Abstract :
To understand
what a meta search engine is, first you have to understand how a search engine works.
The search engine visits billions of websites and creates a database or repository
of sorts of the various sites.
This is
known as the index. Then whenever a user enters the search query, something magical
happens (algorithms if you are a computer geek) and the pages that are deemed relevant
to what you asked for are returned.
Pretty simple,
huh? If only you could improve those magical
algorithms you could create the next Google (although Google is smart enough to
hire you instead!).
Definition
Meta search
engines are search engine tools that pass queries on to many other search engines
and/or directories and then summarize all the results in one handy interface.
Many people
use meta search engines to get even more comprehensive results for their search
query; for example, a simple search for "puppy" brings back images, videos,
and multiple content suggestions.
Why Meta Search?
Individual Search engines don’t cover all the web by themselves,
Individual Search Engines are prone to spamming {people trying to raise
their ranking profile. In a non-legitimate manner or to promote commerce}
Difficulty in deciding and obtaining results with combined searches on
different search engines,
Data Fusion {multiple formats supported},
In Case of niche search engines provides the ‘big picture’,
Takes less effort.
User Interface
Normally
resemble search engine interfaces with options for
Types of
search [Media]
Search
Engines to Use
Dispatcher
Generates
actual queries to the search engines by using the user query
May involve
choosing/expanding search engines to use
Display
Generates
Results page from the replies received, May involve ranking, parsing, clustering
of the search results or just plain stitching.
Personalization/Knowledge
May contain
either or both Personalization may involve weighting of search results/query/engine
for each user.
Advantages
1. Searches
all the major search engines at once so searching them all individually is not
necessary
2. Has an easy
to use toolbar available for download
3. Also allows
you to search the white pages and yellow pages
4. Free and
easy to use, similar format to other search engines
5. Customizable
for user's preferences
Disadvantages
1. You will
get a lot more results because it searches multiple engines so you have to be
specific
2. Mainly provides
only the main hits for the other search engines, so results that are more obscure
on the other search engines may not show up, so you may not find what you want
3. Not as
practical as say google or yahoo
4. Not very
well known
5. Not really
any more reliable than the other search engines
Download :
Download :