As the name succinctly suggests, Snap provides users with a preview or rather a snapshot of each search result along with several added features that are targeted at providing smart search results.
The credential of the company are very solid. Snap is led by Bill Gross, the man behind Picasa ( sold to Google ) and Overture ( sold to Yahoo!). Not to forget that Overture was the first to develop the search monetization model ( the reason why Google is the technology giant it is today).
The engine leverages GigaBlast, LookSmart and DMOZ to enhance its search results in addition to its own index. A nifty feature is the Web Search category tool that lists poplar searches matching the search term that the user enters. This is the SNAP RAFT ( Refine as you Type) technology.
For advertising they follow the CPC and the CPA models with search offered in categories that include : Web, Classic, Shopping, News, and Jobs.
If anything, Snap has redifined itself via Snap Shots, which serve previews of web sites and content information on multiple blogs like Techcrunch and larger sites also. In its search results, Snap also repeats this mantra, letting users alternate between the Snap Web view or the Snap Classic view based on your preference for page previews (Web Search: About.com).
In addition to rummaging several web directories, Snap also taps statistical data based on human behavior towards search links (clickstream data) to continuously tweak the relevance of its results.
The snapshot feature is a sure tweak that lets the power searcher rapidly move among results while not losing out on the search index. While there are no claims here of a technology that can dethrone any of the biggies, Snap is definitely a valuable addition to the web searchers repertoire.
