<s>
HotBot	B-Application
was	O
an	O
American	O
web	B-Application
search	I-Application
engine	I-Application
owned	O
by	O
Lycos	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
1990s	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
most	O
popular	O
search	B-Application
engines	I-Application
on	O
the	O
World	O
Wide	O
Web	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HotBot	B-Application
was	O
launched	O
in	O
May	O
1996	O
by	O
HotWired	O
,	O
a	O
tool	O
providing	O
search	B-Application
results	I-Application
served	O
by	O
the	O
Inktomi	B-Application
database	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
search	B-Application
engine	I-Application
was	O
co-developed	O
by	O
Inktomi	B-Application
,	O
a	O
four-month-old	O
start-up	O
staffed	O
by	O
University	O
of	O
California	O
,	O
Berkeley	O
students	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HotBot	B-Application
was	O
launched	O
using	O
a	O
"	O
new	O
links	O
"	O
strategy	O
of	O
marketing	O
,	O
claiming	O
to	O
index	O
the	O
entire	O
web	O
weekly	O
,	O
more	O
often	O
than	O
competitors	O
like	O
AltaVista	O
,	O
and	O
its	O
website	O
stated	O
it	O
being	O
the	O
"	O
most	O
complete	O
Web	O
index	O
online	O
"	O
with	O
54	O
million	O
documents	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Directory	O
results	O
were	O
provided	O
originally	O
by	O
LookSmart	O
and	O
then	O
DMOZ	B-Application
from	O
mid-1999	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HotBot	B-Application
also	O
used	O
search	O
data	O
from	O
Direct	O
Hit	O
Technologies	O
for	O
a	O
period	O
starting	O
February	O
1999	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
a	O
tool	O
that	O
used	O
click-through	O
data	O
to	O
manipulate	O
results	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Inktomi	B-Application
's	O
Smart	O
Crawl	O
technology	O
,	O
allowing	O
10	O
million	O
webpages	O
to	O
be	O
crawled	O
weekly	O
,	O
was	O
incorporated	O
into	O
HotBot	B-Application
in	O
March	O
1997	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HotBot	B-Application
was	O
the	O
19th	O
most	O
visited	O
website	O
based	O
on	O
web	O
traffic	O
as	O
of	O
1998	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Lycos	B-Application
acquired	O
HotBot	B-Application
as	O
part	O
of	O
its	O
acquisition	O
of	O
Wired	O
in	O
October	O
1998	O
and	O
it	O
was	O
run	O
separately	O
,	O
alongside	O
Lycos	B-Application
's	O
already	O
existing	O
search	B-Application
engine	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hereafter	O
,	O
HotBot	B-Application
languished	O
with	O
limited	O
development	O
and	O
falling	O
market	O
share	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
HotBot	B-Application
NeoPlanet	B-Application
browser	O
was	O
also	O
released	O
which	O
integrated	O
HotBot	B-Application
and	O
other	O
Wired	O
and	O
Lycos	B-Application
links	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
end	O
of	O
2002	O
,	O
HotBot	B-Application
was	O
relaunched	O
as	O
a	O
multiple	O
option	O
search	O
tool	O
,	O
giving	O
users	O
the	O
option	O
to	O
search	O
either	O
the	O
FAST	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
,	O
Inktomi	B-Application
or	O
Teoma	B-Application
databases	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
March	O
2004	O
,	O
Lycos	B-Application
launched	O
a	O
beta	O
release	O
of	O
a	O
free	O
toolbar	O
search	O
product	O
,	O
Lycos	B-Application
HotBot	B-Application
DeskTop	O
,	O
which	O
the	O
company	O
said	O
was	O
"	O
the	O
first	O
product	O
to	O
integrate	O
traditional	O
desktop	O
search	O
with	O
Web	B-Application
search	I-Application
within	O
the	O
browser.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
HotBot	B-Application
DeskTop	O
could	O
search	O
the	O
Internet	O
using	O
Inktomi	B-Application
,	O
e-mail	O
folders	O
for	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Outlook	I-Application
or	O
Outlook	B-Application
Express	I-Application
,	O
and	O
user	O
documents	O
stored	O
on	O
a	O
hard	O
drive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Text-based	O
ads	O
were	O
displayed	O
when	O
viewing	O
results	O
for	O
several	O
types	O
of	O
Internet	B-Application
searches	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Lycos	B-Application
licensed	O
dtSearch	O
technology	O
to	O
power	O
the	O
local	O
search	O
options	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
July	O
2011	O
,	O
HotBot	B-Application
was	O
relaunched	O
with	O
a	O
new	O
robot-like	O
mascot	O
,	O
a	O
new	O
logo	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
modern	O
site	O
design	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
beta	O
,	O
HotBot	B-Application
became	O
a	O
portal	O
,	O
returning	O
not	O
just	O
web	B-Application
search	I-Application
results	O
,	O
but	O
also	O
searches	O
from	O
various	O
Lycos	B-Application
websites	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
News	O
,	O
Shopping	O
and	O
Weather	O
Zombie	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
portal	O
interface	O
lasted	O
for	O
roughly	O
six	O
months	O
,	O
and	O
these	O
features	O
were	O
instead	O
reincorporated	O
into	O
the	O
2012	O
Lycos	B-Application
website	O
redesign	O
,	O
returning	O
HotBot	B-Application
to	O
a	O
simplified	O
search	O
interface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
October	O
2016	O
,	O
Lycos	B-Application
sold	O
the	O
Hotbot.com	B-Application
domain	O
name	O
for	O
$	O
155,000	O
to	O
an	O
unnamed	O
buyer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Afterwards	O
,	O
the	O
HotBot	B-Application
domain	O
became	O
home	O
to	O
an	O
unrelated	O
shopping	O
search	O
site	O
,	O
ending	O
the	O
20	O
year	O
history	O
of	O
the	O
original	O
site	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
April	O
2018	O
,	O
the	O
domain	O
was	O
put	O
under	O
new	O
ownership	O
and	O
became	O
an	O
unrelated	O
privacy-focused	O
search	B-Application
engine	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
2020	O
,	O
the	O
HotBot	B-Application
domain	O
is	O
controlled	O
by	O
a	O
VPN	B-Application
company	O
based	O
in	O
Seychelles	O
.	O
</s>
