A decision engine is a type of web search engine

Web search engine

A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results often referred to as SERPS, or "search engine results pages". The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other...

 that uses input from the user in order to provide more relevant results.

Typical search engines provide results based on key words and site popularity meaning that all users searching for the same phrase receive identical results. A decision engine uses input to provide customized results for each individual.

Overview

Typically, a decision engine works in one of two ways. The first is to ask for input at the time of search. For example, when searching for a digital camera online, the engine will allow the user to specify the importance of criteria, such as screen size, megapixels, zoom, body color, etc. The engine then provides a list only of items that match the user's conditions, removing the need for them to compare specs for all items manually.

The second way a decision engine can function is by forming a long-term relationship with the user in order to establish preferences and tastes. Once the engine has a stable profile of the user, it is able to provide very accurate, individual results based on that familiarity.

Bing

Microsoft's search engine Bing has been heavily advertised as "the decision engine." In reality, the provider is more closely related to a web portal

Web portal

A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....

. It allows users to book flights, watch Hulu

Hulu

Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...

, and view movie times all while staying on the Bing site, a strategy very typical of former portal giants, such as AOL

AOL

AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...

 and Yahoo!

Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...

 (popular in the 90's). It does not provide individualized search results.

Hunch

Hunch is a website, designed as a collective intelligence decision-making system that uses decision trees to make decisions based on users' interest.

Pikimal

Pikimal has developed a website that uses "Pikis" to help users find the best results to fit their specific needs for various topics. For example, if a user is searching for the best dog breed they can choose a popular template, such as "best dog breed for apartments," or they can adjust all of the criteria manually (size, shed, personality, etc.). This allows a user to express their interests in a product or search via a percentage of preference and to filter unwanted results.

See also

• Web search engines
• Selection-based search
  Selection-based search
  A selection-based search system is a search engine system in which the user invokes a search query using only the mouse. A selection-based search system allows the user to search the internet for more information about any keyword or phrase contained within a document or webpage in any software...
  
  
• Semantic search
  Semantic search
  Semantic search seeks to improve search accuracy by understanding searcher intent and the contextual meaning of terms as they appear in the searchable dataspace, whether on the Web or within a closed system, to generate more relevant results. Author Seth Grimes lists "11 approaches that join...
  
  
• List of search engines