The renowned Internet service provider, Alexa, has launched a series of new services on its well-known website, including access to a database of millions of websites connected to the Alexa search toolbar.
Registered developers using the Alexa Web Search Platform can utilize the available tools within this service to create highly effective information search structures, capable of extracting data from approximately 4 billion web pages indexed by Alexa.
Similar to Google, Alexa offers an Application Programming Interface (API) as part of the Alexa search structure; however, the search results, particularly the database provided by Alexa, are much deeper and more valuable than those from Google, as this is a paid service costing $1 per hour of use.
The Alexa Web Search Platform provides developers with an extremely effective method to identify a set of indexed search documents, facilitating the development of highly efficient document search applications that almost no other search structure can achieve. Additionally, it supports exporting search results in XML format. Its search results comprise a complete collection of various text or HTML formats, as well as numerous graphic, audio, or video file types.
An exemplary demonstration of the detail and efficiency of the Alexa Web Search Platform can be found in the image search service http://photos.alexa.com. This service allows users to refine image search results to an unprecedented level of sophistication.
The Alexa Web Search Platform is currently in beta testing, yet Alexa has opted to charge users, likely due to its unique effectiveness. The pricing structure includes: $1 per hour of use for one CPU, $1 per year for 1 GB of data storage on Alexa’s server, $1 for 50 GB of data processed by Alexa’s system, $1 for each GB of data entering or leaving the system, and $1 for every 4,000 search results generated by Alexa’s search structures.
Those unfamiliar with the efficiency of this search structure may perceive Alexa’s service as somewhat expensive; however, it can list up to 1,000 data files on the same topic within just a few minutes.
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