A
system and method for searching and voting on Internet-accessible content is presented. One or more meta servers or sites store information about the structure and location of content on one or more Internet host servers.
HTML-linked content on the one or more Internet host servers is indexed and stored on the one or more meta servers, and non-
HTML content on the one or more Internet host servers is processed by the present invention into
HTML content, indexed, and stored on the one or more meta servers. Each meta
server includes a local
search engine that can be queried by a user. A plurality of different types of queries can be conducted by the user, including local queries, global queries, and peer-to-peer network queries. The user is provided with search results which point to relevant content on one or more of the meta
server and / or one or more of
the Internet host servers. After viewing the content, the user can cast votes relating to the user's satisfaction with the search results. The present invention also includes a
central repository which tracks user votes, query progressions, and information about content on each of the meta sites. The present invention also provides a plurality of enhancement plug-ins for standard web robots, including a
toolbar for conventional web browsers. The
toolbar can be used to securely solicit and collect authenticated user votes from standard web sites, as well as to vote-check top results returned by supported search engines. The plug-ins facilitate
interoperability between existing Internet
software (and technology) and the present invention.