The merits of topic-specific search engines

Google, Yahoo, and other search engine search results are ranked according to the page-rank of the sites containing the information searched for. A website’s page-rank is determined in large part by computer programs that examine the number and relative popularity of other websites that link to it i.e. a site will have a high page-rank if lots of other sites with high page-ranks link to it.

 

However, many sites containing useful legal information do not have a high page rank. For example, a law firm website with a few useful articles or case comments on it may have relatively few sites linking to it (and therefore have a low page-rank) compared to a community forum or gossip blog that appeals to a larger audience.  

 

Topic-specific search engines focus on sites that are likely to contain the desired information and prevent the useful hits from being crowded out by hits from more popular but less relevant websites.

 

Click here to search approximately 500 selected Canadian law firm websites.

 

Click here to perform a Google search restricted to the websites of the 21 Canadian law schools listed on the law schools page.