Survey Of UK HE Institutional Search Engines

UK University Search Engine Usage

Background

Surveys of search engines used on UK University Web sites were carried out approximately every six months between July 1999 and June 2003. The detailed findings were recorded and the findings and the trends informed discussions with the UK University Web management community. However due to lack of effort, the surveys have not been repeated.

This Survey

This data was collated by Lucy Anscombe of Thames Valley University. We are grateful for Lucy's permission to host this page.

A summary of the findings is given in the following table:

Search Engine	Nos.
Google	44
Other	24
ht://Dig	21
Inktomi / Verity Ultraseek	10
Not working / not found	5
Google search appliance	5
Thunderstone	2
Total	109

Notes

Please note the following:

This survey was carried out by a different person to previous surveys, so there may be some differences in the approach taken.
The profile of UK Universities is different from previous surveys.

As a result of the previous two points, it is not possible to make a direct comparison with previous surveys. However the following point is probably valid:

Google is now the most widely used search engine, replacing ht://Dig, which held first place in previous surveys.

Detailed Findings

Detailed information is given below:

University	Web site	Search engine used	Additional?
Aberdeen	www.abdn.ac.uk	Google (with templates)[1]
Abertay	www.abertay.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Aberystwyth	www.aberystwyth.ac.uk	Unknown php
Anglia	www.apu.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Aston	www.aston.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Bangor	www.bangor.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Bath	www.bath.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Bath Spa	www.bathspa.ac.uk	Google
Birbeck	www.bbk.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Birmingham	www.bham.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Bournemouth	www.bournemouth.ac.uk	Unknown cgi
Bradford	www.brad.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Brighton	www.bton.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Bristol	www.bris.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Brunel	www.brunel.ac.uk	Google (with templates)	ht://Dig
Buckingham	www.buckingham.ac.uk	Thunderstone
Cambridge	www.cam.ac.uk	Inktomi
Cardiff	www.cardiff.ac.uk	Unknown
Central England, Birmingham	www.uce.ac.uk	perlfect
Central Lancashire	www.uclan.ac.uk	Google (with templates)	excite
City	www.city.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Coventry	www.coventry.ac.uk	Unknown
Cranfield	www.cranfield.ac.uk	ht://Dig
De Montfort	www.dmu.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Derby	www.derby.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Dundee	www.dundee.ac.uk	egothor (OSS)
Durham	www.dur.ac.uk	ht://Dig
East Anglia	www.uea.ac.uk	Thunderstone
East London	www.uel.ac.uk	albert (french)
Edinburgh	www.ed.ac.uk	Inktomi
Essex	www.essex.ac.uk	Unknown
Exeter	www.ex.ac.uk	ht://Dig (xhtsearch?)
Glamorgan	www.glam.ac.uk	not found
Glasgow Caledonian	www.gcal.ac.uk	Inktomi
Goldsmiths College	www.goldsmiths.ac.uk	Unknown cgi
Greenwich	www.gre.ac.uk	not working
Heriot Watt	www.hw.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Hertfordshire	www.herts.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Huddersfield	www.huddersfield.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Hull	www.hull.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Imperial College London	www.ic.ac.uk	Verity
Keele	www.keele.ac.uk	Google (with templates)	ht://Dig
Kent	www.ukc.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Kings College London	www.kcl.ac.uk	Google (with templates)	swish-e
Kingston	www.kingston.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Lampeter	www.lampeter.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Lancaster	www.lancaster.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Leeds	www.leeds.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Leeds Metropolitan	www.lmu.ac.uk	Unknown
Leicester	www.le.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Lincoln	www.ulh.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Liverpool	www.liv.ac.uk	Google search appliance
Liverpool John Moores University	www.livjm.ac.uk	Verity
London College of Printing	www.linst.ac.uk	Unknown
London Metropolitan	www.londonmet.ac.uk	Verity
London School of Economics	www.lse.ac.uk	Unknown
Loughborough	www.lboro.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Luton	www.luton.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Manchester	www.man.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Manchester Metropolitan	www.mmu.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Middlesex	www.mdx.ac.uk	Unknown asp
Napier	www.napier.ac.uk	Unknown cgi
Newcastle	www.ncl.ac.uk	Google search appliance
NEWI	www.newi.ac.uk	Verity
Newport, UWC	www.newport.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
North London	www.unl.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Northumbria	www.northumbria.ac.uk	Unknown
Nottingham	www.nott.ac.uk	Google search appliance
Nottingham Trent	www.ntu.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Oxford	www.ox.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Oxford Brookes	www.brookes.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Paisley	www.paisley.ac.uk	swish-e
Plymouth	www.plym.ac.uk	Unknown asp
Portsmouth	www.port.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Queen's Belfast	www.qub.ac.uk	Google search appliance
Reading	www.reading.ac.uk	Google (with templates)	ht://Dig
Robert Gordon	www.rgu.ac.uk	not working
Roehampton	www.roehampton.ac.uk	Google
Royal Holloway	www.rhul.ac.uk	Verity
Salford	www.salford.ac.uk	ht://Dig
School of Oriental and African Studies	www.soas.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Sheffield	www.shef.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Sheffield Hallam	www.shu.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
South Bank	www.sbu.ac.uk	Google (no templates)[2]
Southampton	www.soton.ac.uk	ht://Dig
St Andrews	www.st-and.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Staffordshire	www.staffs.ac.uk	Panoptic
Stirling	www.stir.ac.uk	ht://Dig
Strathclyde	www.strath.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Sunderland	www.sunderland.ac.uk	Google search appliance
Surrey	www.surrey.ac.uk	Google (with templates)	Muscat
Sussex	www.susx.ac.uk	Verity
Swansea	www.swansea.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Teesside	www.tees.ac.uk	not found
Thames Valley University	www.tvu.ac.uk	ht://Dig
The Open University	www.open.ac.uk	Unknown
Trinity College Carmarthen	www.trinity-cm.ac.uk	Unknown
UHI Millennium Institute	www.uhi.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Ulster	www.ulster.ac.uk	Verity
University College London	www.ucl.ac.uk	Google (no templates)
University of Glasgow	www.gla.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
University of London	www.lon.ac.uk	ht://Dig
University of Manchester (UMIST)	www.umist.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
UWIC	www.uwic.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
Wales	www.wales.ac.uk	not working
Warwick	www.warwick.ac.uk	Atom search
West of England	www.uwe.ac.uk	Unknown
Westminster	www.wmin.ac.uk	Unknown
Wolverhampton	www.wlv.ac.uk	Google (with templates)
York	www.york.ac.uk	Google (with templates)

[1]

TVU:
University header / menus inserted around results

[2]

TVU:
No university branding used on results page - looks like a normal Google search

Changes

15 August 2005: Added details for Bath Spa (Google); Added details for Roehampton (Google); Corrected details for Liverpool (Google Search Engine Appliance)

WebWatch: UK University Search Engines