The meta search engine is the principle use of a single search-box engine that accrues its results via a collaborated forage of the leading search engines.

The user submits their query into the meta-search box and the keywords are transmitted to a selection of singular search engine databases to obtain and display the relevant information.

A “middleman” where the individual can use a single source (the meta search engine) to extract data from a pre-determined selection of search engines (Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, and more) thus proposing an increased gathering of keyword specific webpages.

An analogy of the meta search engine would be that it functions with a similarity to the “comparison website”. It will not possess its own database record, but act more in the manner of the “virtual host” in the quotation of information from other search engine databases.

The individual search engine, like Google and Yahoo! Search, will adapt their own detailed sequence of actions, an algorithm, in extracting and displaying a table of data according to the initial request. Each search engine will display a set of results according to its individual system of merit, which is the reason for a single request, using the exact same phrase and wording, will accrue a differing set of sources, or the same sources, but with an alternate ranking, within each search engine.

These variables will also be evident within the displayed webpages of the meta search engine. The results of the meta-search will only be as good as the databases used as a source, and the method of expressing the information will vary between search engines, with the use of visual and text aids.

All meta engines will differ. One example is Dogpile.com. It extracts keyword data from the four leading search engines, in Ask.com, Google, Yahoo and MSN, among others.

Another example is Kartoo.com. This meta engine searches the databases of lesser-known search engines, including AlltheWeb, Voila, Hotbot and Wisenut.

The result is an increased search of the web, but because the meta engine will only accumulate up to the top 50 hits from the multiple search engines, the user may not access a detailed selection, and the data may not be entirely relevant to the keywords in the search box.

The University of California, Berkeley advises visitors that “Although we respect the potential of textual analysis and clustering technologies, we have ceased recommending any meta-searchers in our drop-in workshops at UC Berkeley. We recommend directly searching each search engine to get the most precise results, and using meta-searchers if you want to explore more broadly”, thus using a meta search engine may afford the user the benefit of a more comprehensive analysis from across the web, but it can lack the detailed accumulation of results that are gained through the individual search engine, like Google and Yahoo.

Source: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Te achingLib/Guides/Internet/Meta Search.html

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Tags: Meta Search Engine