A search engine smarter than Google?
Jinfo Blog

20th January 2009

By Penny Crossland

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A new, split-screen metasearch engine has recently been launched by Florida-based Melzoo http://www.melzoo.com/en_US/search. Described as ‘ingenious’ by some industry watchers http://digbig.com/4ydaq the search engine is designed to offer users ‘visual previews’ of their searches. Search results are listed on the left side of the window, with the site destination on the right side of the screen. Websites are displayed immediately as the mouse hovers over each search result, doing away with clicking back and forth between websites and search engine. By using Melzoo users also no longer need to have several windows or tabs open in their browser, thereby saving time when searching. Melzoo claims that sites load quicker in their search engine, although a reviewer from PC World http://digbig.com/4ydaq found searching on the site quote slow. As yet, Melzoo does not remember the sizing of panes between sessions – some users may prefer a smaller results pane, with a bigger preview pane. However, the site is still in beta format, so this may change. It is also not currently possible to search for images. The company is promising advertisers a higher quality traffic since previewing sites will enable users to make more ‘qualified visits’. Melzoo believes that qualification will result in higher conversion rates than those achieved via traditional search engines. Currently, the company is claiming more than 1,100 registered advertisers. The idea of viewing searched-for sites is not new. Web navigation company Girafa http://www.girafa.com/ devised a web navigation toolbar, which showed users images of sites listed in search results. Melzoo’s search engine however is likely to have a greater impact on how users browse the web.

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