What is semantic search?

Brooke Aker: Hello. I'm Brooke Aker, CEO of Expert System USA. Today we're going to talk about: what is semantic search? Semantic search is technology that allows machine comprehension of all forms of content. That gives us a chance at productivity, a game of connecting the dots, saving time, making more money for business people.

But let's start by talking about where we've been. Web 1.0, in the form of Google, Yahoo, those kinds of search technologies, really keyword search technologies, had single point production and mass consumption. The documents went out to the masses. That's the form of search we know best.

Web 2.0 is now sometimes called the Social Web, the great democratization of information that both connected people and documents to each other, in other words, mass production and mass consumption.

And while this is a great innovation, it has its implications for business people. As the amount of information grows, productivity has a tendency to flatten out. So here we are with Web 1.0, and today with Web 2.0. And where are we going from here?

Part of the danger with keyword technologies in the form of Google, Yahoo, and keyword technology search, is that that will decline. Semantic technologies give us the chance to increase that productivity once again. So here we are ‑ Web 3.0.

So think of it this way. Instead of Web 2.0, what we're going to have is Web 3.0. And what that is a person over here, who's now picking, having the semantic web pick people and documents and information just for my use. That's Web 3.0.

So what are the benefits of semantic search? Today, companies are using semantic search in a number of ways. One of the most interesting is to tally up consumer generated media.

Semantic search can understand sentiment from consumers and their experience with products and services. Across the vast amount of information available to us, we can understand what people think and feel, how they use products.

Better ads. You can use semantic search to have a better understanding of the content and place those ads next to your content in a better manner so you're maximizing advertising dollars.

And lastly, you can use semantic search for better, more precise search for every day functions inside the company. That means a better set of results, a smaller set of results, an analyzed set of results that starts to answer questions, and point the way forward. In the end, it's really about saving time and making money.