Wikiseek
Encyclopedia
Wikiseek was a search engine
that indexed Wikipedia
pages and pages that were linked to from Wikipedia articles. The search engine was funded by a Palo Alto based Internet startup SearchMe
and was officially launched on January 17, 2007. Most of the funding came from Sequoia Capital
. It used Google ads on its search returns to generate profit. As of 2008 it is no longer active.
Wikiseek was granted permission by the Wikimedia Foundation
to index the Wikipedia website. Wikiseek has made financial contributions to the Wikimedia Foundation, and the group-edited blog, TechCrunch
reported that it was donating the "majority" of advertising revenue.
Wikipedia pages were re-indexed whenever Wikipedia had a database clean-up; external links were re-indexed weekly. Search results included tag cloud
s of Wikipedia categories that contained the search term. The first three results of any search would always be Wikipedia articles, and the remainder were a mix of Wikipedia content and websites linked to from Wikipedia. The service used user feedback to reduce the likelihood of spam.
TechCrunch commented that the search engine may cause confusion with the Wikia
search engine
that had been announced the month previous to Wikiseek's launch.
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
that indexed Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
pages and pages that were linked to from Wikipedia articles. The search engine was funded by a Palo Alto based Internet startup SearchMe
SearchMe
SearchMe was a visual search engine based in Mountain View, California. It organized search results as snapshots of web pages — an interface similar to that of the iPhone's and iTunes's album selection....
and was officially launched on January 17, 2007. Most of the funding came from Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is a Californian venture capital firm located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital "one of the highest-caliber venture firms", and noted that it is "one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture-capital firms"...
. It used Google ads on its search returns to generate profit. As of 2008 it is no longer active.
Wikiseek was granted permission by the Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is an American non-profit charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, and organized under the laws of the state of Florida, where it was initially based...
to index the Wikipedia website. Wikiseek has made financial contributions to the Wikimedia Foundation, and the group-edited blog, TechCrunch
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
reported that it was donating the "majority" of advertising revenue.
Wikipedia pages were re-indexed whenever Wikipedia had a database clean-up; external links were re-indexed weekly. Search results included tag cloud
Tag cloud
A tag cloud is a visual representation for text data, typically used to depict keyword metadata on websites, or to visualize free form text. 'Tags' are usually single words, and the importance of each tag is shown with font size or color...
s of Wikipedia categories that contained the search term. The first three results of any search would always be Wikipedia articles, and the remainder were a mix of Wikipedia content and websites linked to from Wikipedia. The service used user feedback to reduce the likelihood of spam.
TechCrunch commented that the search engine may cause confusion with the Wikia
Wikia
Wikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...
search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
that had been announced the month previous to Wikiseek's launch.