Amazon unveils search feature

Amazon spent months persuading publishers to include books in the new service and scanning more than 33 million pages into a searchable database.

Customers who log on to Amazon

.com can now find, for example, every mention of "dog training" within the books Amazon sells. So far only a fraction of the Seattle company's millions of titles have been scanned, but Amazon said it expects the number of searchable books to increase quickly. The new feature, which Amazon calls "Search Inside the Book," adds a little Google-like buzz to the company's efforts to set the Internet-only retailer apart from traditional bookstores. "It's an entirely new way for customers to search and preview the content of books," said Steve Kessel, an Amazon vice president.

Internet search is growing increasingly important for Amazon. The company has shown its intention to compete with Google, Yahoo Inc., and other search providers by creating a business unit called A9 to develop a broader e-commerce search engine. Amazon plans to use the engine, which is still under wraps, on its own site and to license it to other retailers.

By typing queries into the site's usual search bar, Amazon customers can search the contents of books, then read the page and flip through a few pages on either side. But users cannot download the page, link to it, or highlight and copy text. The technology, which requires customers to store their credit card information with Amazon, also limits the total number of pages customers can read in each book.

"This is about helping customers discover and buy more books," Kessel said.

Amazon said more than 190 publishers agreed to have their pages displayed, including Time Warner Book Group, Simon & Schuster Inc., Random House Inc., and the McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing Group. Copyright restrictions or special instructions by publishers have forced Amazon to leave out some pages, or parts of pages, the company said.

A search for Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday found at the top of the list his bodybuilding books and biographies about the governor-elect of California.

But the search feature also noted hundreds of mentions in other books, including on page 14 of "High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way," on page 124 of "The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things," and on page 72 of "Buff Brides: The Complete Guide to Getting in Shape and Looking Great for Your Wedding Day."

Tim Hickernell, a vice president with the Meta Group Inc., a research firm in Stamford, Conn., said Amazon would do well to improve its search function by adding "contextual delivery." Searches for Schwarzenegger, for example, should list books under separate categories like bodybuilding, California politics, and movie stars.

But he said "Search Inside the Book" may help win more customers among people who do research at Amazon before heading to the local bookstore to buy a title.

"Anything they can do to improve and capitalize on the buy impulse to convert researchers into actual buyers is going to be a help to them," he said.

Amazon continues to defy critics who once believed a retailer could not survive with only an online store. Founded in 1995, Amazon Tuesday reported only its third quarterly profit, and Standard & Poor's yesterday improved the company's outlook rating to positive, from stable.

Amazon rose 29 cents to $54.32 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Chris Gaither can be reached at gaither@globe.com.