Mamma Search Engine Optimization

The Mamma search engine was originally developed as a Master’s thesis at Ottawa’s Carleton University, in 1996 by Herman Tumurcuoglu. Based out of Canada, Mamma holds offices in Montral and Toronto. Mamma was acquired by Intasys Corporation in 2001, and fully merged with the company by 2004.

The Mamma search engine is a meta engine that allows you to conduct searches under Web, News, Images, Yellow Pages and White Pages categories. Instead of combing the World Wide Web and indexing pages, Mamma siphons through well known indexes and directories, compiling and indexing results that way. Mamma obtains its results from Google, Yahoo!, Gigablast, Wisenut, MSN and Entireweb. Mamma’s directory results stem from the Open Directory Project, LookSmart, Business.com and About. Its pay-per-click results come from FindWhat, Kanoodle, Ah-ha and LookSmart. Before displaying results, Mamma corrects syntax, eliminates duplicates, and places results by order of relevance. Since Mamma retrives its main results from these well known sources, it is vital your web pages are optimized by a strong search engine optimization strategy through a reputable SEO service.

In order to display results by order of relevance, Mamma’s uses its own propriety ranking algorithm, called rSort. Rsort allows Mamma to eliminate duplicates from its results, but in a unique way. Instead of omitting duplicates right of the bat, rSort analyzes and uses this information to rank its results. Duplicates within a query are counted as votes for that result, so that pages with the highest number of votes are placed at the top of Mamma’s result set. The advantage of this is it eliminates SE spam.

Mamma Tools:

Mamma has some interesting tools for its user base, which include: Explorer Bar, Mamma Toolbar, Health Search, Power Search and Mamma Search Box.

Explorer Bar: allows you to save searches and queue them for later.

Mamma Toolbar: contains a pop-up blocker and highlighter.

Health Search: allows you to look for health related items (still in beta format as of Sept 2005).

Power Search: this is a great feature that lets you decide where you want your queries coming from. For example, you have the option checking off any number of directories, indexes and pay-per-click sites from Mamma’s search list. If you only want results from Google, you check Google and uncheck the others, etc. You also have access to other preferences, such as highlight key terms, adult content filter, speed of the search, and search listings per page. Your settings from the Power Search can also be saved.

Mamma Search Box: can be implemented on your website.

Mamma also offers PPC (pay-per-click) services. The minimum cost is $0.05, but the bid amount needs to be increased to obtain a higher ranking.