Pandia Metasearch Help

How to use the search form

The easy way: Enter your search query in the search field and click "Search" to search. Enter at least two words in order to get a focused result. The hits from each search engine are automatically combined and presented to you in a simple format.

Pandia Metasearch searches many search engines and directories, including Yahoo!, AltaVista, Excite, Fast, LookSmart, Open Directory, DirectHit, About, and more .

There are two alternatives. The "Fast Metasearch" option queries fewer search engines and directories than the "Extensive" version, and is therefore faster.

If you want to search in just one search engine or directory, select the relevant search service from the same menu. If you cannot find the search engine you want to use, go to the Pandia Powersearch page. It lists all the major search eninges and directories, and a lot of the smaller ones as well.

Search engine maths

You may use some search query operators.

Must be present: Use the plus sign to force a word to be present in the results., like this: +Apple (Note: There should be no space between the + and the word.)

May be present: Simply separate by spaces for optional inclusion: +Apple Jobs

Must not be present: Use the minus sign to expressly exclude a term from results: +Apple Jobs -fruit

Phrases: Wrap phrases in quotation marks: "Steve Jobs" "Apple Macintosh"

Please note that not all of these features are supported by each search engine. If you need to build more complex queries using traditional Boolean search terms, you should search in one search engine or directory at the time. See the relevant Q-cards for relevant search operators and query rules:

See Pandia Goalgetter for more help on using "search engine maths".