Google Co-Op: Collaborative Vertical Search

So, just when I write that Google is going to slow down releasing products, they release a new product. Yeesh.

Google today released Google Co-Op, a Web-service where site operators can create their own vertical search engines, focused on the topics of specific interest. The index is Google's, but the interface is your own. And: when I say 'interface', I don't just mean the way that the page looks, but also the middlestuff between the search box and the index, specifically the list of sites that you (as site operator) have chosen to be included in the search.

This is a major step forward for vertical search. The problem of vertical search has been one of interface and of data-structure. This helps to alleviate that first problem. The second one is trickier, but that is solvable partly through APIs, partly through industry agreements.

BUT, the thing that is the most interesting is the name of this product: Co-Op. Yes, that's exactly it--this is a cooperative, collaborative attempt to solve the problem of vertical search. Perfect name for this thing, in that it gets to the heart of the matter: getting a zillion minds focused on the problem. Crowdsourcing, yet again.