Federated search engine is an information retrieval technology that allows a user with only one search query to receive combined results from multiple information resources participating in the federation. Users can view all search results in a single integrated list.
Now web visitors don’t need to address diverse databases separately, they can enter query into a single web form and get back arranged results from federation of:
- diverse web sites and subsites connected with one organization (built on the basis of Plone or other content management system);
- intranet resources that combine websites, web applications, knowledge and project management systems;
- website(s) and blog(s) from different domains;
Additional features federated search engine can provide:
- more specialised search - only relevant and thematic sources are part of federation, users won’t need to welter in huge volumes of information from global search;
- accessibility - federated search provides even outcomes with restricted access, if you don’t have right to view them, you can ask for owners permission.
The main means Quintagroup uses to conduct federated search are:
- Web crawler for web indexing of resources that take part in federation;
- Sitemaps protocol to collect index files.
Interested in federated search engine for your Plone website?
To put it shortly, federated search enables users to:
- search for information in various information databases with a single query;
- view all search results in combined list.
- get link directly to each search result’s source.
Contact us to receive Plone development services and improve your website.