Rather than attempt an in-depth explanation of all the search engines and their technologies, this lesson provides a classification system that can be used to understand search engines and their technologies.
Search engines provide Internet users with an interface to the World Wide Web. As with media news, the way the information is presented often defines how the message comes across. More importantly to business are the technologies that have emerged from the evolution of search engines.
For example,
searchbots have been converted to
pricebots for the purpose of product price comparison. Customers can search for a product and retrieve a list of prices from a variety of offerings.
- Searchbot: Artificially intelligent/robot technology that searches Web sites for content and categorizes it. The content is stored in a database for later recall by search engine users.
- PriceBot: Also known as spiders, priceBOTS are search engines used for price comparisons. They actively search specific Web sites for prices on various products.
Understanding the search engine technologies and their functions can help to create an effective e-Commerce site.