METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FINDING INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET

When a search is made for information on the Internet, certain search parameters are saved in the user's system. If a subsequent related search is made, these search parameters are transferred to the internet search engine and used to reorder or otherwise modify the search results. Preferably, every time a search request is made, an entry is added to a cookie, containing the search terms and date of search. The search engine re-orders search results by dividing the results into multiple groups, including (in order of priority: (a) those URLs which are new since the last search; (b) those URLs which have been previously visited by have changed, the magnitude of change determining the ordering within this group; (c) those URLs which existed before the previous search, but have not been visited by the user; and (d) those URL's which the user has previously visited and have not changed. In the preferred embodiment, the user may optionally manually specify certain URLs to be included or excluded. The ordering of search results in accordance with the present invention provides the user with greater control and more meaningful information than current search technology.