Web Site Optimization for the Dogpile Search Engine

The name Dogpile can definitely stir up unpleasant images of the last time you took a walk in a well trafficked park. One of the first meta search engines, but certainly not the first, Dogpile search was originally created in 1996 by a research attorney named Aaron Flin. Flin created Dogpile search because he was frustrated with indexes at the time. He felt engines and directories were returning either too few or too many unorganized results. The intent of Dogpile search was to query multiple indexes to return the best results. In 1999, Go2Net purchased Dogpile, but soon after that company merged with InfoSpace. Today, Dogpile search is InfoSpace’s flagship engine.

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Dogpile search gathers through its algorithm and mascot Arfie, who fetches from Google, Yahoo!, MSN Search, Ask Jeeves, About and LookSmart. Searches can be conducted under the categories Web, Images, Audio, Video, News, Yellow Pages and White Pages.

With Dogpile, you have the option of selecting which indexes you wish to perform a query under, by using Comparison View. Comparison View highlights to show where the results came from. Arfie also removes duplicates.

If you choose, you can list your site at Dogpile via its pay-for-inclusion service. However, since Dogpile grabs its results from other engines and directories, your site can be found for free by Dogpile if it is optimized by an SEO service. Web site optimization through an SEO service is a long term strategy. Nevertheless, Dogpile’s pay-for- inclusion service will list your site with its partners, and Dogpile states that inclusion takes approximately 72 hours.

Some other interesting Dogpile features at a glance include:

  • A toolbar with an RSS ticker. You can set the Dogpile toolbar up to give you the latest feeds.
  • A popular searches page, set up as a directory, with listings of the most popular searches on Dogpile. The list includes items such as Arts and Entertainment, Computers & Internet, Games etc.
  • A recent searches feature that displays your last searches. You can clear or hide this feature.

You can further refine your searches with Dogpile through the ‘Advanced Search,’ which offers the following features:

  • Choose the exact words of phrases you are looking for.
  • Choose the range dates the original article was published under.
  • Set the language you want results returned under. The languages include, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish.
  • Filter specific domain names, by setting exclusion or inclusion adult filter to on or off. On will return potential results with graphic adult content.

Note: This is an old article that was posted many moons ago. Note that the information contained within this article may be outdated. To get the most relevant, up-to-date information about online marketing, visit Metamend’s blog