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SEARCH ENGINE BREAKTHROUGH KNOWS TO IGNORE 'JUNK'
Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 29, 2001 - A leading search-engine software vendor
is the first to solve the junk results problem. Junk results are search
hits that match words in web page headers, footers, and navigation
menus, as opposed to the page's actual unique content.
The Webinator site-indexing product, from Thunderstone Software, now
automatically ignores text repeated across multiple pages of a site.
Users thus receive more precise search results, without spurious matches
on boilerplate text.
The breakthrough enhancement is part of the new Webinator 4 release,
available immediately. Webmasters may download a free version of
Webinator from Thunderstone's web site.
Many additional features are new in Webinator 4. They include:
- Categorization. Pages may be automatically assigned to categories
that are searchable separately, even if the site itself is not organized
by category.
- Web-based administration. Settings such as the indexing schedule may
be controlled by an authorized user, from a browser anywhere on the
internet.
- Source code. Programmers now may modify any aspect of the program, by
means of familiar SQL commands and CGI scripting.
Webinator is an application of Thunderstone's sophisticated Texis
system, a combination search engine and database. Texis serves more
than 30 million searches a day at eBay, and additional millions a day
for other popular web sites such as HotJobs, About.com, and Master.com.
Essentially the same software powering those sites is available free to
web site operators. "Most webmasters don't need to pay for a
site-search function," said Doran Howitt, Thunderstone spokesman. "Free
Webinator will let you search up to 10,000 pages per index, which is
more than sufficient for the majority of sites."
Webinator is subject to acceptable-use license provisions. Thunderstone
offers expanded support and capacity for purchase, if needed.
Promotional discounts for upgrades or expanded capacity are in effect
until Dec. 31.
About Thunderstone Software
Thunderstone Software LLC provides high-performance solutions for
text-searching in conjunction with relational database applications.
Uses of this technology include publishing, catalogs, classified
advertising, corporate portals, and web-searching. Thunderstone is a
20-year-old, profitable company, whose products are used on thousands of
web sites worldwide.
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