The concept of metasearch engine is used in the field of computing to refer to the system that is responsible for examining search engines to find data . Unlike conventional search engines, it does not have its own database, but rather searches the databases of others.
Metasearch engines, therefore, look for information in the files and directories of the search engines. The user, when performing a search, receives as a result a combination of what was found in the various external records.
The way of collecting data and organizing what is found depends on each metasearch engine. Generally, these tools have resources to organize the results according to the relevance of the websites detected.
It is also interesting to know that metasearch engines emerged in the mid-90s and can present their results in two ways:
-Multiple lists, that is, in independent lists that belong to each search engine. This means that duplicate entries may appear.
-Single list, that is, in a single list with combined results.
The main benefit that metasearch engines offer is that they work with multiple search engines simultaneously. This increases the possibility of finding what you are looking for or obtaining a greater number of results .
Among the negative aspects, the metasearch engine is slower than a conventional search engine because it contacts the databases of other systems . On the other hand, as each traditional search engine has its own methodology, the syntax used in the search may be inappropriate in some cases.
In addition to all of the above, we have to establish that there are different types of metasearch engines. Specifically, among the most significant we can highlight the following:
-The flight metasearch engines which, as their name indicates, are the ones used to find the best deals on plane tickets. Among those included in this group are Logitravel or Skycanner, for example.
-Scientific metasearch engines are those that offer useful and reliable information about health, since it is supported by scientific research. Examples of these are NHS Evidence or Honcode Search.
-Hotel metasearch engines, for their part, are used to find the best tourist accommodations in the destination where you are going to travel. Among the best known we can highlight Trivago or TripAdvisor, for example.
-Job metasearch engines. These are really useful for those people who do not have a job and are looking for one or for those who want to change jobs. Thanks to these you will be able to access a long and interesting list of job offers. This group includes Indeed or Jobble, for example.
An example of a metasearch engine is WebCrawler , a development of InfoSpace Holdings LLC . This metasearch engine investigates websites, news, images and videos indexed by Google , Yahoo! , Ask.com , Bing , About.com and others.
Dogpile is another InfoSpace metasearch engine, which in its case adds shopping results. Its origins date back to 1996 .