{"id":6649,"date":"2012-05-04T13:20:33","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T13:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/meta-search-engine\/"},"modified":"2016-11-11T13:29:48","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T13:29:48","slug":"meta-search-engine","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12707\/meta-search-engine","title":{"rendered":"Meta Search Engine"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_meta_search_engine_mean\">What Does Meta Search Engine Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A meta search engine is a type of search engine that gives results based on a combination of results from other search engine databases. It specializes in concatenating databases from a variety of search engines and linking search results to relevant sources.\n<\/p>\n<p>A meta search engine is also known as a metasearch engine.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_meta_search_engine\">Techopedia Explains Meta Search Engine<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Meta search engines use a complex algorithm that allows virtual databases to be generated on the fly. A virtual database &#8220;virtually&#8221; mirrors the physical database results of other search engines.<\/p>\n<p>All search result information and data are listed in a virtual database, and searches may be concentrated according to varied criteria. Thus, no two meta search engines are alike because they all operate with different criteria, such as news sites and newsgroups, depending on the algorithm designed to perform specified search functions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Meta Search Engine Mean? A meta search engine is a type of search engine that gives results based on a combination of results from other search engine databases. It specializes in concatenating databases from a variety of search engines and linking search results to relevant sources. A meta search engine is also known [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[224,222,245],"class_list":["post-6649","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-containers-virtualization","definitioncat-database","definitioncat-internet"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is a Meta Search Engine? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Meta Search Engine and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meta Search Engine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Meta Search Engine and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12707\/meta-search-engine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-11T13:29:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12707\/meta-search-engine#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12707\/meta-search-engine\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Meta Search Engine\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-04T13:20:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-11T13:29:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12707\/meta-search-engine\"},\"wordCount\":149,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12707\/meta-search-engine#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12707\/meta-search-engine\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/12707\/meta-search-engine\",\"name\":\"What is a Meta Search Engine? 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