Chicago-based Info.com (www.info.com) announced on October 18 the launch of a new meta-search engine that queries and combines results from Google and 13 other leading search engines and online directories, including Teoma, AltaVista, Fast, Overture, Inktomi, Ask Jeeves and Yahoo. Info.com's search platform also has links to specialized databases for comparative shopping, weather, phone listings and auctions.
Stephen Scarr, chief executive of Info.com, said that the effectiveness of search engines is limited by the size of its database and the relevancy of the results that they pull out of their database, that individual search engines index at most about half the contents of the World Wide Web, noting that Google indexes 4.2 billion Web pages out of the 8 billion, and that when the same search is run on different search engines, duplication of pages among the 100 best results totals only about 30 percent.
Scarr also said that Info.com's meta-approach checks about 6 billion available Web pages, increasing a searcher's chances of finding what he's looking for, and that, to streamline searches, Info.com separates free Web pages, which are presented on the left side of the search results, from sponsored Web pages, which are on the right. Scarr expects Info.com soon to offer access to proprietary health and flight information, and stated that Info.com wants to be an umbrella brand for an intuitive, fast and simple gateway.
