What Is A Meta Search Engine? A meta search engine (also know as multi-threaded engine) is a search tool that sends your query simultaneously to several search engines (SEs), Web directories (WDs) and sometimes to so-called Invisible (Deep) Web, a collection of online information not indexed by traditional search engines. After collecting results, meta search engine (MSE) will remove duplicate links and, according to its algorithm, combine/rank results into a single merged list. An important note: Unlike individual search engines and directories, meta search engines 1. Do not have their own databases and 2. Do not accept URL submissions. Pros and Cons of Meta Search Engines Pros: MSEs save searchers a considerable amount of time by sparing them trouble of running a query in each search engine. The results - most of time - are extremely relevant. MSEs can be used by Webmasters to find their site's presence, rankings and link popularity in major SEs. Cons: Because some SEs or WDs do not support advanced searching techniques such as quotation marks to enclose phrases or Boolean operators, no (or irrelevant) results from those SEs will appear in MSEs results list when those techniques are used. MSEs Come In Four Flavors: 1. Real MSEs- which aggregate/rank results in one page 2. Pseudo MSEs type I- which exclusively group results by search engine 3. Pseudo MSEs type II- which open a separate browser window for each search engine used and 4. Search Utilities, software search tools.

The following provides detailed information on each of four MSE types, along with my ranking: 1. Real MSEs These real MSEs simultaneously search major search engines, aggregate results, eliminate duplicates and return most relevant matches, according to engine's algorithm. Following is a list of a few meta search engines that you might find useful. It's by no means complete, but it might help you find what you need. (The criteria I used to determine best MSEs were: amount and relevance of results, capability to handle advanced searches, ability to enable users to customize searches, speed of their searches and others.)

ez2www [ ez2www.com ] Searches best SEs - AlltheWeb, Google, AltaVista, Teoma, Wisenut - and directories - Yahoo! and Open Directory. Through its "Advanced Search" function it also searches a small part of Invisible (Deep) Web. It also searches news, newsgroups, MP3, images and many, many more. Provides excellent results in a very neat interface. Created in September 2000 by French search engine developer Holomedia. THE best! Vivísimo [ vivisimo.com ] Uses clustering technology, meaning matches are organized in folders. Don't like frames? Just modify size of both upper and left frames. This MSE was created by researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University. Advanced searching options available: exact phrase, Boolean operators, fields searching (domain, host, title, URL, etc.) and more. A jewel for serious searcher. Query Server [ www.queryserver.com/web.htm ] Searches an impressive list of 11 SEs - everything important except Google. But don't worry: Query Server searches Yahoo!, Netscape and AOL, all partially powered by Google. This is another example of clustering technology. Highly customizable metasearch tool. You can modify appearance of results page, selecting search engines, amount of results, their timeout, etc. It supports quotation marks to enclose phrases, Boolean syntax and parentheses. Very professional. Infonetware [ www.infonetware.com ] Searches Web and provides relevant results, organized in topics, in a very clean interface. This MSE is based in Edinburgh, Scotland and is a very good tool.

Below are just a few of questions you can get answered about your product or service by simply surveying your customers. -What do they like and not like about it? -What do they think about potential new features? -Who are your customers? -How much are they willing to pay (or how much more would they pay) for your product or service? If you have a Web site, you may also have specific questions about it as well. -What do your visitors like and not like about your site? -Why are they visiting your Web site, but not purchasing? -What does your average visitor look like, e.g., demographics, online usage, or online purchasing? -Why do your visitors come to your site, and what are they looking for? -Is your site meeting your visitors' needs? -What other services should you add to your site? -How does your site rate on attributes that are most important to your visitors?

As an example, when I first started marketing my service, I asked my site visitors what they were looking for when they came to my site. I found that I was delivering my service in a way that was exact opposite of what they desired. Consequently, I completely transformed my offering and began delivering my service to satisfy my target.

Once you decide which questions you would like to ask, you are ready to create your survey. Many survey creation options are available, spanning from do-it-yourself services to hiring someone else to carry out entire process. Take some time to decide on many options and choose those that work best for your purpose and budget.

Once your survey is complete, select a method to collect responses. Several methods can be used, and each can be accomplished quickly and easily if you use right tools.