Semantic Web Technologies Applied to Internet Search Engines

The Web is characterized as a dynamic scenario containing a vast amount of information, representing a great challenge for information retrieval. The main question in this scenario is related to the users’ understanding for doing searches, in order to enable the semantic retrieval of information. In this sense, Semantic Web (SW) provides technologies mainly focused on understanding the information available on the Web that can be used Therefore, in this work the aim is to identify how SW technologies are being used to provide semantic components to Web search engines, for which purpose we conducted a bibliographical search. We identified application of SW technologies in different components and stages of the search process, such as in the collection, storage and representation of information; in the process of inference and retrieval in databases, and in the elaboration of queries and the comprehension of the users’ needs. We also identified different semantic search engines, usually aimed at specific purposes, rather than generic searches. It was thus verified that SW technologies are used for researchers oriented towards specific contexts, and that researchers with a general purpose use semantic approaches, but not based in the Semantic Web.