Alternative & Customized Search Engines

Mary Ellen Bates

Bates Information Services

mbates@BatesInfo.com

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What we'll cover:

• Beyond the Big 3.5

• Specialized search tools

• DIY search engines

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Beyond the Big 3.5

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Exalead

• Great advanced search tools

• Excellent tool for complex searching

• Customizable front page; add "short-cuts" to other finding tools

• www.exalead.com

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Quintura

• Data viz with clustering

• Useful for disambiguation, determining topics within a concept

• Uses Yahoo search engine

• www.quintura.com

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Kosmix

• Clusters by type and topic!

• Includes "overview" page – great summary

• Still very beta

• www.kosmix.com

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Clusty

• Meta-search engine– "Details" tab shows what was searched

• Builds clusters on the fly

• Few advanced features

• Can insert topic clouds on your site– cloud.clusty.com

• clusty.com

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Specialized Search Tools

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CrossEngine

• Easy comparison of search results

• NOT a meta-search engine

• Well-organized finding tool

• Useful if you don't know where to start

• www.crossengine.com

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SRCHR

• Similar to CrossEngine, but creates RSS feeds for search results

• Mouseover for thumbnails

• Can create your own page of search tools!

• www.srchr.com

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Scandoo

• Searches Google, Yahoo, MSN or Ask

• Checks for malware, phishing, offensive content, in real time

• Powered by corporate web security company

• www.scandoo.com

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DIY Search Engines

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What's a custom search engine?• You filter the search, limit to certain

domains or sites, or tweak the relevance ranking

• Put the library's imprimatur on search results

• Out-google Google– www.BatesInfo.com/test.html

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Yahoo Search Builder

• Can limit search by domain, append key terms or exclude sites or terms

• Shows tag cloud of search terms

• Very customizable– Include your library's logo

• builder.search.yahoo.com

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Google Co-op

• Can limit by domain

• Can specify domains to be higher ranked

• Requires at least one keyword. Use a noise word (e.g. and)

• www.google.com/coop/cse/

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Swicki

• Collaborative approach to filtering

• You supply initial key words

• It learns from click-throughs on SRPs– Modifies relevance ranking

• swicki.eurekster.com

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Rollyo

• Max of 25 web sites

• Can see others' "searchrolls"– E.g., KM-related topics at snurl.com/16x8o

• www.rollyo.com

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Gigablast CTS

• Fairly rudimentary

• Specify domains to search

• www.gigablast.com/cts.html

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Mary Ellen offers two free email bulletins:

“Search Tip of the Month” and

"Info-Entrepreneur Tip of the Month"

If you would like to subscribe to either, just ask (mbates@BatesInfo.com)

Also, check out her blog at LibrarianOfFortune.com

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Mary Ellen BatesBates Information Serviceswww.BatesInfo.commbates@BatesInfo.com303.772.7095