Two more examples of how to leverage database content for search

Todd Friesen mentioned Farecast to me yesterday evening as we were discussing my post about leveraging databases to create useful new content for users and search engines. Farecast is now owned by Microsoft but the site is publishing aggregate data similar to the way I suggested would be helpful to both users and the site itself.

For example, if you search Google for airline ticket deals you’ll see that Farecast’s ticket deals page ranks first. A check with the Google Adwords keyword suggestion tool indicates there is query traffic for “airline ticket deals” and “airline tickets deals” (but Farecast does not rank for the latter). With just a little bit more optimization, I think (or perhaps a lot of links), Farecast could (and SHOULD) rank first for “airline tickets deals”. After all, it appears to be the only site actually providing that kind of information.

Search for “orbitz recent sales” or “orbitz recent purchases” and you get nothing useful. As a consumer, I want to know what other consumers have been paying for their airfares. The price of airline tickets is going up because of rising fuel costs (and other costs passed on by vendors to airlines because THEIR fuel costs are going on). Some airlines have gone back into their semi-permanent states of distress. A couple of airlines have gone into bankruptcy.

If you want to increase your business, won’t it help to show consumers where they can save the most money (without cutting your own throat)? Wouldn’t it be great if, as a searcher, you could find aggregate recent purchase data to help you make your short-term financial decisions? This is what search should be reaching for. Of course, it is part of what search is reaching for.

But the search engines cannot do it all. Webmasters have to do their part and search optimizers can help Webmasters by shaping convincing businesses cases for publishing aggregate data in a timely fashion. We can change the way the search results look by providing more relevant and helpful information to the search engines.

Consumers won’t turn down helpful information.

The problem with today’s search results is that they are being used almost solely for branding. If you search Google for best airline ticket prices you’ll see plenty of brands but relatively little actual information on the topic. There is plenty of room for improvement in these highly competitive search results. Greed and short-sightedness have made them almost useless, but the lack of any useful alternatives forces consumers to settle for whatever the search engines can dredge up.

The same problem exists for queries like recent car insurance rates, “recent car insurance deals”, etc. If you have seen any television commercials for Progressive insurance in the last year or two, you’ve undoubtedly seen their claim that they provide recent real quotes from other insurance companies. But that data does not appear in the search results because they don’t make it searchable (NOTE: I don’t know if there are legal issues they have to take into consideration — be careful about using trademarks you don’t own in your Web content).

The consumer has to dig hard and deep to find real information about what prices people are making. In a way, we’ve stepped back into the pre-fixed price era of negotiating prices on everything we buy. Because this data is hidden from consumers the retailers have the advantage over the consumers. But the retailer who first shares the data freely will gain an advantage over his competitors.