Vortals - What Are They & Where Did They Come From?

Vortals Defined

“Vortal” is a contraction of “Vertical Portal,” and is loosely defined as a web site that specializes in a particular topic containing content, links, and searchable directories. Synonyms include “specialty search engines” and “topical search engines.”

The ongoing shakeout of Internet companies, and especially publishers, has led many firms to focus their business on what they do best (be it content, technology, or services) and trim back their non-core services, hence the rise of the vortal. While all of us are familiar with the more traditional portals such as Yahoo!, AOL, or MSN, vortals are still relatively unknown. Much of the lack of brand power is attributed to the fact that they serve niche audiences rather than mainstream ones.

The major difference between a vortal and a search engine is that with a vortal the user can only search within the narrow subject matter that the site covers. This is in direct opposition to the large portals, which seek to be all things to all people. The benefit of using a vortal is that the vortal is likely to have more in-depth coverage of the topic in question than a traditional portal - so you’ll spend less of your time sifting through non-relevant returns. Another positive is that many vortal sites incorporate community-building features, which strengthen their appeal and extend the depth of the information they provide, thereby heightening the experience.

What Kind Of Vortals Are Out There?

There are hundreds of vortals on the Web, ranging from the ultra- niche to larger subjects such as medicine and law. Examples of some of the larger vortals include Financial Find, Inomics, FindLaw, mySimon, Buyer’s Index, WWWomen.com, and The Knot.

All of these sites serve different segments and interests, and all are extremely focused. They are searchable, and often contain community building tools such as chat boards. If you’re interested in having your own vortal, check out Absolute Authority which enables you to create your own vortals and use affiliate programs to market it. You’ll be amazed by the variety of vortals that exist through this site! Step 1 is to search to see if your topic is still available.

The Trends

As more companies on the Web become more specialized in the information they provide, we should look for an increase in vortals. As searchability is a key component, there are now a number of software companies that develop crawler-based subject search engines to serve this burgeoning market. Examples of development companies include:
PinPoint.com
BetterGetter
SearchButton
EoExchange

The vortal supplies these companies with a list of sites that contain relevant knowledge (a universe to search from). After the companies place spiders on those particular sites, the searchee is guaranteed of getting high quality search results because the sites from which the results are drawn have been pre-screened by the vortal.

Don’t think that the above companies are the only ones in the market. Larger companies such as AltaVista and Inktomi are also experimenting with providing such search tools, however, they are much too expensive for the vast majority of the vortals out there. With good competition, costs will be kept down and custom search programs will to continue to flourish.

The Revenue Generating Angle

Vortals, like portals, use advertising as their main source of revenue. The survivability of vortals might very well depend upon how viable of an advertising channel they present. Unlike some of the large portals, vortals can offer extremely targeted advertising opportunities. The community nature of vortals also gives them a better chance because they attract loyal audiences. Inclusions of message boards or chat rooms can enhance the sense of community and enable the vortal to become a strong branding tool.

The Future

If the vortal revenue model proves to work, look for the more established portals to acquire vortal sites in an effort to take advantage of their advertising success. Yahoo! has already acquired community related sites like eGroups (now renamed Yahoo! Groups). Look to vortals as a tool to enrich already established portals, but only time will truly tell.

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