the law does not oblige the companies to publish this information.

• Patent and trademark information
  

What for ?

Follow the topics on which players are increasing their R&D efforts, identify new technologies.

Where is it possible to find some ?

The University of Washington Engineering Library publish a bookmark of available websites : http://www.lib.washington.edu/engineering/ptdl/

Google also, and that is free : http://www.google.com/patents

Feedbacks

For novices, it is difficult to understand and analyze each information included in a patent.

Private Reports

• Annual Reports and Investor Presentation
  

What for ?

To get latest data, general strategy and business units year review

Where is it possible to find some ?

Some websites aggregate Annual Reports, that one can access when registering the website for free. Nevertheless, the easiest way is to refer to the company financial corporate website pages.

Two kinds of reports are usually available. When Annual Reports can be difficult to read for non experts, Investor presentations often give easy to understand information on the company, its competitor and their markets.

Feedbacks

Annual reports are limited to listed companies. They are probably the best free document available, nevertheless, readers must keep in mind that this document also aims at seducing new investors.

• Analyst Research Reports
  

What for ?

To get the latest data on a company, and a synthesis of a financial expert short and middle term analysis

Multex analysis : “Broker research is written by equity analysts that have deep expertise in the sectors, or companies they follow. This expertise allows them to make well informed predictions as to how the company or sector will develop in the future.”

Analyst research are provided by independent research, not attached to particular deals or trading positions, thus unbiased.

Where is it possible to find some ?

This is the most atomised type of content, thus often quite difficult to find a single source.

Feedbacks

Very difficult to identify when you expect them for free !

• Bank Research Papers
  

What for ?

A wide scope of Bank Research are available online : industry reports, country reports… The markets and countries they are covering vary strongly. Impossible to know if a report will be identified before searching each website one by one. Moreover, no service centralizes their publications.

Where is it possible to find some ?

This can be difficult. Bank Research Papers can be reserved to bank’s clients. Nevertheless, a blog used to take inventory of main bank research website (http://www.bankresearch.org/). This website has not been updated since May 2007.

Feedbacks

Probably the best free business content available.

• Press Release
  

What for ?

To follow company’s current events : new product release, merger, changes in management….

Where is it possible to find some ?

Several players on the market aggregate press releases. Leaders are Business Wire (http://www.businesswire.com/) and PR Newswire (http://www.prnewswire.com/).

Feedbacks

A press release alone is far away from being enough. And one must be careful when using them, as this is corporate communication.

• White papers
  

What for ?

To follow a competitor product or service White papers are a promotional tool companies published to present a player solution. Usually, they are illustrated by a client’s case study.

Where is it possible to find some ?

http://www.itpapers.com/ gather on its website white papers limited to the IT Industry.

Feedbacks

Corporate communication. Mainly used in the information technologies markets.

As a conclusion, we have seen here how precious public industry information are. But such a diversity of content and diversity of sources is not always helpful to information professional.

To gain time, and efficiency, we will present you now a methodology to easily identify these contents over the Internet.

The Online Information 2007, the world's leading event for online content and information management solutions, will begin on the 4th of December. Reportlinker will exhibit, and speak Thursday 6 December (14.00-15.30) during a session called "Managing enterprise information Search - is there any innovation left?"

We will present their the content of a paper we are publishing on our blog. You will find here today our introduction.

In a more and more competitive business environment, companies need :

• To find precise, recent and validated business information
• To access them as quick as possible

The amount of open access industry information published by public and authoritative sources has been exploding for several years. More than 200.000 sources such as Governments, Embassies, Public agencies, Investment agencies, Banks, Industry clusters, Trade unions... are now publishing open access market statistics, forecasts and analyses and make them available for free on the world wild web.

Though they exist in great quantity, these pieces of information are not so easy to retrieve. Private publishers and industry information analysts spend many efforts and money to trust the first places of Google and every other general search engines. Open access content thus becomes invisible. As a consequence, Information professionals need to spend more time and elaborate complex search strategies to find information (Outsell reports that search time increased by 40 % in 5 years). Our paper aims at presenting strategies and tools to easily identify and access valuable open access content to serve business research needs.

1/ Who produces free industry reports on the Internet ? Why ? Can you trust open access market research and industry statistics ? We will present here who are the main open access information providers. Attendees will learn here why they can trust most of them, and how to assess the others ?

2/ Learn how to search and identify valuable open access industry information . Using specific queries, boolean operators or even advanced search box allow professionals to easily identify open access content through general search engines. Using invisible web and public information aggregators can also save time. Attendees will learn here where to search for Open Access Industry Reports on the Internet ? What kind of search strategy will help them to more efficiently retrieve them ?

3/ How the Web 3.0 and new generation search engines can help you finding valuable industry information ?

A new generation of vertical search engines is born. Each of them follow the web 3.0 trend. They serve vertical users needs such as airline tickets search, personal and company search, or industry report search. These new generation of search engines creates added value services from public free information gathered on the open web. We will define here the web 3.0, present the technologies that will change the web, and explain some leading business models.