Are you looking for a meta search engine definition? Why not search for it on Google, Bing, Yahoo! or Ask? Or, you could make it even easier and look up the definition by using all of these search engines at once. How is this possible? It's possible with the use of a meta search engine.
Several Search Engines In One
Meta search engines are special search engines that utilize multiple search engines at once. Try saying that three times fast. To clear up confusion, when you submit a query to a meta search engine, it submits your query to Google, Yahoo! and several other engines at the same time. Unlike regular search engines, a meta search engine doesn't own a database of Web sites. Instead, it uses an algorithm to pool all the search engine results together and then relays that information to the user. Meta search engines return more results than a singular engine, but the results they return are usually more varied and might be off-topic.
Why Use A Meta Search Engine?
These engines are most useful when you are performing a broad topic search. For example, if you want to learn about different aspects of farming, you might want to start with a meta search of "farming." If you are looking for specific answers about "apple farming in New England," it's probably best for you to enter the query in the top search engines individually and go from there.
Examples Of Meta Search Engines
Clusty returns useful results broken into subdivisions by theme; however, it doesn't search Yahoo! or Google. Dogpile is another meta search leader that utilizes all major search engines. However, meta marketing advertisers have bought rights to searches on Dogpile. This means sponsored results will always be listed first on any search with the tag -Sponsored by' underneath. Other meta search engines include SurfWax and Copernic Agent, which utilize other methods of digging up data, such as government search tools.
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