SEARCH ENGINES
SEARCH ENGINES
Search engines constantly scour the net using robots or spiders to find information. The search engines put the information into databases which they continually update. There are perhaps 500 million web pages on the net with many more added each day. No search engine has catalogued all these pages, so it is wise to try different ones when your first efforts fail. Each engine has its particular strengths and weaknesses. As these engines rely on robots to find information, they will also return irrelevant data during your search. Often the best place to start searching, especially if you are have a well-defined topic, is in Subject Catalogs or Directories which are compiled by human beings. Some of the search engines listed below have subject directories. Search engines usually have a help feature to guide you on how to get the most out of your searching.
Alta Vista has full text of over 130 million Web pages. Will translate pages into other languages. Has a translation service for the user as well. Has a nice feature of grouping results in a table for more refined searching. Provides access to Usenet groups as well. Useful for image searching. It uses Looksmart's subject index.
* Northern Light is rated as number one search engine for advanced searching by PC Magazine this year. Has a large index of over 130 million pages and groups results into folders for easier access to relevant items.
HotBot is another powerful search engine. It indexes over 110 million pages and has a speedy retrieval system. It is known for its refinement of the search process. Excellent for images and multimedia. It also uses Looksmart's subject index.
Excite is a medium sized search engine of about 60 million pages. It has what is known as conceptual searching. Provides a nice refined search feature. It has an excellent news search service. Contains a browsable subject index.
InfoSeek is another medium sized search engine of about 45 million pages. It is known for the quality of its searches. Searches Usenet. Contains a good browsable subject index.
Google is a new entry into the search field. It bases it searching on a web page's linking i.e. the number of links from highly rated pages. It has indexed about 16 million pages, but claims it has better results because of its PageRank technology. Has an interesting "I feel lucky" feature.
Lycos is one of the oldest search engines and, despite its medium index of 50 million pages, one of the most popular. It has a good index of images and sound including MP3. It also has an excellent subject directory of reviewed sites.
Meta-Search Engines
Meta-search engines search several search engines at the same time. They organize the results for you and have the advantage of more complete results. The disadvantage is that they are slower and cannot take advantage of all the advanced searching techniques.
AskJeeves Allows for natural language questions
Specialized Search Engines
One of the disadvantages of using search engines such as Hot Bot or Alta Vista is the number of items returned which match your keyword. Perhaps you need a specialized search engine. Fortunately, Beaucoup has organized over 2000 search engines on one site. It is worth a visit.
The
Mining Company offers some
excellent specialty searching.
Information on Searching
Directory of Search Engines provides a list of 67 search engines
If you are interested in learning more about search engines and how to use them to advantage there are several sources on the internet. Some of these sites offer excellent tutorials. A good place to start is at Berkeley University. Other very informative sites:
Search Engine Watch provides tutorials and a good explanation of search engines
Internet Basics at the Northwest Educational Technology Consortium
Web Searching, Sleuthing and Sifting provides a complete tutorial for using the internet.
Search Tools Chart and Search Engines Quick Guide
National Libraries and Associations Education Library Indexes
All Things Canadian Journals
Reference Literature
Online School Libraries
