SAN FRANCISCO, July 16, 2010 (AFP) - Internet giant Google said Friday it has purchased database company Metaweb to help improve its search engine. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Weve acquired Metaweb, a company that maintains an open database of things in the world, Jack Menzel, a Google director of product management, said in a blog post. Working together, we want to improve search and make the Web richer and more meaningful for everyone. Weve acquired Metaweb because we believe working together well be able to provide better answers, Menzel said, adding that Metaweb could prove useful in providing answers to particularly complicated questions. The San Francisco-based Metaweb, which was founded in 2005, maintains an open database called Freebase of more than 12 million items, including movies, books, television shows and companies. Google said it planned to maintain Freebase as a free and open database for the world. We believe that by improving Freebase, it will be a tremendous resource to make the Web richer for everyone, Menzel said. Google has been on a buying spree lately, snapping up a number of small firms but also announcing the 700-m-dollar purchase this month of ITA Software, a flight information software company.