Passive Search is a term coined in 2006 by the team at ProWebSurfer when they developed their online ad replacement service.
Most search is “active”, and we are all familiar with going to a search screen or field and actively requesting online results, links, images, etc. An alternative to active search (passive) occurs when users set up a preference for results and receive search results passively in their general web browsing experience. Most web experiences make this difficult (how do you receive search results if you are looking at another web page simultaneously), but ProWebSurfer harnessed the advertising stream to deliver these passive results. This is an interesting breakthrough for the following reasons:
- Users who opt-in to this model typically ignore advertising anyway, and are thus neither negatively affected by its absence, nor create any “opportunity cost” for advertisers
- The ads being replaced by search results are designed to fit in with the general web experience so passive search adds more content preferred by the user.
- Ironically, passive search can include sponsored links so any advertising (CPM or click based) will be more valuable for these users – they have “opted-in” and therefore represent qualified leads for advertisers.
- User-centricity is vital. Users can “turn off” passive search when needed. This is an important part of the passive search model.
So, now you know.
