Search Engine

A server or a collection of servers dedicated to indexing internet web pages, storing the results and returning lists of pages which match particular queries. The indexes are normally generated using spiders. The term Search Engine is also often used to describe both directories and search engines.

A tool or device used to find relevant information. Search engines consist of a spider, index, relevancy algorithms and search results.

a web site that offers its visitors the ability to search the content of numerous web pages on the Internet. Search engines periodically explore all the pages of a website and add the text on those pages into a large database that users can then search. With a search engine, publishing web pages that incorporate relevant key phrases, prominently positioned in particular ways, is critical. Contrast this with directories, which don't siphon content out of the HTML of a site's constituent pages, but instead are comprised solely of site names and descriptions written or edited by human reviewers.

The software that searches an index and returns matches. Search engine is often used synonymously with spider and index, although these are separate components that work with the engine.

A program that enables search for keywords or phrases, such as on web pages throughout the World Wide Web.

A program that accepts a search request and returns a list of documents to the user.

A specialized program that facilitates information retrieval from large segments of the Internet. Note 1: Search engines attempt to help a user locate desired information or resources by seeking matches to user-specified key words. The usual method for finding and isolating this information is to compile and maintain an index of Web resources that can be queried for the key words or concepts entered by the user. The indices are often built from specific resource lists, and may also be created from the output of Web crawlers, wanderers, robots, spiders, or worms. The indices are usually compiled during times of minimum network traffic. Note 2: Different engines are appropriate for different kinds of searches, and most can be optimized for specified results.