Locally launched Zakta adds social component, smartness to search

Microsoft-powered Bing may have big advertising bucks to promote its new search engine, but locally launched Zakta.com has a wow factor ads can’t buy. Cincinnati-based search expert and entrepreneur Sundar Kadayam and his team launched Zakta.com last week. It makes search smarter, customized and interactive. Traditional search engines like Google and Yahoo! have basically made search for popular places and businesses a science. But if you’re looking for information on broader subjects like H1N1 flu, or are planning a vacation in Florida, it’s often difficult to sift through thousands of web hits to find the right info. “If you’re searching information about a disease or are looking for college aid, the (search) gratification is not instantaneous. You end up spending a lot of time looking for useful information, sifting page after page of search results,” he said. Zakta.com makes informational searches easier to manage in several ways. For instance, when users hit “find,” Zakta automatically presents results in logical categories: web sites, books, reference materials and subcategories relevant to the user’s query. Zakta also suggests related topics or supportive search subtopics. Zakta’s search results are completely editable and under the user’s control. You can delete irrelevant results, drag-and-drop results to rearrange them. You can also add tags and notes to important results. By creating a Zakta account those changes can be saved, and users will automatically get their “personal search results” when they search the same topic. It could come in handy for students, teachers, organizations, researchers, journalists and businesses. “It’s not one size fits all, it’s very personal to you,” Kadayam said. Zakta is backed by Vora Ventures, with veteran entrepreneur Mahendra Vora as Chairman of Zakta. Seasoned technologist Mark Reed is CTO of Zakta. Zakta LLC (www.zakta.com) is a small, privately held start-up in Blue Ash. Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: Sundar Kadayam Zakta.com founder