Search like a pro...

Understand what 'boolean' means, but better still, know how to use it to your benefit!

Which search engine is most likely to hold what you are searching for...?

The internet is a gold mine of information just waiting for you to tap its veins and harvest it's knowledge in ways you never imagined. Are you ready to get started?

A meta search engine (also know as metacrawler or multi-threaded engine) is a search tool that sends your query simultaneously to several search engines (SEs), Web directories (WDs) and - sometimes - to the so-called Invisible (Deep) Web, a collection of online information not indexed by traditional search engines.

After collecting the results, the meta search engine (MSE) will remove the duplicate links and, according to its algorithm, combine/rank the results into a single merged list.

An important note:

Unlike the individual search engines and directories, the meta search engines

• Do not have their own databases and
• Do not accept URL submissions.

Pros and Cons of Meta Search Engines

Pros: MSEs save searchers a considerable amount of time by sparing them the trouble of running a query in each search engine. The results - most of the time - are extremely relevant. MSEs can be used by Webmasters to find their site's presence, rankings and link popularity in the major SEs.

Cons: Because some SEs or WDs do not support advanced searching techniques such as quotation marks to enclose phrases or Boolean operators, no (or irrelevant) results from those SEs will appear in the MSEs results list when those techniques are used.

MSEs Come In Four Flavors:

1. "Real" MSEs which aggregate/rank the results in one page
2. "Pseudo" MSEs type I which exclusively group the results by search engine in one long page
3. "Pseudo" MSEs type II which open a separate browser window for each search engine used and
4. Search Utilities, software search tools.

The following provides detailed information on each of the four MSE types, along with my ranking:

1. "Real" MSEs

These "real" MSEs simultaneously search the major search engines, aggregate the results, eliminate the duplicates and return the most relevant matches, according to the engine's algorithm.

Following is a list of a few meta search engines that you might find useful. It's by no means complete, but it might help you find what you need.

SearchMother (formerly SearchEngine3.com) [ http://SearchMother.com ]
Whether you're a student, business person or just out to have some fun, we will help you find it Kwikly! Surfing the web should be a rewarding experience, that leaves the surfer better informed and entertained than when they started. Search 14 search engines at once or search one at a time for specific search results.

Ez2Find (formerly ez2www) [ http://Ez2Find.com/ ]
Searches the best SEs - AlltheWeb, Google, AltaVista, Teoma, Wisenut - and directories - Yahoo! and Open Directory. Through its "Advanced Search" function it also searches a small part of the Invisible (Deep) Web. It also searches news, newsgroups, MP3, images and many, many more. Provides excellent results in a very neat interface. Created in September 2000 by the French search engine developer Holomedia. THE best!

Vivísimo [ http://www.vivisimo.com/ ]
Uses the clustering technology, meaning matches are organized in folders. Don't like the frames? Just modify the size of both the upper and the left frames. This MSE was created by researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University. Advanced searching options available: exact phrase, Boolean operators, fields searching (domain, host, title, URL, etc.) and more. A jewel for the serious searcher.

InfoGrid [ http://www.infogrid.com/ ] Provides excellent results in an easy to read layout, despite a very confusing Home Page crowded and with frames. This MSE searches the 'big ones' including Google, AlltheWeb, Yahoo! and Open Directory. It also searches newswires, auctions, discussion forums, MP3, FTP files and more. To avoid the frames in the results list select the option "Open in the Current Window".

Infonetware [ http://www.infonetware.com/ ]
Searches the Web and provides relevant results, organized in topics, in a very clean interface. This MSE is based in Edinburgh, Scotland and is a very good tool.

IBoogie [ http://www.iboogie.com/ ]
Uses a minimalist design. This MSE "performs intelligent clustering of results". It searches the Web, the Invisible (Deep) Web, images, video and audio files.

Metaseek [ http://www.pcdigest.net/metasearch/en/main.shtml ]
Excellent MSE from Ukraine. Searches major international and local search engines. Besides the Web you can search images, MP3, FTP files, news and more. You can use "Phrase" (""), "natural language" processing, Boolean logic and field searching (by URL, title, site/domain or link). Very nice.

Fazzle (formerly Search Online) [ http://www.fazzle.com/ ]
Uses an excellent selection of search engines and directories. This MSE provides relevant results in a relatively crowded interface. For each result you can see the search engine where the hit was found, and its ranking.

Query Server [ http://www.queryserver.com/web.htm ]
Searches an impressive list of 11 SEs - everything important except Google. But don't worry: Query Server searches Yahoo!, Netscape and AOL, all partially powered by Google. This is another example of the clustering technology. Highly customizable metasearch tool. You can modify the appearance of the results page, selecting the search engines, the amount of results, their timeout, etc. It supports quotation marks to enclose phrases, the Boolean syntax and parentheses. Very professional.

Vinden.NL [ http://www.vinden.nl/ ]
Searches "the best," providing very good results in a clean interface. This MSE comes from the Netherlands.

Meta Bear [ http://www.metabear.com/ ]
Provides relevant results from both international and Russian sites. Be sure you type the query in the "Search The World" box.

Web Scout [ http://www.webscout.com/ ]
Searches the Web, news, newsgroups, auctions, MP3 files and jobs. This Australian MSE utilizes the major SEs - except Google - and provides relevant matches in a clean results list.

Experts Avenue [ http://www.expertsavenue.com/ ]
Searches different search engines simultaneously for Web pages, auctions, jobs and forums and provides very relevant results in a neat interface. Enables online language translation of Web pages. Click on "Translate" and you will be brought to AltaVista's Babelfish translation service, powered by SYSTRAN.

Suchspider.de [ http://www.suchspider.de/meta-suchmaschinen/ ]
Searches a whopping 100 (!) international SEs and WDs. Google, AlltheWeb, Open Directory, you name it. You can sort the results by relevance, source or - much better - grouped by domain name. This "Meta-Suchmaschine" is based in Germany.

EmailPinoy [ http://www.emailpinoy.com/ ]
Sends your query to 15 search engines. Don't use Kanoodle, ah_ha.com and GoClick pay-per-click search engines, because you'll get irrelevant results. For better results enclose phrases in quotation marks. This MSE is from the Philippines.

1 SECOND [ http://www.1second.com/ ]
Searches a good selection of 14 major SEs and WDs, throws out the duplicates and summarizes the results in a neat listings page. Use the Advanced Search if you want to customize the search, especially the timeout of the search engines.

My Prowler [ http://www.myprowler.com/ ]
Searches over a dozen search engines, news, images, audio/MP3, music videos, auctions and various other sites. Compiles the results, weeds out irrelevant matches and provides a summarized report. It accepts "natural language" query.

Gimenei [ http://www.gimenei.com/ ]
Use of the "Advanced Search" option is strongly recommended. You can customize the results page, including my favorite option, "All Results" in one page. This is a comprehensive and fast MSE based in Manhattan, New York.

Search 66 [ http://www.search66.com/ ]
Groups together pages from the same domain. Beautiful. To avoid SEs timeouts, select the "Speed": "Comprehensive." Obviously, you'll get more results from this excellent Australian MSE.

Besides the very good MSEs listed above, there are also some others that are worth a try:

More Meta Search Engines...

2. "Pseudo" MSEs Type I

The type I "Pseudo" MSE sends the query to the search engines, and then presents the results grouped by search engine in one long, easy to read scrollable list. Be careful. Based on how many SEs you select, the waiting time can be very long. Some people might find these MSEs useful, however.

The best MSEs in this category are:

3) "Pseudo" MSEs Type II

There are two types of Type II "Pseudo" MSEs:

a) You type your query one time and then select the search engines. One browser window will open for each SE selected. The best are:

4) Search Utilities (also called Desktop Search Applications)

These are downloadable meta search tools that search multiple search engines. Results are collated and ranked for relevancy with redundancies removed. They are not free but most of them have a free trial version available. The price? A few dozen dollars. The most popular are:

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