A search engine developed by Accoona Corp. uses various artificial intelligence techniques to offer enhanced search results.
On Accoona’s home page, the typical search query box occupies the center, with three buttons beneath it for Web, Business, and News searches. Accoona made these placements to encourage users to use advanced search features they tend to ignore on other search sites, the company said in EE Times.
Accoona claimed their AI technology can understand the meaning of a query and return results based on that understanding, instead of just generating responses where the keywords in the query all appear on a web page.
By doing a multi-keyword News search, users can use the SuperTarget options Accoona offers. For example, one keyword out of the query can be emphasized. That sorts the results starting with pages where the meaning of that keyword is more important than the meaning of the other keywords.
Other options to refine a search can filter the results by the publisher, company names, and names of people mentioned in stories related to the query.
Some searches will return an Accoona Answers icon and the text “Tell me more about:” followed by a search term. This is a link to Answers.com and its entries for the term. Answers.com parent company GuruNet has a business agreement with Accoona, as do Moreover, Euro News, FAST Search & Transfer, and Dun & Bradstreet.
A Business search on keywords returns Dun & Bradstreet links with the names and descriptions of businesses Accoona thinks match the query. Clicking on the D&B link brings up a quick profile of the company and a link to where a lengthier D&B report can be purchased. Also, Business search results can be filtered by the various SuperTarget options available.
Accoona also displays paid search ads on the page with the D&B quick profile. Those advertisements come from Yahoo’s Overture search advertising unit. On the finance side, Accoona claimed to have over $100 million in funding from private investment funds, the article said. The company also has a 20-year deal with China Daily to be the exclusive search portal for it across China.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
