Inktomi unveiled Inktomi Web Search 9, the next generation of its OEM Web search service. Inktomi Web Search 9 combines algorithmic and editorial relevance techniques to better interpret user intent and deliver more accurate, comprehensive search results. Inktomi Web Search 9 also includes new paid inclusion features that allow content publishers and online retailers to more easily target local audiences. Inktomi is the leading provider of OEM Web search and paid inclusion services, and, with Inktomi Web Search 9, delivers significantly improved relevance and a more intuitive Internet search experience to users.
Inktomi Web Search 9 meets or exceeds the competition in the three tenets of Web search: relevance, freshness and index size. Inktomi is a leader in delivering highly relevant results and is unique in its ability to objectively measure search engine relevance through a combination of algorithmic and editorial techniques. Inktomi Web Search leads the industry in content freshness, and its content discovery system now refreshes the entire index every 10-14 days and paid inclusion content every 48 hours. Additionally, the Inktomi Web Search database has been growing an average of 15 percent a month, and Inktomi is currently deploying a search of more than 3 billion documents.
"Inktomi has been investing aggressively in the technology and capacity to build the best search engine on the Web, and today's release showcases this ramp-up," said Vishal Makhijani, vice president and general manager of Web Search at Inktomi. "Inktomi was founded upon the Web search business and we have a deep understanding of the Internet. With Inktomi Web Search 9, we have moved beyond all other Web search technologies to better understand the user - the next horizon for Internet search."
As the volume and diversity of content on the Web grows, the challenges that Internet search engines face continue to evolve. Search technology providers have made great strides in deciphering the Web through advancements in crawlers and ranking algorithms. However, to take Internet search to the next level, search engines must expand beyond their mastery of the Web to better understand its users. To address the Web search challenges of 2003 and beyond, search engines are now tasked with developing methodologies that more accurately anticipate the meaning behind search queries to deliver more successful search results.
Inktomi Web Search 9 introduces new technologies that build upon Inktomi's proven Internet search capabilities to understand user intent and provide additional context to searches. Feature highlights of Inktomi Web Search 9 include:
Smart Summaries: A critical element of relevance is the presentation of search results. An industry-first feature, Smart Summaries intelligently selects the most relevant page summaries, eliminating the guesswork in clicking on the appropriate URL. With Smart Summaries, the search engine analyzes the user intent of the query to return a contextual (computer-generated page fragments containing keywords), editorial (synopsis written by a human editor) or custom (description submitted by a paid inclusion subscriber) page summary to help users identify the results they want.
Index Connect Geotargeting: Inktomi Search Marketing Solutions offers paid inclusion customers the unique ability to provide tailored local content for more than 30 global regions. Inktomi portal partners reach more than half of all Internet users worldwide and this feature allows paid inclusion subscribers to increase customer satisfaction and sales conversions by ensuring that their content is only presented in relevant global regions.
Spelling Suggestion: Inktomi Web Search 9 now recommends spelling corrections to enable more successful and productive Internet searches. Spelling Suggestion adapts to user behavior over time to correct commonly mistyped words and names. The database for this feature is built from user queries and indexed pages and is not limited to words that appear in dictionaries, better servicing obscure requests for information.
XML Interface: Inktomi has released a Web services version of its interface that allows portals and content providers to exchange information with the Inktomi search engine. This feature enables paid inclusion partners to easily feed deep Web content into the Inktomi search index. Additionally, the XML interface allows portal partners to quickly deploy and customize the search experience for their audiences.