Dogpile

2025-05-02T10:33:32Z

2A02:2F0D:8216:BD00:B47F:BF8F:68E4:A1AC:

{{About|the search engine|the form of online harassment|Dogpiling (Internet)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Short description|Metasearch engine}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Dogpile
| logo = Dogpile logo.gif
| screenshot = Dogpiledotcom search website.PNG
| caption = Dogpile's homepage featuring their mascot, Arfie<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dogpile.com/support/aboutus |title=About Dogpile.com |website=Dogpile.com |access-date=July 20, 2021}}</ref> (September 2012)
| url = {{URL|https://www.dogpile.com/}}
| type = [[Metasearch engine]]
| language = [[English language|English]]
| owner = System1
| author = Aaron Flin
| launch_date = {{start date and age|1996|11}}
| current_status = Active
}}
'''Dogpile''' is a [[metasearch engine]] for information on the [[World Wide Web]] that fetches results from [[Google]], [[Yahoo!]], [[Yandex]], [[Bing (search engine)|Bing]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/02/25/say-goodbye-to-google-14-alternative-search-engines/|title=Say goodbye to Google: 14 alternative search engines|date=February 25, 2016|website=Search Engine Watch|language=en-US|access-date=January 29, 2019}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.lifewire.com/dogpile-search-3482008|title=What is Dogpile, and How Do I Use It?|last=Collins|first=Jerri|website=Lifewire|language=en|access-date=January 29, 2019}}</ref> and other popular [[search engine]]s, including those from audio and video content providers, such as Yahoo!.<ref name=":2" />

== History ==
Dogpile began operation in November 1996.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://searchenginearchive.com/single.php?id=78|title=Se-En|website=searchenginearchive.com|access-date=January 28, 2019}}</ref> The site was created and developed by Aaron Flin, who was frustrated with the varying results of existing indexes and intending on making Dogpile query multiple indexes for the best search results.<ref name="metamend">{{Cite web|url=https://metamend.com/archive/past-engines/dogpile-search-engine/|title=Web Site Optimization for the Dogpile Search Engine|website=Metamend|language=en-US|access-date=January 28, 2019}}</ref> It originally provided web searches from [[Yahoo!]] (directory), [[Lycos]] (inc. A2Z directory), [[Excite (web portal)|Excite]] (inc. Excite Guide directory), [[WebCrawler]], [[Infoseek]], [[AltaVista]], [[HotBot]], WhatUseek (directory), and [[World Wide Web Worm]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.airweb.org/eAIR/Documents/301.txt|title=The Electronic Newsletter April 14, 1997, Volume 16, Number 22|website=www.airweb.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105112731/https://www.airweb.org/eAIR/Documents/301.txt|archive-date=November 5, 2013|access-date=January 28, 2019}}</ref><ref>''Internet Resources for Engineers'', by Jimin He</ref> It naturally drew comparisons with [[MetaCrawler]], a multi-threaded search engine that had existed before, but Dogpile was more advanced, and it could also search [[Usenet]] (from sources including [[DejaNews]]) and [[FTP]] (via Filez and other indexes).<ref name=":0" />

In August 1999, Dogpile was acquired by [[Infospace|Go2net]],<ref name="metamend"/> who were already operating MetaCrawler.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://googlepress.blogspot.com/2000/01/google-added-to-go2nets-metacrawler-and.html|title=Google Added To Go2Net's MetaCrawler and Dogpile Metasearch Services – News announcements – News from Google – Google|website=googlepress.blogspot.com|access-date=January 28, 2019}}</ref> Go2net was then acquired by [[InfoSpace]] in July 2000 for $4 billion.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2000/07/infospace-pays-4-bil-for-go2net/|title=InfoSpace Pays $4 Bil for Go2Net|last=WIRED Staff |date=July 26, 2000|magazine=Wired|access-date=January 28, 2019|issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.infospace.com:80/info.dogpl/about/corporate/about.htm|title=About Dogpile - Dogpile|date=December 1, 2002|website=[[InfoSpace]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021201175400/http://www.infospace.com:80/info.dogpl/about/corporate/about.htm|access-date=January 9, 2019|archive-date=December 1, 2002}}</ref> Dogpile received a design facelift for the first time in December 2000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://searchengineshowdown.com/2000/12/infospace_relaunches_dogpile/|title=InfoSpace Relaunches Dogpile|publisher=Search Engine Showdown|language=en-US|access-date=January 28, 2019|archive-date=April 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415183723/http://searchengineshowdown.com/2000/12/infospace_relaunches_dogpile/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Dogpile search engine earned the [[J.D. Power and Associates]] award for best Residential Online Search Engine Service in both 2006<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2006219 |title=Residential Online Service Customer Satisfaction Study |publisher=[[J.D. Power and Associates]] |date=October 11, 2006 |access-date=October 8, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071115154823/http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2006219 |archive-date=November 15, 2007}}</ref> and 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2007242 |title=2007 Residential Online Service Customer Satisfaction Study |publisher=[[J.D. Power and Associates]] |date=October 17, 2007 |access-date=October 8, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020030542/http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2007242 |archive-date=October 20, 2007}}</ref>

In August 2008, Dogpile and [[Petfinder]] agreed to a search partnership.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080805-112045|title=Dogpile.com and Petfinder.com Agree to Search Partnership (Plus, Tell Us Your Pet Story!)|last=Johnson|first=Nathania|date=August 5, 2008|publisher=Search Engine Watch|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080808031804/http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/080805-112045|archive-date=August 8, 2008|access-date=January 29, 2019}}</ref>

In November 2008, Dogpile launched its "Search and Rescue" program, which donates money to animal-related charities.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/news/2052826/dogpilecoms-search-rescue-program-helps-soldiers-bring-home-rescued-dogs-afghanistan|title=Dogpile.com's Search & Rescue Program Helps Soldiers Bring Home Rescued Dogs from Afghanistan|last=Johnson|first=Nathania|date=February 2, 2009|publisher=Search Engine Watch|language=en-US|access-date=January 29, 2019}}</ref> The program also helps people find help for animals in need.<ref name=":1" /> By early-December 2008, people using the Dogpile search engine had raised $100,000 for Dogpile's Search and Rescue program.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/081202-133010|title=Dogpile.com's Search & Rescue Program Raises First $100,000 for ASPCA|last=Johnson|first=Nathania|date=December 2, 2008|publisher=Search Engine Watch|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205011524/http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/081202-133010|archive-date=December 5, 2008|access-date=January 29, 2019}}</ref>

In July 2016, InfoSpace was sold by its parent company Blucora to OpenMail for $45 million in cash, putting Dogpile under the ownership of OpenMail.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/blucora-to-sell-infospace-business-for-45-million/ |title=Blucora to sell InfoSpace business for $45 million | work=The Seattle Times | date=July 5, 2016}}</ref> OpenMail was later renamed System1.<ref>{{Cite web| title = System1 raises $270 million for 'consumer intent' advertising| work = L.A. Biz| access-date = December 1, 2017| url = https://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/news/2017/09/20/system1-raises-270-million-for-consumer-intent.html}}</ref>

==Studies==

In April 2005, Dogpile collaborated with researchers from [[University of Pittsburgh]] and [[Pennsylvania State University]] to measure the overlap and ranking differences of leading Web search engines in order to gauge the benefits of using a metasearch engine to search the web. Results found that from 10,316 random user-defined queries from Google, Yahoo!, and [[Ask Jeeves]] only 3.2% of first page search results were the same across those search engines for a given query. Another study later that year using 12,570 random user-defined queries from Google, Yahoo!, MSN Search, and Ask Jeeves found that only 1.1% of first page search results were the same across those search engines for a given query.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3524441/Dogpile+Search+Engines+Dont+Have+Much+in+Common.htm|title=Dogpile: Search Engines Don't Have Much in Common - InternetNews.|website=www.internetnews.com|date=August 2, 2005|access-date=January 28, 2019}}</ref>

These studies showed that each search engine provides vastly different results. While users of the search engine may not recognize a problem, it was shown that they use ~3 search engines per month. Dogpile realized that searchers are not necessarily finding the results they were looking for in one search engine and thus decided to redefine their existing metasearch engine to provide the best results.<ref>[http://csearchcdn1.inspcloud.com/dogpile/10.0.0.316/content/downloads/overlap-differentenginesdifferentresults.pdf/ "A research study by Dogpile.com"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309214642/http://csearchcdn1.inspcloud.com/dogpile/10.0.0.316/content/downloads/overlap-differentenginesdifferentresults.pdf/ |date=March 9, 2016 }}, Retrieved November 30, 2014</ref>

== Features ==
As of 2013, Dogpile listed the following features in addition to its search function:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dogpile.com/support/faqs/ |title=Dogpile.com - FAQs |access-date=November 30, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806213137/http://www.dogpile.com/support/faqs/ |archive-date=August 6, 2013}}</ref>
* Category Links: Links to help users focus their search on specific categories like News, Audio, etc.
* Yellow Pages: Allows users to do a search using the Yellow Pages for business, institutions and firms.
* White Pages: Allows users to do a search using the White Pages for private people. (No longer available as of February 23, 2017<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dogpile.com/ |title=Dogpile.com home page |access-date=October 13, 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223031313/http://dogpile.com/ |archive-date=February 23, 2017}}</ref>)
* Preferences: Links to a page where users can set a variety of customized search preferences.
* Spelling Correction: Offers suggested spellings for words that may be misspelled and automatically corrects commonly misspelled keywords.
* Search Filter: Blocks potentially explicit content for multimedia searches in Moderate setting and for all searches when in Heavy setting.
* Statistics Bar: Shows how many results were returned for the search term.
* About Results: Find out about Dogpile's policies regarding sponsored and non-sponsored search results.
* IntelliFind: Recommends additional content based on the original search term.
* ''Are You Looking For?'': Offers suggested spellings for words that may be misspelled and other search keywords that seem to be related to the original search term.
* Recent Searches: Keeps track of the 15 most recent searches. The list resets when the browser is closed.
* Favorite Fetches: Shows recent popular searches from other users.

== See also ==
* [[InfoSpace]]
* [[List of search engines]]
* [[MetaCrawler]]
* [[Metasearch engine]]
* [[WebCrawler]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website}}

{{Web search engines}}

[[Category:Internet properties established in 1995]]
[[Category:Internet search engines]]
[[Category:Metasearch engines]]

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Dogpile