Metasearch engines or aggregators are great tools used to search other search engines’ data with results from the internet. Metasearch engines have many advantages over singe-search engines, as they can retrieve more results with the same amount of exertion.
Yippy (formerly Clusty
Yippy (formerly Clusty) is a search engine, which uses Boolean operators (OR, -, +), filetype and language restricted search. I did a basic search for resumes of data scientist in PDF format using Boolean string: resume -jobs -sample -examples -template “data scientist” pdf
It yielded quite a few results, but note on the left-hand side, a preview of the top 49 results.
Dogpile
The main features of Dogpile are “search suggestions” (related terms) and “recent searches.” Search engines used include Google, Yahoo, Ask and others. It combines the power of multiple search engines into one. Advanced search abilities for Dogpile include Boolean operators, “ “ and – (not).
I wanted to find a Java Developer in San Antonio who might have a resume on Slideshare. Deciding to do an X-ray search into Slideshare, I created the following string: site:slideshare.net Java Developer 210 gmail.com resume -sample -samples -example -templates
One could check the section, “Are you looking for?” to see if that yields potential leads.
Creafy
Another site which I found useful is Creafy. Like other search tools, I use keywords and a basic Boolean to find Mechanical Engineers for a search in California who have Gmail accounts.
I entered “mechanical engineer” California gmail.com in Creafy and received numerous results, as seen highlighted below.
StartPage
StartPage is great because it offers you web search results from Google, combined with Ixquick, a private search engine. What is advantageous bout StartPages is that you can surf pages safely and anonymously. I would use this site similarly as I have other metasearch engines. I wanted to find engineers and results were achieved using Boolean intitle:resume engineers -examples -sample gmail.com
MetaCrawler
Another great metasearch engine is MetaCrawler. It searches the top search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, About, MIVA, Looksmart and more, with the ability to refine searches.
Example: (intitle:resume | inurl:resume) engineer gmail.com -example -sample -builder
Taking a look at my results, I came across resumes that could be potential leads for positions I might be trying to fill. Resumes are a bonus to me with email and phone number on them, allowing for an increased chance of contacting a lead regarding an opportunity.
Next, I wanted to see if I could find more resumes on WordPress (taken from one of my results above) and see if I could run a generic search for resumes.
Example: (intitle:resume | inurl:resume) “*.wordpress.com/about/resume” -example -sample -bulider
Numerous results returned. I could enter keywords needed for a more targeted search, depending on what kind of leads I am seeking.
Draze
Draze’s site crawls various search engines and allows for the user to compare search results. Wanting to find a Java Developer, I choose the engine option “Documents.” I could have selected web, images, videos, news, and more.
Example: intitle:resume “JAVA Developer” -example
I noted that by choosing the “document” option, my results were resumes I could review. Many of the results were personal websites for the developers.
I find my efforts of sending multiple queries to multiple search engines extends my search coverage and increases my chances of finding potential leads for opportunities. Another bonus of using metasearch engines is, you can reduce your work in a much more efficient manner and get your results quicker.