What is mirago

01:00 Mon 26th Nov 2001 | Technology

Asks techtron

A. Mirago is a new UK search engine that is aimed at people living and working in the UK.

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Q. Does it only include UK-based sites in its search results

A. It has billed itself as presenting the Internet from a UK perspective - so it will include all the UK sites that it knows about (it has a function for you to add your own site (or company site) if it is not already listed) plus any international sites that it considers of interest to a British user.

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Q. Is it just a directory of British companies with web sites

A. No. In Internet terms, a directory uses real people to review and index its links and often only include websites if they follow a set of rigid guidelines - as a consequence directory results often produce fewer search results than those produced by a search engine. Search engines often employ spiders or robots that scan the contents of web pages and their links for relevant content.

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Mirago uses a series of software robots to scan websites for their content, and by ensuring that its robots visit sites frequently and in depth it can include information such as new product launches or services in its index of search results.

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Q. What is different about Mirago that isn't featured on other UK-based search engines

A. This search engine is unique because it has incorporated some great user-friendly features that it hopes will increase its popularity as its name becomes more popular. These include its regional search facility, sector searching and the Mirago Zone - a filtered, family friendly search facility.

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Regional Search: By clicking a destination on an interactive map Mirago's regional search facility becomes "aware" of a geographic area - which means in practice that once you have clicked on a town or county your search will be from that area - so any results that match your town or county will be listed before other results from the rest of the country - so for example if you are looking for hi-fi equipment suppliers and you're searching from Windsor, Berkshire - those suppliers that are located geographically closer to you will be listed before those in Lancashire.

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Sector specific indexes: Mirago allows you to search in authoritative sector specific indexes for education, health, shopping and finance - and the results from these searches are more comprehensive and authoritative than would be produced from a general search. For example, its health sector promises to only produce results from acknowledged medical sites, not those cluttered with uninformed opinion - which can waste a lot of time if you're looking for factual information quickly.

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The health sector home page at http://health.mirago.co.uk offers a very in-depth and very impressive look at most health issues for example it includes information on all health and medical related news stories and relevant links to them. Plus sections on the NHS, alternative medicine and the medical profession in general - with sub sections on bereavement, childcare, dental advice, first aid, foot health, massage, nutrition, stress, travel, AIDS, cancer, diabetes, doctors, nursing, pregnancy, smoking, asthma etc.

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Mirago Zone: this area of the search engine is targeted at the Under-16 age group and incorporates content filters which ensure family friendly searching - where search results are filtered for offensive content. However, if you think your kids will get around this you can also incorporate a filter on the main search engine home page, by going through the preferences page and including this feature in your settings.

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Q. Does Mirago have any other features

A. It includes all the latest news stories of the day (with relevant links) on its home page; news is supplied by the Press Association. It also includes a weather report and links to popular topics like entertainment, pop, food etc. in addition to its search facilities.

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Q. What is Mirago's web address

A. The search engine can be found at www.mirago.co.uk

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Q. Can you recommend any other UK-oriented search engines

A. Some of the best include UK-only sites and the UK versions of more well-known international search engines.

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UK Index - www.ukindex.co.uk

UK Plus - www.ukplus.co.uk/ukplus/SilverStream/Pages/pgUKPlusHome.html

UK Max - www.ukmax.com

UK Directory - www.ukdirectory.co.uk

Google UK - www.google.co.uk