A meta search engine is a search tool that aggregates search results from multiple individual search engines simultaneously and presents them to the user in a single list. Instead of relying on a single search engine’s index and algorithms, a meta search engine queries several search engines, directories, or databases to gather a broader range of results.
When a user enters a search query into a meta search engine, the engine sends the query to its partner search engines and then compiles and displays the results from each of them. The user can then review the results from different sources and potentially find more comprehensive or diverse information compared to using a single search engine.
Meta search engines do not maintain their own index of web pages but instead act as intermediaries between users and other search engines. Some popular examples of meta search engines include Dogpile, MetaCrawler, and Startpage.
Meta search engines can be useful for users who want to quickly compare results from multiple search engines or who are looking for a broader range of information on a particular topic. However, they may not always provide the most relevant or up-to-date results, as they rely on the algorithms and indexes of other search engines.