Sunday, September 12, 2004

Meta search, more to choose from.

Meta search engines are simply a one stop place to get search results
from many different search engines at once. Some of the most popular
ones are Dogpile, Icerocket and so on. I've found that I'm using them
more and more as the search engine landscape is changing. They provide
a way to see results across a wide spectrum of search engines.

I just saw that Dogpile is even offering a toolbar like every other
search entity. This one might be a little more interesting as there is
more to see when searching. When using a meta search engine, be
prepared for finding only the top sites. You can go deeper but most
people are looking for something right away and figure that if they
get differing results, they'll get what they want to find faster.

This type of search behavior is different from the type of searcher
that might use Google or Yahoo or MSN almost exclusively. If you're a
marketer then the meta search can give revealing details on how you're
doing in several areas of the Internet.