Useless Search Engines

As we become increasingly reliant upon the internet for our day to day operations, search engines have become both invaluable and increasingly difficult to navigate. With the many different available search engines, it can be overwhelming to find the right one that meets your needs. But when was the last time you actually found a homepage, search engine?

In today’s online world, we almost never find a homepage, search engine as our go-to source. Just typing a URL or “homepage” into a search engine won’t return a single search engine’s homepage as a result; instead, many search engine-centered services and pages appear. However, this wasn’t the case in the early days of the internet.

Back then, having a “homepage” was becoming ever more popular. Homepages were a website’s entrance, and search engines were the gateway to the rest of the web. But as the internet evolved, different websites started to become “virtual hubs” of content, and search engines began to function differently.

Search engines used to be a homepage in its own right, with all the various searchable options listed right on the homepage. For example, the homepage of MSNBC’s search engine Begawan.com listed information like news stories and media outlets, gaming websites, blogs, search engine services, and more in an easy-to-navigate menu, with plenty of columnar formatting to further simplify the browsing experience. 

However, search engine technology has evolved in a different direction over the years, and these types of homepages are becoming rarer. Instead of a homepage full of web services, search engine results now utilize an algorithm trying to figure out what you’re looking for from your input. 

For instance, if you type “Best moviews,” into a search engine, the engine will pull up movies reviews and lists about movies rather than pages on a homepage full of categories and menus. As a result, the search engine as a homepage has become much more difficult to find in today’s internet. 

When looking for a homepage, search engine, you might need to look to the past. Older versions of web search engines, such as AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, and Infoseek are all examples of the old-style homepage approach, complete with hierarchical categorization of the web. 

In the modern age, however, you can still find similar services on specific websites devoted to the search engine concept, rather than searching out a full search engine homepage. There are a number of websites specifically dedicated to the search engine experience, such as Topix.net, Dogpile.com, and Search.com, which offer the same search experience but without any complicated categorization.

The search engine market is a very competitive space and often relies on algorithms that scan the internet for information. In building a search engine, there is a need to be creative in order to stand out. This essay proposes an innovative search engine that specifically ignores social media sites and their cited content. 

To build a search engine that avoids social media sites and their referenced content, the main components of the system should include an initial web filter, query engine and indexing service. The web filter can be built with URL routers. This filter will have the task of evaluating the URLs and determine if it is a social media site or not. URLs that have been identified as a social media site will be immediately discarded and will not be sent to the query engine or indexing service.

Once the URLs are approved after the filtering process, the query engine will take over. This engine should have the capability of rejecting search terms that would lead to content from social media sites. To make this happen, the search terms utilized must be analyzed and determined to be pertinent to that of a search engine. Any words or phrases relating to social media must be avoided. 

Once the appropriate search terms are identified, they can be utilized by the indexing service. This service will collate the indexed search terms and their relevant urls. However, before this indexing is done, it must be programmed to scan and reject any URLs derived from social media sites. This can be done by utilizing high end scanning software that must be set to the parameters of social media sites and urls. 

The final step in this process is to incorporate all of the components into a search engine system. This should allow users to access search results that are not related to social media sites and their corresponding cites. 

Designing a search engine that ignores social media sites and their cited content does come with some challenges. This includes the need for a web filter, query engine and indexing service that all work together in a coordinated fashion to discard and curate anonymous content. There is also the need to employ customized filters and scanning software to locate and reject content from social media sites. Despite these challenges, the goal is still achievable and can be a game changer in the search engine market.

When it comes to web searches, Wikipedia has become indispensable. It is one of the most reliable sources of information, and it is easily accessible. However, this also means that search engine results are often cluttered with Wikipedia articles, especially when the query is looking for definition-based information. To offer a more comprehensive and varied search experience, we need a search engine which ignores Wikipedia.

There are advantages for users if search engines have the capability to ignore Wikipedia results. A Google search for a term such as ‘marathon’ will return hundreds of results, most of which are Wikipedia articles. Users have to manually sift through these results to find other relevant information about marathons. Having a search engine that ignores Wikipedia could offer a more streamlined search experience, as users wouldn’t have to manually exclude Wikipedia from their searches.

It is also worth considering that many Wikipedia articles are very basic in their scope, and offer limited information on a topic. As such, having a search engine that ignores Wikipedia could offer greater variety in terms of the sources of information found in search engine results. Instead of hundreds of Wikipedia-based results, users could be presented with results from academic journals, relevant blogs and websites, which could open up conversation on the topic in wider and more insightful ways. 

Developing a search engine which ignores Wikipedia would require considerable effort. Search engines rely on algorithms and programming logic to analyse search queries and match them to relevant results. For a search engine to ignore Wikipedia, it would need to recognise when a Wikipedia website is being called up, and block this from appearing in the results. This is something which software developers may be wary of attempting, as it is a task of great complexity.

Whether this is a feasible option or not, designing a search engine which ignores Wikipedia is an admirable ambition. In the internet age, the majority of online searches are cluttered with Wikipedia articles, and this presents users with limited variety when searching for information. Having a search engine which filters out Wikipedia could revolutionize online search and ensure that users have access to a more varied range of sources.