Editing Metasearch engine (section)

{{Short description|Online information retrieval tool}}
[[File:Meta-search-en.svg|thumb|right|255x255px|Architecture of a metasearch engine]]

A '''metasearch engine''' (or '''[[search aggregator]]''') is an online [[information retrieval]] tool that uses the data of a  [[web search engine]] to produce its own results.<ref>{{cite document | title=Sandy Berger's Great Age Guide to the Internet| first=Sandy | last=Berger | publisher=Que Publishing | date=2005}} {{Isbn|0-7897-3442-7}}.</ref><ref name=Architecture>{{cite web | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2596239
| title=Architecture of a Metasearch Engine that Supports User Information Needs | year=1999}}</ref> Metasearch engines take input from a user and immediately query search engines<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.onionride.com/p/onionride-how-search-engines-operate.html | title=How search Engine work| first=Onion | last=Ride | publisher=onionride | date=2021}}</ref> for results. Sufficient [[data]] is gathered, ranked, and presented to the users.

Problems such as [[spamming]] reduce the [[accuracy and precision]] of results.<ref>{{Cite web | last1=Lawrence | first1=Stephen R. | last2=Lee Giles | first2=C. | date=October 10, 1997 | title=Patent US6999959 - Meta search engine | via=[[Google Books]] | url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US6999959}}</ref> The process of fusion aims to improve the engineering of a metasearch engine.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2457240 | title=The collection fusion problem. | author-link1=Ellen Voorhees | first1=Ellen M. | last1=Voorhees | first2=Narendra | last2=Gupta | first3=Ben | last3=Johnson-Laird | date=April 2000}}</ref>

Examples of metasearch engines include [[Skyscanner]] and [[Kayak.com]], which aggregate search results of online travel agencies and provider websites.  [[SearXNG]] is a generic [[Free software|free]] and [[open-source]] search software  which aggregates results from internet search engines and other sources like Wikipedia and is offered for free by more than 70 SearXNG providers.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://searx.space | title=SearXNG instances | date=2025-02-03}}</ref>