MetaCrawler also provided users the option to search for images, video, news, business and personal telephone directories, and for a while even audio.

MetaCrawler was originally operating on four Digital Equipment Corporation AlphaStations[2] and processing several hundred thousand queries per day.

Some time after the search engine launched, NetBot, Inc., which was cofounded by Etzioni,[3] was initiated to commercialize MetaCrawler[4] and three other UW programs: Ahoy!

[6] As of late 1995, MetaCrawler logged over 7,000 search queries per week, and accessed six services: Galaxy, InfoSeek, Lycos, Open Text, WebCrawler and Yahoo.

[8] MetaCrawler's owners were unable to determine a reasonable business model, so in January 1997 they sold it to another Internet startup company, Go2Net,[9] in which Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen later invested a 54 percent stake.

[13] Both Selberg and Etzioni resumed working for UW until 1999, when they joined Go2Net for a year, quitting just prior to Go2Net's acquisition by InfoSpace, Inc. in July 2000 for $4.2 billion.