Mahalo

Mahalo is a web directory (although it is represented in the form of a search engine). It differentiates itself from algorithmic search engines like Google, as well as other directory sites like Yahoo by tracking and building hand-crafted result sets for many of the currently popular search terms. Mahalo means “thank you” in Hawaiian.

Mahalo’s directory employs human editors to review websites and write search engine results pages that include text listings, as well as other media, such as photos and video. Each Mahalo search results page includes links to the top seven sites, as well as other categorized information, and additional web pages from Google.

Mahalo has started with the top 4,000 search terms in popular categories like travel, entertainment, cars, food, health care and sports and is adding about 500 more terms per week with a goal of covering the top 10,000 by the end of 2007. Mahalo also offers “how to” guides offering instructions on popular topics in an editorial fashion.

Mahalo’s goal is to improve search results by eliminating search spam from low-quality websites, such as those that have excessive advertising, distribute malware, or engage in phishing scams.