• advanced searching program designed to overcome Boolean search limitations
• restrict search to the exact meaning of the word
  • a search for “bill” in the context of proposed law in a Boolean search will also find “Bill” as a proper name, “bill” as an invoice, “bill” as cap or visor
  • it will also miss discussions of "initiative", "proposed legislation", SB 125
  • EverQuest will return all words and phrases that match the meaning and none of those used in a different context
• EverQuest is now integrated with Concordance in our online hosting center

EverQuest Provides Meaning Based Searching

EverQuest is a state-of-the-art contextual search engine that can dramatically increase your company's ability to sift through millions of pages of information, find information directly relevant to your search parameters, and simultaneously avoid much of the irrelevant noise generated by competing search technologies.

Older character-based search systems generate large numbers of false positives because they simply return references to a matching pattern of characters. They don't possess any ability to understand that searching for a proposed law via the term "bill" should not return results to names like "Bill Moore", discussions regarding the "bill of a duck", or a homeowner's "electricity bill." As a result, they simply return everything that includes the word "bill" and let you worry about finding what's actually relevant. Despite the fact that character-based systems often generate a large number of hits, they often miss a significant amount of critical information. While text discussing a "legislative initiative" would clearly be of interest to someone searching for a proposed law, a character-based system would miss it entirely unless one of those words were included in the search terms.

Oftentimes the user of a character-based search system will try to avoid such oversights by including a variety of search terms. Instead of simply including the word "bill", they might also include "legislation" and "initiative." The problem with this approach is that with each additional search term added the amount of irrelevant data returned increases. Just as the word "bill" can be used in many ways that do not denote a proposed law, so too can words like "initiative."

Lastly, while character-based search systems typically let the user decide whether to match whole words only or whether the individual search terms can be part of a larger word, neither option works well. Search for "bill" as a whole word and you'll miss references to "bills." Search for "bill" wherever it occurs and you'll start encountering references to things like "Billings, Montana." EverQuest dispenses with such antiquated search technology in favor of true meaning based searches. When you enter a search phrase, Everquest analyzes your phrase and attempts to discern the actual meaning of each significant word. Those meanings are clearly displayed to you so that, if necessary, you can simply override the meaning that should be utilized.

Simply typing the single word "bill" into EverQuest would result in its guessing that you meant a "proposed law". Seven different definitions of the word are displayed, however, allowing you to select alternative definitions such as "Treasury bill", the "visor of a cap", "paper money", and even verbal definitions such as "ask for payment." Longer search phrases enable EverQuest to more accurately guess what you mean the first time, but you always possess the ability to override its default assumptions.

With EverQuest, the result is a smaller, far more relevant list of results.