So Long and Farewell: Google's Oldest Vertical Search Engine, Uncle Sam ...

Yesterday, Search Engine Roundtable and InfoDocket both pointed out that Google’s U.S. government specialty search tools, Google-Uncle Sam and USGov.Google.com had been offline for several days. Additionally, Google’s long time specialty search tools Linux Search, Microsoft Search, Apple Search, and BSD Search were also unavailable.

Google has now confirmed both to us via email and on a Google Web Search Help Forum thread that all of these specialty search tools are no longer available.

Uncle Sam and the computer specialty search search sites had been available for a at least a decade.

The other specialty search site, USGov.Google.com would have celebrated its fifth birthday next week.

When it launched Google said that the specialty search tool and site would not only offer a single search box allowing users to search federal, state, and local government info but it would also provide government news from a variety of sources. Finally, USGov.Google.com also allowed users to customize the layout of the page.

Google told us:

These services were established many years ago to offer search across a limited index of the web, which in the past was a better way to find this information. For example, google.com/linux was designed to help people find information from message boards and blogs about the Linux operating system. Today, search quality has advanced tremendously, and based on our analysis we’ve found that in most cases you’re better off looking for this kind of specialized information using the regular Google search box, for example by typing [linux fedora upgrade].

We would love to learn more about how the “analysis” and review some examples of searches that don’t not fall into the “in most cases” category.

Uncle Sam and the other specialty search tools that are no longer available were very similar to what Google continues to offer users with Google Custom Search Engines (CSE).

If Google believes that using the regular one-stop search box for all searches is a more effective way to search “in most cases” you have to wonder about what the long-term future has in store for the custom search engine service. What makes a custom search engine that’s focused on hockey or nuclear power any different than what USgov.Google offered?

Specialty Search Engines - News


So Long and Farewell: Google's Oldest Vertical Search Engine, Uncle Sam ...

Yesterday, Search Engine Roundtable and InfoDocket both pointed out that Google's US government specialty search tools, Google-Uncle Sam and USGov.Google.com had been offline for several days. Additionally, Google's long time specialty search tools



SIIM: Rads expand utility with structured reporting, search tools

Kim outlined PRESTO (Pathology Radiology Enterprise Search Tool), an internally developed, web-based search tool that allows cross-specialty search and supports clinical needs, operations, education and research. “Radiologists are surprised at what you



Google Values YourCity.MD Doctor Ratings & Testimonials and Moves them to Page ...

Doctors are finally getting the attention of a lifetime on Google search engine result by encouraging patient feedback on their .MD city listing profile. With several national partnerships getting ready to be announced, YourCity.MD (http://www.



The New Link Spam: Facebook Status Updates

Do a search for nearly any major brand and you'll find their Facebook page show up in the top 20 results, if not the top 10results, for the brand name. And because these pages are public and open to being indexed (and ranked) by search engines,



ADDING and REPLACING 49th International Paris Air Show Exhibitor Profiles

Communications professionals turn to Business Wire to optimize and issue press releases, photos and multimedia to news organizations, journalists, trade publications, search engines, and individuals, with full-text posting to web sites, online services




Nota Bene: Specialty Search Engines

"Nota Bene" means "note this well" or "take particular notice." We at the O'Quinn Law Library will be posting tips on legal research techniques and resources, developments in the world of legal information, happenings at the Law Library, and legal news reports that deserve your particular attention. We look forward to sharing our thoughts and findings and to hearing from you. When I need to search the web, I will often start with Google. Given that the majority of search queries conducted come from a Google site, many of you probably rely on Google as well. However, a broad Google search may not be the best choice if you really need to search within a specific type of content. In these instances, it may be better to search using a specialty search engine.


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Specialty Search Engines - Bookshelf

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing

Specialty Search Engines There are also specialty search engines (also called vertical search engines or portals). Nearly every market has its own portals ...

The everyday Internet all-in-one desk reference for dummies

The everyday Internet all-in-one desk reference for dummies

In this chapter, you discover a handful of specialty search engines designed for looking ... Discovering Specialty Search Engines Specialty search engines, ...

Web Marketing for Dummies

Web Marketing for Dummies

Submitting to Specialty Search Engines and Directories Just because you've knocked off Google, Yahoo!, and MSN doesn't mean you're done. ...

Knowledge, Living and Working with It

Knowledge, Living and Working with It

Specialty search engines Most 'specialty' search engines are either directories specific to a particular topic or engines that index only pages ...

What Color Is Your Parachute? Guide to Job-Hunting Online

What Color Is Your Parachute? Guide to Job-Hunting Online

Search Engine Guide www.searchengineguide.com/searchengines.html A directory of search engines and directories. Specialty Search Engines ...

Helpful Articles Directory


Specialty Search Engines - Search Engine Watch (#SEW)
For those times when you want to find more than just web pages and web sites, some of the "specialty search engines" below will prove useful. ...

Online Marketing Guides - Search Engine Watch (#SEW)
A collection of our best contributions from the SEW expert writers. ... This section of Search Engine Watch lists some top choices in various categories. ...

Promotion Tip: Specialty Search Engines
Specialty search engines deliver targeted traffic to your site. Specialty engines rarely charge for listings and often list sites much more quickly ...

Specialty Search Engines : ISEdb.COM:
Other Specialty Search Engines. Real Estates. Recreation Search Engines ... Web Listing in Specialty Search Engines. Our Sponsors. Link Building Services. USA company ...

Products - Everything Google
Create a customized search experience for your community ... Search scholarly papers. Alerts. Get email updates on the topics of your choice. Trends ...