Van der Walt, M.: South African search engines, directories and portals : a survey and evaluation (2000)
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- Abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to identify, describe, evaluate and compare South African search engines, directories and portals. The comparative evaluation entailed analysis of six search engines by means of a checklist of desirable features, as well as a performance test by means of sample searches. The following aspects and features are covered in the checklist: database characteristics, search facilities and techniques, search results and portal services. In the performance test the local search engines were also compared with three international ones. Aardvark was rated the best local search engine judging by its performance in the sample searches, but it was outperformed by two of the international engines, Alta Vista and FAST, with regard to the total number of relevant hits retrieved. The results of the investigation will be of use to searchers in their selection of appropriate search tools and to search engine developers in the process of improving their systems
