Frequently Asked Questions


Questions

•	What is Metasearch?
•	What are the different sections on the Search results page?
•	What is Website Match?
•	What is Advanced Search?
•	What is the Preferences section?
•	How do I search within results or refine my search?
•	How do I filter out Adult Content from my searches?
•	How can I improve my search accuracy when looking for images, audio, video or news results?
•	What is IntelliFind™?
•	How does IntelliFind™ work?
•	What if I see an offensive term in the Filtered results of SearchSpy?
•	What does the Recent Searches feature do?
•	Can anyone else access my Recent Searches information?
•	Can I change the number of keywords stored in my Recent Searches area?
•	Can I turn off the Recent Searches feature?
•	What is Comparison View?
•	Does metaCrawler include paid listings with their search results?

Answers

Q: What is Metasearch? A: The short answer is that metasearch searches more engines, allowing better coverage of the Web, and therefore providing better overall results to the user. Or take a crash course on metasearch. Top of page
Q: What are the different sections on the Search results page? A: Here is a look at the various pieces of a MetaCrawler results page, where each component is located and a brief description of what each piece does:


	A. Web Search Box - The area where you enter your search term. Enter your keyword(s) and hit the Search button to retrieve your results. B. Search Button - The button you press to search for results. C. Category Links - Links to help you focus your search on specific categories like News, Audio, etc. D. Yellow Pages - Allows you to do a search using the Yellow Pages. E. White Pages - Allows you to do a search using the White Pages. F. Advanced Search - Links to the Advanced Search options page where you can set specific filters for a one-time search. G. Preferences - Links to a page where you can set a variety of customized search preferences. H. Are You Looking For? - Offers suggested spellings for words that may be misspelled and other search keywords that seem to be related to your original search term. I. Recent Searches - Keeps track of your 15 most recent searches. J. IntelliFind™ - Displays the most likely results for your search based on an exclusive collection of search data and analysis. K. Statistics Bar - Shows how many results were returned for your search term. L. Website Match - Identifies when a Website address (URL) matches your search term. M. Comparison View - Displays results from the individual search engine(s) of your choice and highlights unique results to that engine. N. Spelling Correction - Offers suggested spellings for words that may be misspelled and automatically corrects commonly misspelled keywords. Top of page
Q: What is Website Match? A: Website Match identifies when a Website address (URL) matches your search term. For example, a search for "Sears" would be matched with www.sears.com, or a search for "American Airlines" would return www.aa.com as the Website Match. Top of page
Q: What is Advanced Search? A: The Advanced Search page allows you to set advanced filters and other settings for one specific search. These settings are reset after each search. Top of page
Q: What is the Preferences section? A: The Preferences section allows you to customize MetaCrawler to search based on your preferences. These settings remain in place until you change them. Top of page
Q: How do I search within results or refine my search? A: MetaCrawler gives you the opportunity to search within results for greater accuracy. When you enter a search, MetaCrawler automatically organizes results into categories based on words and phrases contained in the results. For example, if you searched the term "insurance", MetaCrawler would sort the results into various insurance categories, like Home, Auto, Fire, Health, etc. under the Refine Your Results heading on the left side of the results page. By clicking on any of the category links there, you would then view the results for that specific category. Top of page
Q: How do I filter out Adult Content from my searches? A: Adult content can be filtered from your Web search results, by changing your Preferences settings. To do so, go to the Preferences page, select Filter On from the drop-down menu in the Adult Filter section and click Save Settings. Once you have set the filter to On, it will remain on until you change your settings. Results for filtered searches are only provided by partners who provide filtered results. Top of page
Q: How can I improve my search accuracy when looking for images, audio, video or news results? A: You can search for these specific categories of results by clicking on the corresponding radio buttons at the top of the search page. Also note that you can refine your search within each category by using the Advanced Search option. For an image search, for example, you can filter for specific image color, size or format. Audio and video searches can be filtered by playtime or file format. And news searches can be filtered by news category, location, date or source. Top of page
Q: What is IntelliFind™? A: IntelliFind™ is additional search content that MetaCrawler has identified as being relevant to your search term. The purpose of this content is to help you find your answers and results more quickly. The related content area will be displayed in the area above your search results.
Top of page Q: How does IntelliFind™ work? A: The IntelliFind™ area will be displayed every time additional content is found that is related to your original search term. For example: Let's say you searched on the term Madonna. The results page would show links to related News, Audio, Video and Image content matched to your original Madonna search. Clicking any of these links would take you to that specific content, for instance clicking on Audio would take you to the results page for Madonna audio files. Top of page
Q: What if I see an offensive term in the Filtered results of SearchSpy™? A: You can report offensive words by sending in this form. Top of page
Q: What does the Recent Searches feature do? A: The Recent Searches area allows you to view your previous search terms and then click to retrieve past results quickly without having to re-enter in your search terms into the search box. Just click any link in your Recent Searches area to see the results for your last ten searches. Top of page
Q: Can anyone else access my Recent Searches information? A: No, not from another computer. The information for these searches is stored for a limited period of time while you have your browser open. Once you close your browser, your recent searches list will be cleared. Please note that no personal information is saved or shared at any time. Read the complete Infospace privacy policy. Top of page
Q: Can I change the number of keywords stored in my Recent Searches area? A: No, the number of keywords is consistently set at 15 at this time. Top of page
Q: Can I turn off the Recent Searches feature? A: Yes. Go to your Preferences page and de-select Display on checkbox in the Recent Searches area. Top of page
Q: What is Comparison View? A: The Comparison View feature allows you to compare results from the search engine(s) of your choice to the combined results provided by MetaCrawler. Results that are unique to a specific search engine are highlighted for easy identification. With these features, you can view the results different engines have to offer and instantly see the collective power of MetaCrawler for yourself. Click here for more about Comparison View. *Note: Comparison View is currently not supported by Internet Explorer 5.2, Netscape 7.0, Safari, and Opera browsers, but should work for all other versions of Internet Explorer, Netscape, and other standard browsers. Top of page Q: Does MetaCrawler include paid listings with their search results? A: Yes. MetaCrawler's results include sponsored (paid) listings for some keywords. Results are always listed in order of relevance, so if a sponsored listing is thought to be a good match for your search, it will be returned. Sponsored listings are always clearly marked with a "Sponsored" label or similar designation to make it clear when a sponsored result is being returned. More information on Metacrawler's paid listings guidelines. Top of page