Internet Searching by Keyword - Meta-Search Engines

Meta-Search Engine listing

Some of the best general Meta-Search Engines are:

• Ask Jeeves - searches AltaVista, Ask Jeeves database, Excite, Infoseek, Webcrawler.
• Dogpile - searches from the Internet's top search engines, inlcuding Google, Yahoo!, Ask Jeeves, About, FindWhat, LookSmart and more.
• Ez2Find - searches across major search engines including AllthWeb, Teoma, Google, AltaVista & MSN.
• Metacrawler - searches About.com, AltaVista, Direct Hit, Excite, GoTo, Infoseek, LookSmart, Lycos, Thunderstone, Webcrawler and Yahoo .
• Profusion - searches About, AOL, All The Web, AltaVista, LookSmart, Lycos, Magellan, Netscape, Teoma and Yahoo.
• Search.com (formerly SavvySearch) - a range of search engines dependent upon which speciality search area you choose.
• Vivisimo - searches major engines including Inktomi, Google and Teoma.

Why use a Meta-Search Engine?

The table below highlights the key features of Meta-Search Engines -

	Best starting place when searching for very specific or obscure information on the Web	Meta-Search Engines will send queries out to anywhere between 5-25 different search engines at the one time saving you the time of searching engines individually Some meta-search engines will allow you to choose the search engines you would like to search Some meta-search engines will integrate and provide relevance rankings to sites found in the search
	Search features	Most meta-search engines allow a range of search options which may include limiting a search by exact phrase boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) or + and - display type of file - Usenet, FTP, etc. the number of search engines Important to note that some search engines won't support advanced search options available via the meta-search engine and results may vary - read the help files for each meta-search engine to find out how search options are dealt with
	Other features	Always check the help files associated with each meta-search engine to find out how often the engine is updated, searching tips, what types of pages are included (newsgroups, etc), etc.

How to use a Meta-Search Engine

Before you begin a search for information via one of the Meta-Search Engines, remember to:

• List words that describe your topic
• Read the help files for the meta-engine to find out what search features are available - boolean, date, file type, country, etc.
• Use the available search options to limit your search and improve the relevancy of sites returned
• Adjust your search words and search techniques depending on the number of hits you receive
  • too many limit your search by adding additional keywords or search criteria
  • too few - expand your search using search criteria
• Evaluate internet resources - quality & currency
• Cite internet resources using appropriate style guides
• Repeat your search using another 2 search engines to increase the chances of finding relevant sites on the Web
• Remember the Web doesn't have everything and you may need to search for information on your topic using catalogues, databases or indexes

Additional information

• Internet terms and definitions

Sites with further details about search engines

• Search Engine Watch
• Search Engine Showdown
• Web Search