Automation to Cure Duplicate Content Issues
October 15, 2012
Search Engine Land is shining a light on a common Web site search problem, duplicate content issues. Read the full report in, “An Automated Tool To Eliminate Duplicate Content Issues.”
The author begins:
BloomReach announced a new software product named Dynamic Duplication Reduction (DDR) that aims to eliminate duplicate content issues on web sites. Typically, software tools are known to cause duplicate content issues but this tool promises to reverse it. The tool deeply crawls your web pages and continuously interprets all content on a site. It will automatically discover and act on duplicate pages.
They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and in this case the prevention needed is effective Web site indexing. Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite quickly crawls and indexes all Web site content delivering search results based on relevancy. Misspellings are even corrected with InSite and duplication is prevented. Fabasoft Mindbreeze is a longstanding leader in third party solutions for the enterprise. InSite is quickly becoming the icing on the cake of this industry leader.
Emily Rae Aldridge, October 15, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Increased Search Functionality Add-On from Sonoma is Released
October 13, 2012
A leading Microsoft partner has recently announced the release of a free add-on tool for Dynamics CRM that promises to provide enhanced search functionality and increased productivity for users. Sonoma Partners, a consultancy with enterprise mobility expertise, released Universal Search, according to the article “Sonoma Partners Releases Universal Search for Microsoft Dynamics CRM” on Yahoo News.
The add-on allows users to view search results from multiple entities with just a single search; a breakthrough, as users have previously been limited to only one entity per search. The article tells us about the development of the tool:
“‘We developed Universal Search to create a convenient way for Microsoft Dynamics CRM users to greatly streamline the experience of searching for records, even if they don’t know what type of record it is,’ said Mike Snyder, principal of Sonoma Partners. ‘With this free add-on, we hope to enable Dynamics CRM users to utilize their on-premise or online deployment to the fullest.’”
Universal Search also allows users the capability to configure which entities are searched, which attributes to search by, and what information to display. To check out the new product in action, steer your browser to the demo video on YouTube.
Andrea Hayden, October 13, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Get A Comprehensive Search Strategy Plan from Aspire
October 12, 2012
People tend to doubt the power of a good search application. They take it for granted that all out-of-the-box and Internet search engines are as accurate as Google (only the most powerful in the public eye). The truth of the matter is most businesses are losing business productivity, because they have not harnessed the true potential of search. Search Technologies, a leading IT company that specializes in search engine implementation, managed services, and consulting, is the innovator behind Aspire:
“Aspire is a powerful framework and application platform for acquiring both structured and unstructured data from just about any content source, processing / enriching that content, and then publishing it to the search engine or business analytics tool of your choice.”
Aspire uses a built-in indexing pipeline and propriety code maintained by Search Technologies high standards. It is based on Apache Felix, the leading open source implementation for OSGI standard. OSGI is built for Java and supported by IT companies worldwide. Aspire can gather documents from a variety of resources, including relational databases, SharePoint, file systems, and many more. The metadata is captured and then it can be enriched, combined, reformatted, or normalized to whatever the business needs before it is submitted search engines, document repositories, or business analytics applications. Aspire performs content processing that cleans and repackages data for findability.
“Almost all structured data is originally created in a tightly controlled or automated way.
By contrast, unstructured content is created interactively by individual people, and is infinitely variable in its format, style, quality and structure. Because of this, content processing techniques that were originally developed to work with structured data simply cannot cope with the unpredictability and variability of unstructured content.”
By implementing a content processing application like Aspire, unstructured content is “scrubbed,” then enriched, for better search results. Most commercial search engines do not have the same filters that weed out relevant content from the bad. The results displayed to the user are thus poor quality and are of zero to little use. They try to resolve the problem with custom coding and updates for every new data source that pops up, which is tedious. Aspire fixes tired coding problems, by using automated metadata extraction and manipulation outside the search engine.
As powerful as commercial search engines are they can often lack the refined quality one gets from a robust ISV. Aspire does not follow the same search technology path as its competitors, rather it has designed a new, original solution to provide its clients with a comprehensive search strategy plan to help improve productivity, organization, and data management.
Remember. Search Technologies is sponsoring a meet up at the October 2012 Enterprise Search Summit. More information is available at http://www.meetup.com/DC-Metro-Enterprise-Search-Network/
Iain Fletcher, October 12, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
SharePoint Training Essential to Success
October 12, 2012
The secret to a successful SharePoint implementation is in planning and training. Research and Markets has added new training pieces to their class offerings. Herald Online provides a full story in their article, “Research and Markets: Comprehensive Microsoft SharePoint Training – Manage SharePoint Sites like a Professional.”
Read about their latest SharePoint 2010 End User class:
The SharePoint 2010 End User class is for end users working in a SharePoint 2010 environment. The course teaches SharePoint basics such as working with lists and libraries as well as basic page customizations. The SharePoint 2010 Power User training class teaches students to manage SharePoint sites.
This class is hands-on and interactive, with exercises, presentations and readings to ensure students stay engaged and learn the material presented.
Training is important for complicated enterprise solutions, but there are some third party options that focus on intuitive ease of use. Fabasoft Mindbreeze offers Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise, one such smart third party solution. Data is given meaning and is made more easily retrievable. Therefore, training is still important, but becomes less urgent. Usability is brought down to the level of a more common user, meaning small or medium size businesses can save time and money on both training and specialized developer positions.
Emily Rae Aldridge, October 12, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Familiar Architecture and Improvements in SharePoint 2013
October 11, 2012
J. Peter Bruzzese, a writer for InfoWorld’s Enterprise Windows blog, takes a look at what he terms welcome enhancements for SharePoint 2013 in his InfoWorld post, “SharePoint 2013: A Low-Key Update You’ll Love.” Bruzzese first points out that architecturally, the upcoming SharePoint release is similar to its predecessor, but with added benefit of increased support for touch based devices. He has this to say about the overall improvements:
SharePoint 2013’s social networking enhancements provide more interaction options for people in a company, such as via community sites and portals that offer a forum-style experience within SharePoint. The My Sites user interface…has been streamlined. New microblog and newsfeed features allow for shorter conversations and quick updates, similar to what Yammer provides.
He adds that overall SharePoint 2013 is an improvement, but also has this to say:
I only wish that SharePoint was released more frequently, not tied to the three-year cycles of the Office and server lines, so it could better keep up with the rapid changes in social networking, mobile, and other user technology spaces.
Bruzzese points out that greater scalability and integration of FAST Search, rather than being a stand-alone program, are also two improvements. But when it comes to taking advantage of social capabilities and search, we know that FAST has its gaps and users need efficient and easy access to information. Fabasoft Mindbreeze offers Enterprise Search with SharePoint Connectors so to easily snap into your existing farm. In addition to all-inclusive search, Mindbreeze creates relevant knowledge by storing data according to type and relevance while processing data in a comprehensible form.
Philip West, October 11, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Tips for Creating Content to Attract an Audience
October 10, 2012
Simon Penson started his career as a journalist and magazine editor before turning to the world of online audience creation and has owned and run his own sites. He is also the founder of content led digital marketing agency Zazzle Media, which specializes in content marketing and strategy. In his article, “46 Ways to Kill It with Content,” he concisely delivers a variety of tips to boost online content. Penson includes discussion on creating content ideas and structure, strategy development, as well as content execution and measuring effectiveness. He has this to share about understanding users as part of measuring effectiveness,
Set up goal and funnel tracking as part of any major content creation process and track users through to action. Just ensure that time frames are set in a realistic manner. Too many times this is measured over weeks or a couple of months when it should be a 6-12 month investment that will continue to deliver engaged and targeted visitors for many month to come.
Don’t simply measure outreach by the links earned. Look at referral traffic and brand visibility value also as part of the measurement process.
A successful Web presence depends on having useful and attractive content. MindBreeze InSite understands that an attractive Web site is a company’s digital business card. InSite “turns your website into a user-friendly knowledge portal for your customers. Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite recognizes correlations and links through semantic and dynamic search processes. This delivers pinpoint accurate and precise “finding experiences.” With no installation or configuration required, InSite can save you valuable resources that can otherwise be spent on developing and managing stellar content.
Philip West, October 10, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Useful Tips for Retail Results Pages
October 10, 2012
Check out these ideas for making your site’s search results stand out. The SLI Systems blog has pulled some suggestions from their “SLI Big Book of Site Search Tips” in the post, “Make Sure Your Search Results Pages Stand Out.” Blogger Terry Costa notes:
“Well designed search results pages are critical in helping your site visitors decide which products to click on. So it is important to show not only relevant products in your search results, but also pertinent product information that will give users just enough information to entice them to click to the product page or add to cart button, without overwhelming them with too much information. Striking the right balance is the key. No there’s not a app for this, but fortunately, there are tricks for this.”
The first recommendation is to adopt the recent trend of highlighting the first result. Not only should this be the most relevant result for your user, expanded space allows for the presentation of more details. Next comes the time-saving quick view, a user-specified layout, and the inclusion of a visitors’ search history. All good suggestions.
The final idea, infinite scrolling, we are not too crazy about. Some of us want to know on which page a hit appears. Costa does note that if you choose this option, be sure it is clear to the user that there is more information to be had with the roll of their mouse wheel.
See the post for more details on these ideas, or click here to download the book; other helpful SLI titles are available there, too.
Cynthia Murrell, October 10, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
WordPress Plugin for SearchBlox Now Available
October 10, 2012
Web sites that wish to use WordPress to build their content and SearchBlox for federated search will soon have an easier time uniting the two. On their blog, SearchBlox announces, “WordPress Plugin Makes It Easy to Integrate SearchBlox.” The post by Timo Selvarag reports:
“SearchBlox has released an updated WordPress plugin to search your WordPress site and integrate faceted search results into your site from the SearchBlox Server. Unlike the Solr Search Plugin, there are fields to configure or schema to load. Simply install the plugin and follow the getting started guide to integrate search into your site. SearchBlox provides fast instant search results from the SearchBlox Server. You can also crawl and integrate external sites, feeds and file system based documents for searching within your WordPress site.”
There’s a demo of the plugin here. WordPress is an open source project licensed under the GPL. Begun as a blogging system in 2003, it has grown into a full content management system with thousands of plugins, widgets, and themes now available.
SearchBlox is built on top of Apache‘s Lucene/Solr. SearchBlox was also founded in 2003, and is located in Richmond, Virginia. Their client roster now tops 300 organizations in 30 countries.
Cynthia Murrell, October 10, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
The Google Search Appliance Version 7
October 9, 2012
I learned today (October 9, 2012) that Google has upgraded the GSA to Version 7. I have not gotten my hands on a GSA. I did work through the list of enhancements. My first reaction is that Google has invested time and effort in the GSA. Some competitors will have to deal with the GSA in its present form because Google has emphasized some features which will appeal to harried information technology managers. The GSA is, according to the information available to me delivers “Google magic.” As Google’s impact across business sectors becomes more powerful, “Google magic” may be what convinces organizations to embrace an appliance which delivers “powerful simplicity.”
Among the features of Version 7 are:
- Universal search accessible from any device, including smartphones
- Entity recognition, hit clustering, and faceted search
- Ability to identify an “expert”
- More robust access controls
- Support for SharePoint
- Updated language modules and support for Google Translate
- Document previews without opening a viewer or an application like Adobe Reader
- Support for a Vivisimo-style social comment.
Google points out: “Search in the enterprise isn’t a solved problem. 60 percent of workers say it is hard to find information in their organization.” I agree.
I don’t have pricing information. There are some prices for the GB 7007 and GB 9009 available via www.gsaadvantage.gov. You will have to experiment with the search syntax. The US government prices are discounted, so the commercial lease with two or three years of support will vary.
The official Google announcement is at “Introducing the Google Search Appliance, Version 7.” Feature by feature comparisons with other enterprise search systems are tricky. Will the new version address some of the issues that licensees experienced with previous Google Search Appliances? I don’t know. I will update my analysis of the Google Search Appliance as more information becomes available.
From a competitor’s point of view, Google “magic” may be difficult to disprove.
Stephen E Arnold, October 9, 2012
Exclusive Interview with Runar Buvik Searchdaimon
October 9, 2012
Runar Buvik, one of the founders of Searchdaimon, told Search Wizards Speak, “Searchdaimon is easy to get started with. It ships ready to run and don’t requires any consultants etc. to get you started. We also have a price advantage over comparable systems.”
In an exclusive interview, Mr. Buvik explains how the combination of robust features, a commitment to openness, and competitive pricing makes Searchdaimon a solution for many organizations.
The company was a spinoff from the information retrieval community at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Fast Search & Transfer SA, now a unit of Microsoft, was developed by engineers from NTNU. Today, Google and Microsoft have research labs in Trondheim, a city with a strong reputation in information retrieval.
Magnus Galåen and Runar Buvik started working on search and retrieval in 1998. Both studying information retrieval at NTNU. In 2002 we met investors with an interest in information retrieval, Stian Rustad and Espen Øxnes. The idea was that we would commercialize the search technology we developed. Today Searchdaimon is growing rapidly in Europe and the US.
The main features of the system are comparable to the features and functions available from HP Autonomy, Endeca, Exalead, and other aggressively marketed systems. For example, Searchdaimon offers filtering, sorting, content federation, search suggestions, spell checking of user queries, stemming and lemmatization, a graphic interface for the administrative services, logs, statistics, and the other components of a modern enterprise information retrieval system. The Searchdaimon system is an enterprise search solution that can index different content types scattered across multiple servers and storage devices. The system offers full text search to end users.
Mr. Buvik said:
The customer can use either on premises or a cloud-based approach. We designed the system to make it easy to deploy Searchdaimon ES in many ways. Most of our customers either run the system as a virtual machine on the customers VMware/ XEN/ VirtualBox servers or in a cloud.
The system is competitively priced and comes, out of the box with filters to index Web sites, RSS feeds, SharePoint, Microsoft Exchange, Twitter, Zendesk, SuperOffice, WordPress and most types of file shares and databases.
The full text of the interview is available at http://goo.gl/xueGc.
Search Wizards Speak is the largest collection of interviews with leading professionals in search, text analytics, and content processing, There are more than 60 interviews available without charge on the ArnoldIT.com Web site. An index of the interviews is at http://goo.gl/mtOSZ.
Stephen E Arnold, October 9, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
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