Tutorials Web & EmailInternet – …more meta and specialty search engines

Internet – …more meta and specialty search engines

Written by Marc Roberge | 12 May 2010

metascroll

When you set about searching the web, you probably turn to Google, Yahoo or Bing. It’s likely you only ever use one of the three – and why not? Aren’t they pretty much the same? Well, actually, they’re not. Perform a similar search in Google, Yahoo and Bing and, while you may see some similar results, there will be variations in number and type from one to another.

To optimize your chances of finding the best results for your query, you may want to consider using a meta search engine. A meta search engine will aggregate search results from multiple other engines. Additionally, many of these meta engines provide creative ways to display and navigate.

A few weeks back we presented a novel meta search engine called www.keyboardr.com. We thought keyboardr was noteworthy for it’s keyboard centric navigation that pretty much allows you to search the web and navigate sans mouse – which is great for us guys who broke our teeth on old DOS systems. To read more about keyboardr, read : Keyboardr.com - a better way to search?

It didn’t take long for folks to chime in about other alternative meta or specialty search engines. One of our Twitter followers, H. Söbbing from Germany (http://twitter.com/hsoebbing) pointed out a similar meta search engine called metascroll (www.metascroll.com).

At a glance, www.metascroll.com seems quite similar to www.keyboardr.com. They both share a minimalist landing page - clean, simple and task specific. However, type “dodisdodat” into the keyboardr.com search field and results appear as you type. Granted, as mentioned in our earlier review, keyboardr only serves up Google results but they do aggregate Web, Blog, Video and Image results on one page AND allows you to easily navigate with your keyboard. Ironically, seems Google has been taking note as just this past week they started displaying aggregated results.

In contrast, www.metascroll.com pools results from the big 3 search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing) and throws in Twitter for good measure so it really is a meta search engine. It doesn’t, however, provide image, video or blog results. The interesting thing here is that you never have to click “Next” or “Previous” to see the next 10 results…just keep scrolling down the page. I happen to think to think this is pretty cool.

Cool! So what else is out there?

Well, here are a few specialty search engines you may find interesting:

	WOLFRAMALPHA (www.wolframalpha.com) ”We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. Our goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries.” Unfortunately, according to www.wolframalpha.com, dividing by zero is still “indeterminate”.
	DOGPILE (www.dogpile.com) Dogpile is a meta search engine that pools results from Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask. Tabs provide quick access to Web, Image, Video or News results.
	KOSMIX ( www.kosmix.com ) ”At our core is a sophisticated categorization engine that scours billions of Web pages and structured data points to aggregate, categorize, and return content specifically related to a user's query. Kosmix automatically arranges each set of results into a magazine-style topic page, giving you a mix of immersive content and new connections.” Definitely a comprehensive engine with a GREAT display!
	CLUSTY ( www.clusty.com ) Another cool take on the meta search. Clusty provides result clusters for each query – allows you to narrow your search with lightning speed. Search Web, News, Images, blogs and more.
	SEARCH.IO ( www.search.io ) By far the MOST comprehensive meta search engine. With tabbed searches for search engines, blogs, social bookmarking, et cetera! Definitely worth a look!
	QUINTURA ( www.quintura.com ) Quintura generates a keyword tag cloud associated to your initial search terms – allows you to perform a visual search by clicking in the cloud to hone your search. A little slow, but cool nonetheless!