Web Searching: Search Engine Components

There are three components to a search engine: Collection; Database; Search Interface

Collection:

• "Robot", "Spider", or "Worm" wanders, brings back resources, sorts, indexes, and creates the database.
• Alternately, webmasters can contact search engine owners/operators to add their sites to the database.

Database:

• When using a search engine, you are actually searching the database, not "the Internet".

Search Interface:

• This component is the interface between the end-user and the database.
• Some engines allow for complex strategy development with Boolean operators, phrase and proximity searching, and nesting. Others are simple keyword searches.
• Some megatools (meta-search engines) search multiple engine databases simultaneously with a single interface.

Previous Section Web Searching Home Next Section

Need Help? Please email: Biomedical Libraries Reference
or call 650-1660/7660 for assistance