When Comscore reports our July 2010 qSearch data this week, we will begin reporting an additional view of our U.S. Core Search data known as “Explicit Core Search” alongside our standard Core Search market reporting. Comscore defines “Explicit Core Search” as user engagement with a search service with the intent to retrieve search results.
As I described back in June, the search market continues to evolve with new implementations of search moving beyond the traditional search box and into the context of the browsing experience as the user engages with non-search content. We called these searches “contextual searches” because they are originated in the context of other browsing behavior without explicit intent on the part of the user to conduct a search query.
To help the market assess the impact of these contextual searches on the search market, Comscore has provided its qSearch clients with detailed release notes each month that quantified the magnitude of this effect.
Ultimately, Comscore is committed to providing our clients and the broader marketplace with increased transparency into the search market. Going forward, we will include in our public release of the monthly U.S. search data both the traditional Core Search and Explicit Core Search views of the market. This will empower each interested stakeholder to determine which view of the market they deem most appropriate depending on the particular circumstance.
We look forward to continuing to provide the most advanced search market reporting in the industry and we are committed to doing so in a way that is meaningful for all involved.