Infoseek Search Engine Features and More

Infoseek was a pioneering search engine that offered a unique set of features to users. It was launched in 1994 and was later acquired by Lycos in 1999.

One of the standout features of Infoseek was its "WebCrawler" technology, which allowed users to search for information on the web using keywords. This technology was a game-changer at the time, making it easy for people to find relevant information online.

Infoseek also offered a feature called "Web Directory" which organized websites into categories, making it easier for users to find what they were looking for. The directory was maintained by human editors who ensured the quality of the listed websites.

In addition to its search engine and directory, Infoseek also provided users with the ability to create their own personal homepages, which could be accessed by anyone with an internet connection.

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Infoseek launched in January 1994 as a pay-for-use service, but it was dropped just a few months later in August 1994.

The service was relaunched as Infoseek search in February 1995, marking a new beginning for the company.

Infoseek struck a deal with Netscape to become the default search engine on Netscape Navigator in 1995.

By June 1996, Infoseek's initial public offering started trading on Nasdaq under the name SEEK at $12 per share.

The company had 7.3 million visitors per month by September 1997, making it the 7th most visited website that year.

Infoseek acquired the WebChat Broadcasting System in April 1998, expanding its reach and capabilities.

In 1998, Disney purchased a 43% stake of Infoseek and incorporated the site into its various media businesses.

Disney acquired the remaining Infoseek stock it didn't own in 1999, giving the company full control.

Infoseek was among the first search engines to sell advertising on a CPM, Cost Per Thousand Impressions, basis in 1997.

Infoseek was the first internet company to develop and launch behavioral targeting via its UltraMatch targeting algorithms in 1998.

Disney decided to cancel the service and lay off all staff in February 2001, ending Infoseek's run as a major player in the internet industry.

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InfoSeek Ultra is a new search engine service from the InfoSeek Corporation, a Californian company with experience developing Web search engines and Internet directories.

It's described as an innovative new search technology designed to provide users with the easiest, most efficient way to find information on the Internet and the World Wide Web.

InfoSeek Ultra uses an intelligent spider to create a real-time index of Web resources, detecting new and changed pages on the Web and adding them to the index.

This means users doing searches on recent news topics should receive the very latest information available.

The intelligent spider also filters out dead and duplicate links on the Internet, stripping them from the index as soon as they become obsolete.

InfoSeek Ultra is currently available in a beta test version, with not all features implemented as yet.

The full release of the service is scheduled for later this year.

InfoSeek Ultra doesn't offer anything new in terms of search language features, which will look familiar to anyone who's used Alta Vista in the past.

Searching with Infoseek is a breeze, thanks to its intuitive interface and powerful search features. You can start by typing in your query, just like you would with a regular search engine.

To narrow down your search results, you can use the + (plus) and - (minus) characters to indicate AND and NOT. For example, if you want to search for the Natural History Museum in London, you would type +“Natural History Museum” +London. This will ensure that Infoseek only retrieves documents that contain both the phrase and the word.

You can also use quotation marks to search for exact phrases, like “Natural History Museum”. This will retrieve documents where these words appear in direct proximity to each other.

If you're looking for more specific results, you can use the title: keyword feature to search only in the title field of a document. For instance, typing title: “Natural History Museum” will find documents with the phrase in their titles.

Infoseek is also fast, with queries often being dealt with almost instantaneously. However, it's worth noting that speed may not be maintained if the service becomes extremely popular.

One of the most useful features of Infoseek is its ability to sort search results and give them a relevancy rating. This means that documents that receive a high score for relevancy will appear high up in your list of results. The relevancy rating is influenced by the number of occurrences of query terms in a document and the position of the query terms in the document.

Infoseek offered free website inclusion in its database, eliminating the cost barrier for webmasters seeking visibility on search engines. This made it a game-changer in the digital marketing landscape.

The search engine provided users with an array of advanced search options, including relevance ranking and local indexing. This allowed users to view the most relevant results and find pages from a particular website.

Infoseek also offered proximity searches and Boolean search capabilities, enabling users to perform more complex searches. These features were a significant departure from other search engines at the time.

InfoSeek Ultra's search form is where the magic happens. You can type in a phrase or group of words within quotation marks to retrieve documents where these words appear in direct proximity to each other.

To narrow down your search results, you can use the + (plus) and - (minus) characters to indicate AND and NOT. This is super helpful when you're searching for something specific, like the Natural History Museum in London. You would type +“Natural History Museum” +London to ensure that only documents containing both phrases are retrieved.

You can also search using the OR operator by leaving a blank space between words or phrases. This is useful when you're looking for information on a topic and want to include related terms in your search.

InfoSeek Ultra allows you to search specific fields of a document in the index, such as the title. You can do this by typing title: “Natural History Museum” to find documents with this phrase in their titles.

The ability to search specific fields means you can also find out how many other documents on the Web contain hyperlinks to your own Web pages. Simply type link:http://[your web page] into the search form to see the results.

InfoSeek Ultra's speed and accuracy are impressive. Search results are automatically sorted and given a relevancy rating based on how well each document satisfies your query. This means that documents with high relevancy scores appear high up in your list of results.

InfoSeek Ultra offers a range of useful features beyond its core search capabilities.

The "Special" button on the home page's title banner unlocks a variety of search forms with pre-formulated search constructions.

You can use these forms to see how many pages from your website have been indexed in InfoSeek Ultra.

The "Special" button also lets you check your own pages for HTML consistency via Imagiware.

Additionally, you can perform a search for Java applets using Gamelan.

This button is a great resource for webmasters who want to quickly reference various tools and directories, such as email directories and standard dictionaries.

Infoseek's shares rose as much as 5 1/2 to 40 before paring their gains.

The Walt Disney Company is paying $70 million in cash, plus its shares in Starwave, a privately held Web site design firm, for a 43 percent stake in Infoseek.

Disney shares dropped 3/8 to 113 15/16 after the announcement.

Infoseek had been seen as a loner among search engine stocks, as rivals signed content exchanges with broadcasters and media giants.

The new entity will bring together the branded assets of ABCNEWS.com and ESPN.com, currently joint ventures between Starwave and Disney.

Disney will commit to provide, and Infoseek will agree to purchase, $165 million in promotional support for the new portal service.

Disney chairman Michael Eisner said the agreement stakes out an even more ambitious role for Disney in this promising medium.

Infoseek's innovative approach to search engines transformed digital marketing and search methods.

Its free advertising model eliminated the cost barrier for webmasters seeking visibility on search engines, making it a game-changer in the industry.

This approach allowed webmasters to include their websites in Infoseek's database without incurring additional costs.

Infoseek's advanced search facilities, including relevance ranking, local indexing, proximity searches, and Boolean search capabilities, provided users with a more efficient and effective search experience.

These features significantly improved the accuracy and relevance of search results, making it easier for users to find what they were looking for.