Saturday, January 28, 2017

Gigablast Metasearch Engine: A Closer Look

As you can see, you have been introduced to many different search engines, and guess what? We are not done yet! Keep in mind that although overwhelming, all this information is useful because you will definitely learn to search the web more effectively. We promise! Here's another search engine with fantastic features. 

GigaBlast is a newer search engine that originated in 2002. It does have a relatively small database, but it does have pretty neat features.

One of its features is "Giga-Bits," which displays "related concept listings" at the top of the results page. It also gives additional links to reference pages (for research purposes) and related pages that help you narrow and customize your subject search.

Cool, huh? But that is NOT all! It also provides separate search links for the Web and its subject directory.  GigaBlast also includes PDF, Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, PostScript, and Excel files.  And on top of everything, it is mega easy to use!


SEARCHES IN:
Own database 


DEFAULTS TO:
AND, primarily
OR, at the end of results list


SEARCH OPTIONS:

  • Supports (+) and (-) signs
  • Supports double quotes (" ")
  • Supports Boolean-type searches for "all of these words," "this exact phrase," "any of these words," and "none of these words"
  • Allows for two phrase searches at the same time with two "this exact phrase" boxes
  • Restricts search to specific site, URL, or pages that link to a URL
  • Allows site clustering 
  • Allows up to 5 summary excerpts 
  • Provides for viewing 10 to 100 results per page
OTHER SEARCH OPTIONS AND FEATURES:
  • Features "Giga-Bits," i.e., related concept listings, Reference Pages, and Related Pages in shaded areas preceding search results
  • Provides links to other search engines (Google, Yahoo, DMOZ, Ask, & MSN) at bottom of search page, with invitation to try your search there as well
  • Maintains stop word list; will not search for stop words unless typed as part of a phrase within quotation marks or if preceded by a (+) plus sign
  • Offers short answers to simple sentence queries, but this feature doesn't work very well and can be a waste of time.

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