The following

outline Outline or outlining may refer to: * Outline (list), a document summary, in hierarchical list format * Code folding, a method of hiding or collapsing code or text to see content in outline form * Outline drawing, a sketch depicting the outer edge ...

is provided as an overview of and topical guide to search engines.

Search engine A search engine is a software system that provides hyperlinks to web pages, and other relevant information on World Wide Web, the Web in response to a user's web query, query. The user enters a query in a web browser or a mobile app, and the sea ...

–

information retrieval system Information retrieval (IR) in computing and information science is the task of identifying and retrieving information system resources that are relevant to an Information needs, information need. The information need can be specified in the form ...

designed to help find information stored on a

computer system A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', wh ...

. The search results are usually presented as a list, and are commonly called ''hits''.

Types of search engines

Database search engine A database search engine is a search engine that operates on material stored in a digital database. Search engines Categories of search engine software include: * Web search or full-text search (e.g. Lucene). * Database or structured data searc ...

– search engine that operates on material stored in a digital

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

Desktop search engine Desktop search tools search within a user's own computer files as opposed to searching the Internet. These tools are designed to find information on the user's PC, including web browser history, e-mail archives, text documents, sound files, images ...

– *

Distributed search engine A distributed search engine is a search engine where there is no central server. Unlike traditional centralized search engines, work such as crawling, data mining, indexing, and query processing is distributed among several peers in a decentralize ...

– search engine where there is no central server. Unlike traditional centralized search engines, work such as crawling, data mining, indexing, and query processing is distributed among several peers in decentralized manner where there is no single point of control. *

Enterprise search engine Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterprise ...

– search engine employed on and for access to the information on an organization's computer network. *

Human search engine A human search engine was a search engine that used human participation to filter the search results and assist users in clarifying their search request. The goal was to provide users with a limited number of relevant results, as opposed to traditi ...

– uses human participation to filter the search results and assist users in clarifying their search request. The goal is to provide users with a limited number of relevant results, as opposed to traditional search engines that often return a large number of results that may or may not be relevant. * Hybrid search engine – uses different types of data with or without ontologies to produce the algorithmically generated results based on web crawling. Previous types of search engines only use text to generate their results. * Intelligent medical search engine *

Metasearch engine A metasearch engine (or search aggregator) is an online information retrieval tool that uses the data of a web search engine to produce its own results. Metasearch engines take input from a user and immediately query search engines for results. ...

– search tool that sends user requests to several other search engines and/or databases and aggregates the results into a single list or displays them according to their source. Metasearch engines enable users to enter search criteria once and access several search engines simultaneously. **

Search aggregator A search aggregator is a type of metasearch engine which gathers results from multiple search engines simultaneously, typically through RSS search results. It combines user specified search feeds (parameterized RSS feeds which return search resu ...

Organic search engine A human search engine was a search engine that used human participation to filter the search results and assist users in clarifying their search request. The goal was to provide users with a limited number of relevant results, as opposed to traditio ...

– manually operated search service which uses a combination of computer algorithms and human researchers to look up a search query. A search query submitted to an organic search engine is analysed by a human operator who researches the query then formats the response to the user. *

Web search engine A search engine is a software system that provides hyperlinks to web pages, and other relevant information on World Wide Web, the Web in response to a user's web query, query. The user enters a query in a web browser or a mobile app, and the sea ...

– designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results often referred to as SERPS, or "search engine results pages". **

Audio search engine An audio search engine is a web-based search engine which crawls the web for audio content. The information can consist of web pages, images, audio files, or another type of document. Various techniques exist for research on these engines. Type ...

– web-based search engine which crawls the web for audio content. **

Collaborative search engine Collaborative search engines (CSE) are web search engines and enterprise searches within company intranets that let users combine their efforts in information retrieval Information retrieval (IR) in computing and information science is the task ...

– emerging trend for Web search and Enterprise search within company intranets. CSEs let users concert their efforts in information retrieval (IR) activities, share information resources collaboratively using knowledge tags, and allow experts to guide less experienced people through their searches. **

Social search engine Social search is a behavior of retrieving and searching on a social searching engine that mainly searches user-generated content such as news, videos and image search, images related search queries on social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, ...

– type of web search that takes into account the Social Graph of the person initiating the search query. **

Video search engine A video search engine is a web-based search engine which crawls the web for video content. Some video search engines parse externally hosted content while others allow content to be uploaded and hosted on their own servers. Some engines also allo ...

– web-based search engine which crawls the web for video content. Some video search engines parse externally hosted content while others allow content to be uploaded and hosted on their own servers. *

Visual search engine The visual system is the physiological basis of visual perception (the ability to detect and process light). The system detects, transduces and interprets information concerning light within the visible range to construct an image and build ...

– designed to search for information on the World Wide Web through the input of an image or a search engine with a visual display of the search results. Information may consist of web pages, locations, other images and other types of documents. This type of search engines is mostly used to search on the mobile Internet through an image of an unknown object (unknown search query).

Specific search engines

List of search engines Search engines, including web search engines, selection-based search engines, metasearch engines, desktop search tools, and web portals and vertical market websites have a search facility for online databases. By content/topic General ...

Search engine software

* List of search engine software

Search-based applications

Search-based application – *

Bibliographic database A bibliographic database is a database of bibliographic records. This is an organised online collection of references to published written works like academic journal, journal and newspaper articles, conference proceedings, reports, government an ...

Online database In computing, a database is an organized collection of Data (computing), data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, Application software, applications, and ...

List of online databases This is a list of online databases accessible via the Internet. A * Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields * Academic OneFile * Acronym Finder * Adult Film Database * Aeiou Encyclopedia * Airiti Inc * Airliners.net * All Media Guide * Allgame ...

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List of academic databases and search engines This page contains a representative list of major databases and search engines useful in an academic setting for finding and accessing articles in academic journals, institutional repository, institutional repositories, archives, or other collecti ...

Digital library A digital library (also called an online library, an internet library, a digital repository, a library without walls, or a digital collection) is an online database of digital resources that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital ...

List of digital library projects This is a list of digital library projects. See also * Bibliographic database * List of academic databases and search engines * List of online databases * List of online encyclopedias * List of open-access journals * List of search engines ...

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List of online magazines This is a list of historical online magazines. See also * Magazine * Wikipedia:List of online newspaper archives * List of online image archives {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of all Online Magazines Online magazines An online magazine is a magazine pu ...

*** Wikipedia:List of online newspaper archives *

Electronic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the dissemination, scr ...

Lists of academic journals The following is a partial list of lists of academic journals. Lists of journals By topic By country * List of 18th-century British periodicals * List of 19th-century British periodicals * List of academic journals published in Serbia * ...

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List of open-access journals A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...

* Digital encyclopedia **

Internet encyclopedia An online encyclopedia, also called an Internet encyclopedia, is a digital encyclopedia accessible through the Internet. Some examples include pre-World Wide Web services that offered the '' Academic American Encyclopedia'' beginning in 1980, Ency ...

* ***

List of online encyclopedias This is a list of well-known online encyclopedias that are accessible or formerly accessible on the Internet. The largest online encyclopedias are general reference works, though there are also many specialized ones. Some online encyclopedias ar ...

Wiki A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or l ...

List of wikis This article contains a list of notable wikis, which are websites that use wiki software, allowing users to collaboratively edit content and view old versions of the content. These websites use several different wiki software packages. Table ...

* Digital dictionary **

Online dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for logographic languages), which may include info ...

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List of online dictionaries An online dictionary is a dictionary that is accessible via the Internet through a web browser. They can be made available in a number of ways: free, free with a paid subscription for extended or more professional content, or a paid-only service. ...

Search engine technology

Search engine technology Searching may refer to: Music * " Searchin", a 1957 song originally performed by The Coasters * "Searching" (China Black song), a 1991 song by China Black * "Searchin" (CeCe Peniston song), a 1993 song by CeCe Peniston * " Searchin' (I Gott ...

Search algorithm In computer science, a search algorithm is an algorithm designed to solve a search problem. Search algorithms work to retrieve information stored within particular data structure, or calculated in the Feasible region, search space of a problem do ...

* Search engine image protection *

Search engine indexing Search engine indexing is the collecting, parsing, and storing of data to facilitate fast and accurate information retrieval. Index design incorporates interdisciplinary concepts from linguistics, cognitive psychology, mathematics, informatics, an ...

Search engine optimization Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of Web traffic, website traffic to a website or a web page from web search engine, search engines. SEO targets unpaid search traffic (usually referred to as ...

Search engine results page A search engine results page (SERP) is a webpage that is displayed by a search engine in response to a query by a user. The main component of a SERP is the listing of results that are returned by the search engine in response to a Keyword (Inter ...

Search engine software See also

* Search appliance * Bilingual search engine * Content discovery platform * Document retrieval * Incremental search * Web crawler Search engine software, Lists of software, search engine ...

* Search engine submission ** Search engine optimization copywriting *

Web crawler Web crawler, sometimes called a spider or spiderbot and often shortened to crawler, is an Internet bot that systematically browses the World Wide Web and that is typically operated by search engines for the purpose of Web indexing (''web spider ...

Search engine marketing

Search engine marketing Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising. SEM may incorporate search engine op ...

Pay per click Pay-per-click (PPC) is an internet advertising model used to drive traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher (typically a search engine, website owner, or a network of websites) when the ad is clicked. This differs from more t ...

Cost per impression Cost per impression (CPI) and cost per thousand impressions (CPM) are terms used in traditional advertising media selection, as well as online advertising and marketing related to web traffic. They refer to the cost of traditional advertising o ...

Search analytics Search analytics is the use of search data to investigate particular interactions among Web searchers, the search engine, or the content during searching episodes. The resulting analysis and aggregation of search engine statistics can be used in se ...

Web analytics Web analytics is the measurement, data collection, collection, analysis, and reporting of web Data (computing), data to understand and optimize web usage. Web analytics is not just a process for measuring web traffic but can be used as a tool for ...

Persons influential in search engines

Sergey Brin Sergey Mikhailovich Brin (; born August 21, 1973) is an American computer scientist and businessman who co-founded Google with Larry Page. He was the president of Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., until stepping down from the role on D ...

Larry Page Lawrence Edward Page (born March 26, 1973) is an American businessman, computer engineer and computer scientist best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin. Page was chief executive officer of Google from 1997 until August 2001 when ...

Eric Schmidt Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) is an American businessman and former computer engineer who was the chief executive officer of Google from 2001 to 2011 and the company's chairman, executive chairman from 2011 to 2015. He also was the ...

References

External links

{{Outline footer Information retrieval systems

Search engines Search engines, including web search engines, selection-based search engines, metasearch engines, desktop search tools, and web portals and vertical market websites have a search facility for online databases. By content/topic Gene ...