My ol friend Jayant, told me yesterday about launching Khojguru, a local search engine. He’s a hardcore techie, so what else will he do anyway?! I know he and his friends have been working on something like this for a while, and I must say they’ve done a neat job.
Khojguru is a local search engine which provides information about all the shops, vendors and service providers in a city. As of now it has information for the city of Gurgaon. He says they’re already getting data for other cities. So, we are going to see more cities getting added to the list soon.
What sets it apart from a lot of similar initiatives is its simple interface, richness of information and a focus on plugging all the information gaps.
Simple interface
The home page is very simple and elegant. There is a search box asking the visitor to put a query in it. The query can be for any area in the city, any product/service, any brand or any shop. The search returns with results pretty quickly.
I like the fact that they’ve not tried to reinvent the wheel and followed known and accepted search mental models. When I saw it first, I screamed “it’s so Googlike!” But now I understand that there is no point in making people learn how to use a new search interface to do search when they are already so familiar with Google. Full marks on usability!
Each search result takes the visitor to a unique page for a merchant/vendor/service provider.
Along with the simplicity of the results, the colors used are very pleasing to the eyes, everything is very well spaced out and all the relevant links are within the screen eye span.
Richness of information
Every unique page has detailed information about the vendor. It shows name, address, market, location, contact information, how to reach the shop, work timings, key offering, products & services offered, brands offered, facilities, special offers and discounts, web URLs, merchant comments, other offices and branches and testimonials by users.
What really sets it apart is the detailing. One can find online menus for getting food home delivered, the rate lists etc. There is information about late night stalls. You will no longer need to run from shop to shop asking for a pet accessory shop or a key maker for that matter.
Along with this there are maps to assist you on how to reach the shop.
Focus on plugging the information gap
There is a solid feedback mechanism in place. On every search result page you can find a feedback link. If you are not satisfied with the results or know that there is missing information, simply send feedback. They seem to be very focused on meeting user needs since they reply back personally and take necessary action promptly.
Moreover, for each unique page there is a testimonial section. If you know about the shop/vendor/service, you can tell everybody else how good or bad this merchant/vendor/service provider is.
Check out the Khojguru Blog to stay current.
All in all this looks like an amazing initiative. A great package fueled by good and fast search algorithm and a solid data bank. Just give it a try and you will know. Its Khojguru - isko sab pata hai!
kapil :: Nov.16.2006 ::
work ::
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So, I am off to Hyderabad on 16th Dec for 
So, Delhi geeks are ready to rock again! We’ve got 
My company, 
