What Is a Vertical Search Engine? What You Should Know

Updated 4/18/24.

When you think of a search engine, the classic Google desktop search results page will almost definitely be the image at the forefront of your mind.

And when you’re using Google, the sky’s the limit. You can type in the phrase blueberry, and find everything from blueberry recipes to facts about where they’re grown or sites where you can buy them. This is great… until you want to find something specific and have trouble doing so because the options are so vast.

That’s where vertical search engines come into play. These specialty search engines make it easier to find content pertaining to certain industries or topics, making them a valuable resource to those who use them.

In this post, we’re going to explain exactly what vertical search engines are, why they’re so important, and what you can do to rank well within them.

What Are Vertical Search Engines?

Vertical search engines are specialized search tools that focus on a specific segment of online content, offering targeted search results based on a particular industry, topic, or type of content. 

Unlike general search engines that index the web, vertical search engines focus on a defined area—such as books, jobs, real estate, or academic articles. This provides a refined search experience for the user and gives the most relevant information.

Vertical search engines sound like some sort of fancy mobile format, but the “vertical” actually refers to “business verticals,” or niches. They’re created to help users find content in certain industries, topics, or (you guessed it) business verticals.

Let’s say you only want to research the health benefits of blueberries and want to look at actual case studies. You could use a vertical search created for medical professionals to look up case studies and clinical research detailing nutrient and antioxidant values.

Vertical search engines can also refer to looking for specific types of content; Google’s image search, and shopping search options both technically count as vertical search engines because they’re exclusionary in the fact that they’ll only display certain types of content.

The Advantages of Vertical Search

Vertical search engines offer distinct advantages over traditional search engines by providing a more focused and relevant search experience. Some advantages of vertical search engines include:

Targeted Search Results: ensure that users find the most relevant information quickly, significantly enhancing the effectiveness of their search experience.

 Faster & More Efficient: streamline the search process by eliminating irrelevant content and focusing directly on the specific area of interest.

 Improved Information: curates content within specific niches, ensuring users receive more accurate and reliable results tailored to their interests or needs.

Vertical Search Limitations

While vertical search engines offer targeted results within specific niches, they have their limitations. 

Limited Scope: Vertical search focuses on specific niches or industries, which can restrict the information available compared to general search engines.

Reduced User Reach: Because vertical search engines target specific niches, they may not attract as large of a user base as general search engines, which limits the potential audience.

Limited Features: Vertical search engines may lack some advanced features and functionalities offered by larger search engines, such as personalized search suggestions, which can impact user experience.

Vertical search engines are great at providing focused results within specific niches but have limitations when it comes to the information available.

Vertical Search Engine Examples 

Looking for a few vertical search engine examples to get a good grasp on the concept? Here are a few great ones.

• Zillow: a specialty search engine used for finding homes in a certain geographic location.
• LinkedIn: a search engine used to connect with people or companies for the sake of networking.
• Kayak: a search engine used for booking travel — flights, car rentals, hotels, etc.
• Monster: a specialty search engine that both employers and hopeful employees use to seek each other out.
• Msearch: a medical search engine that allows users to search for medical content based on the desired level of expertise, ranging from general public to doctors.
• Amazon: allows users to search specifically for products they want to purchase from vendors all over the world.

Some vertical search engines, like a few of the examples above, require you to submit content in order for it to register in their database. Monster can’t post a job listing if you’ve only shared it on Craigslist, after all.

Others work similarly to Google– including Google’s own vertical search engines. Google Images, for example, can search for images all over the web based on metadata and alternative text added to them, with no added effort required on your part.

Why Vertical Search Engines Matter

Vertical search engines make the search process a lot more efficient for the people using them. Trust me– I’ve been that person trying to find reliable sources for articles about whether ginger can treat nausea and was drowning in article after article from people like Dr. Oz instead of getting to actual scientific case studies until I found Msearch.

For businesses, they matter because it’s all about making sure your content will be found where users are looking for it. If your competitors are outselling you because they’re on Amazon and you’re not, for example, there’s only so much you can do to fix that without joining Amazon too.

You’ll also want to look at the vertical engines most important to you and understand how to rank well within them. For Amazon, this means getting as many reviews as possible, choosing your keywords well, and maybe running an ad or two.

How to Rank Well In Specialty Search Engines

Different vertical search engines will have different criteria, requiring different kinds of optimization in order to do well in the SERPs. Keywords, however, will always play an important role; use them strategically in any text possible.

Get creative with this too. Add keywords in alternative image text in order to increase the likelihood of your images showing up in image verticals, and upload crawlable keyword-rich .SRT files with your videos.

Reviews and social proof are also weighed pretty heavily by most search engines that take them into consideration, and they’re valued even more by the people who see them. Do what you can to get as many reviews as possible in as many places as possible.

It’s also important to note that while your standard keyword research tools can still provide valuable insight, they may not be quite as valuable for incredibly niched and off-Google verticals.

The keyword research tools almost exclusively look at Google data to provide keyword information, so it won’t be entirely consistent across all platforms. Keep that in mind, especially when writing for incredibly niche sites. The average person (aka me), after all, might Google “Noise coming from car engine” while a more mechanically-inclined person might search for “piston rattling against engine.”

Optimizing for Vertical Search Engines

Understanding how vertical search engines work– both on and off Google– will directly impact your ability to optimize for them. When you’re creating content, keep the search verticals that you want to rank for in consideration so that you can put steps in place to make sure that you’ve got everything in place to show up at the top of the SERPs.

Need some help ranking well in vertical search engines? Get in touch with us to see how we can help you.

What do you think? Do you try to rank for vertical search engines? Which do you try to optimize for? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!