Library 102 Third Class Session

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Meta Search Engines

Unlike search engines, meta search engines do not compile their own databases; they send the search simultaneously to the major search engines and return the results from several different search engines. Because meta search engines tend to equalize the search to the lowest common denominator, they are best used for simple searches. Very complex search logic or searches with several words will usually not produce good results in a meta search engine. Also meta search engines usually only retrieve about 10% of any of the results in any one of the search engine databases.¹

The University of California at Berkeley Library sponsors an excellent tutorial and table of features for recommended meta search engines: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/MetaSearch.html#Recommend

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        ¹  Barker, Joe, "Meta-Search Engines," Finding Information on the Internet: A TUTORIAL, 10 May 2000,
Library, UC Berkeley, 15 June 2000 <http://www.lib.berkeley.,edu/TeachingLI/Guides/Internet/MetaSearch.htm>