Meta Search Engines

Last updated Jul. 12, 2023.
by Greg R.

Multiple Search Engines, Meta Search Engines, or Metacrawlers?

Whatever you call them, meta search engines query several other Web search engine databases in parallel and then combine the results in one list. Because they do not need to create their own databases, there are many meta search engines out there. Several of the best known are listed below.

There are many variations of the meta search approach:

• Desktop meta search engines (or Search Utilities) page for information on client programs that are downloaded and then installed on your computer to use for meta-searching and post-processing of results

• All-in-one

• Hidden Web Meta Search Engines: Turbo10?, ProFusion, InvisibleWeb.com, Quigo

Note the Problems with using multiple search engines before relying on their results.

See several of my old columns in ONLINE for more information:

• March '98 Toward More Comprehensive Web Searching: Single Searching Versus Megasearching
• Nov. '96 Internet "Onesearch" with the Mega Search Engines

Problems: These multiple search engines are a commendable effort; however, the problems still outweigh their benefits. All have significant limitations as a comprehensive search tool. They are subject to time outs, when search processing takes too long. Since most only retrieve the top 10-50 hits from each search engine, the total number of hits retrieved may be considerably less than found by doing a direct search on one of the search engines. Advanced search features on individual search engines are not usually available. Phrase and Boolean searching may not be properly processed or available. None of them search Northern Light and few search any of the Inktomi databases such as HotBot.

Defunct Meta-Search Engines

• C4 (formerly Cyber 411). Defunct as of Dec. 2002.
• Inference Find. Defunct as of March 2001.
• MetaFind. (Merged with MetaCrawler around Jan. 2000.)
• SavvySearch (Bought by c|net's Search.com in 1999; technology still used there.)

DogPile searches LookSmart, GoTo.com, Thunderstone, Yahoo!, Open Directory, About.com, Direct Hit, Lycos, and AltaVista. It offers other searches for Usenet, FTP, News Wires, Business News, Stock Quotes, Weather, Yellow Pages, White Pages, and maps. Some are meta searches while others go directly to a search partern. DogPile reports how each search is sent, can be customized to exclude and reorder search engines, and it provides links to more results from each search engine. It does not include Northern Light or HotBot.

MetaCrawler also gives a single box for entering the search statement. It simultaneously searches Lycos, WebCrawler, Infoseek, Excite, Thunderstone, AltaVista, GoTo, and Yahoo. Then MetaCrawler organizes the results into a uniform format. MetaCrawler gives these options for AND, OR, and phrase searching. It does not include Northern Light or HotBot.