HotBot, owned by Terra/Lycos, is one of older Web search engines. Originally it just used the Inktomi database and then added Direct Hit and the Open Directory. Then in Dec. 2002, it relaunched as a multiple search engine with Inktomi, Fast, Google, and Teoma. In July 2003, they stayed with the same four databases, but renamed them HotBot, Lycos, Google, and Ask Jeeves. Lycos was dropped in March 2004.

The Google and Teoma (Ask Jeeves) websites offer more details on how their database and interface work, bearing in mind that not all features are available at HotBot. The basic search screen shows no options, but chooses Advanced Search for the full range of search features.

Databases: HotBot offers the choice of three search engine databases:
* HotBot (which is actually a Yahoo!/Inktomi database, and the version reviewed here)
* Google
* Ask Jeeves (the Teoma database)

Switching between them is as simple as click a button. This review will focus on the features of the HotBot database which comes from Inktomi. Sponsored links on the top come from Overture while the side ones may come from other advertisers. While HotBot (Inktomi) includes some PDF, MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files, there is no limit for searching them.

Strengths:
* Advanced searching capabilities
* Quick check of three major databases
* Advanced search help

Weaknesses:
* Does not include all advanced features of each of the four databases
* No cached copies of pages
* Only displays a few hits from each domain with no access to the rest in Inktomi
* Same ads at the top push regular results below the fold
* Should have a file type limit for PDF, MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files

Default Operation:
Multiple search terms are processed as an AND operation by default.

Boolean Searching: HotBot offers full Boolean searching. Use the operators AND, OR, and NOT. Searching can be nested using parentheses. Operators must be in upper case. HotBot can also use - for NOT. Under Word Filters, it has a drop down menu choice for All the Words, Any of the Words, Not the Words, Exact Phrase, and Not Exact Phrase. These can be used to add additional terms or combining a phrase search with a Boolean search.
Proximity Searching: Phrases can also be designated by enclosing the phrase in "double quotes" or using Exact Phrase in the Word Filters in combination with a query in the top box.

Truncation: No truncation is available.

Case Sensitivity: Apparently not as of April 2004. Previously, HotBot and the other Inktomi databases were sometimes case sensitive for unusual usages of case. If search terms are entered in all lower case, all upper case, or with an initial capital, all mixtures of upper and lower case are searched. If a search term contains one or more UPPER case letters in the middle of a word such as arXiv, the search is limited to only records that exactly match the specified case.

Field Searching: HotBot offers a variety of field searching capabilities. The Word Filter drop down menu includes option for searching Body, Title, Referring URL, and Contained URLs. The latter must be a complete URL, and not just a portion of one. The title word search can also be entered in the query box by using the title:word syntax. Other field searches are possible using the designations listed below. HotBot used to have a FAQ on Advanced Search Features that included some of the following. Most of these are just the language behind the advanced search form.