Industry Search FAQs

Do you have a question about the industry search engines? I might have the answer for you here:

1. What are the industry search engines?

They are curated search engines. They were created using Google Custom Search and are powered by the same Google search algorithm you know and love. However, if you’re looking for business information these industry search engines should provide more refined results than a regular Google search because they only include results from a hand-selected group of websites known to be rich in industry-related news and data.

2. Why build them?

There is an incredible amount of valuable, industry news, data and research published for free all across the Web. In lots of cases, this information is only available from the original publisher websites. The industry search engines were created to provide a shared resource for finding business information in each industry vertical.

3. What sites are included in each search engine?

The websites underlying each search engine differ for each industry although some sites that provide general population or economic data relevant to more than one sector are included in multiple search engines. All search engines include sites known to be rich in industry-related news and data and include the websites of government agencies, national statistics offices, central banks, industry-specific trade associations and private providers of industry information.

4. How were websites chosen to be included in each search engine?

The sites included in search engines are all sites I’ve used again and again in my professional experience in the information industry. For this reason, they’re currently limited to the business information research knowledge of one person. I’d like that to change over time and I will be looking at ways to open up the search engines on this site. If you have ideas on how to do that or you’d like to be involved, send me an email: phillip.d.baker@gmail.com.

5. Can I see the full list of underlying sites?

Yes. To my knowledge it’s not possible to automatically expose or otherwise share sites that underlie Google Custom Search engines. However, all of the sites in each industry search engine are public websites and I’d be happy to share them if you have a specific request. Just send an email to: phillip.d.baker@gmail.com.

6. Can I add sites to the search engines?

If you’d like to see specific sites added to any of the search engines or if you’re interested in becoming an ongoing collaborator please contact me at, you guessed it: phillip.d.baker@gmail.com.

7. Can I access these search engines from elsewhere?

Yes. All search engines created using Google Custom Search have public pages hosted by Google. If you can’t access Informationized for any reason, each search engine is hosted by Google at the links below. In addition, each search engine has it’s own Google Gadget that you can use to add to your iGoogle dashboard or embed into your own website.

Telecoms Web Gadget Embed
Media & Advertising Web Gadget Embed
Technology Web Gadget Embed
Energy & Utilities Web Gadget Embed
Industrials Web Gadget Embed
Financial Institutions Web Gadget Embed
Economics Web Gadget Embed
Capital Markets/M&A Web Gadget Embed
Healthcare Web Gadget Embed
Real Estate Web Gadget Embed

8. What changes can I expect? How can I keep track of them?

The first and probably most important change is that the number of sites included in each search engine will grow. They were originally built in 2007 and I have a lot more sites to add to make them more useful. I blog about any major changes to the search engines and you can see posts tagged ‘Industry Search’ there.