Metasearch Tools

More metasearch tools

June 2000

You probably know the basic idea behind metasearch engines: you type in a search term or phrase, and the site searches many search engines at once. We've talked about InFind as being among the best. And despite the fact that there are many already available, new ones keep showing up.

A number of specialized metasearch engines are appearing, and one that I like is Xrefer , which simultaneously searches a diverse collection of 19 reference works. This nicely complements sites such as Britannica.Com in that it includes more specialized reference works in areas such as art, music, psychology, quotations, medicine, business, sociology, and women. All of the reference works are cross-referenced to one another, and the integration is very impressive. So far, the collection tends toward basic, handbook-type reference works, but the potential seems great.

Another interesting newcomer is Copernic. It's a standalone metasearch application rather than a web site, and I found it fascinating and delightful. Whereas Xrefer focuses on reference, Copernic has dozens of categories, such as cars, games, health, kids, movies, and more. When you do a search, you choose a category, and then it does a metasearch across specialized search engines.

Copernic is a free download from Copernic.Com , though you only get five categories with the free version: web, newsgroups, e-mail addresses, books, and computer news. Two additional versions cost money and add many more categories and other features.

How does a category-specific metasearch compare to the regular metasearch engines? For example, when I searched on a subject in the books category, it simultaneously searched six different online bookstores, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. When I searched on my name in the e-mail address category, it searched across many e-mail directories. I was amazed that it found almost every Internet address I've ever used. A newsgroup search covers three different newsgroup databases. Copernic's application interface is useful and fun-especially the status bars as it searches many sites at once. It keeps a record of all your searches so that you can revisit those that were particularly successful. And if you choose, it will help you refine your search criteria.

Ixquick Metasearch bills itself as the "world's most powerful search engine." Like Google it has a clean interface and quick response. It searches more than a dozen search engines at once, including AltaVista, Fast Search, Excite, and Yahoo. It's smart enough to translate your search into the particular syntax used by each of the search engines. It brings the top 10 results from each search engine and prioritizes them. In addition to web searches it also does current news, MP3, and pictures.

Jim Karpen Tips