TrendWatch Blog
FirstGov search engine evolving
29-Aug-2005FirstGov.gov, the US government's official search engine, is undergoing change. The service became available in 2000 and shifted in 2002 from the Inktomi system to a service running FAST Search & Transfer and operated by AT&T. Now, another change is underway. FirstGov.gov seems to have its sights set on becoming a search system that offers a wider range of features, not just a search box. The reasons are murky. But a quick set of comparative searches using Google's "Uncle Sam" and Yahoo!'s advanced search limited to .GOV domains, and the FirstGov.gov search engine shows some interesting differences. The biggest one is coverage. The FirstGov.gov service returns useful hits for most searches, but the coverage of Google and Yahoo! seems significantly greater. Test queries indicate that both Google and Yahoo! have indexed more US government sites. To its credit, FirstGov does a better job of updating certain federal Websites. For example, updating of major agency and White House pages is, in general, more frequent. On the downside, there are documents that should be indexed that are difficult, if not impossible to find, such as publicly-available reports submitted to House and Senate committees. The new FirstGov services are expected to be available in early 2006.
- Submitted by: Stephen Arnold, Guest Analyst
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