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Part 7
Choosing a Search Site

What's Available

There are a lot of options availabe for searching the web.

  • A search on Yahoo! for "Search Engines" turns up 144 different sites.
  • Ask Jeeves gives links to 79 sites.
  • Alta Vista finds 404 Search Engines, and 14682 Search Directories.

Which is the right one to use? It all depends on the user. Try a few, see which ones you like, give the best results for you, and are easiest for you to use.

Below is a partial list of some popular search sites, divided into Directories, Indexes, and Meta Sites. Clicking a link will open a new window with the site, so after you try one you can close the new window and be back at this page. Try out your list of keywords and see what kind of results different sites provide!

One final note before the list: search sites often change their format. Meta Sites turn into Search Directories. Directories become Indexes. Some are hybrids. The Web is constantly changing, and sites can transform overnight. I've tried to list the pros and cons of several sites. A good place to get updates on search sites is Search Engine Watch, which keeps tabs on different search sites, provides reviews, and expandes on what you have learned from my site.

The List

S e a r c h  D i r e c t o r y

Yahoo is the site that started it all. It is one of the oldest and most popular Search destinations. It is maintained by an army of support personal, but it often has bad and outdated links. Still, a good place to start searching
 

Alta Vista - http://www.altavista.com

Alta Vista has been through several changes. It started out as a Search Index, but has evolved into a Directory. AltaVista is consistently one of the largest search engines on the web, in terms of pages indexed. It has also adopted Ask Jeeves's Natural Language querry, making it easy for beginning users to get good results.
 

WebCrawler - http://www.webcrawler.com

WebCrawler has the smallest index of any major search engine on the web. The small index means WebCrawler is not the place to go when seeking obscure or unusual material. However, some people may feel that by having indexed fewer pages, WebCrawler provides less overwhelming results in response to general searches.
 

Other Choices

Go - http://www.go.com
Look Smart - http://www.looksmart.com
Lycos - http://www.lycos.com
Snap - http://www.snap.com
 

 

S e a r c h  I n d e x

Google - http://www.google.com

A "pure" search site, without advertising or fancy features (no free Email, for example), Google ranks its sites based on popularity. It returns quality links, and features the "I Feel Lucky" search feature. A top notch site
 

Excite - http://www.excite.com

Excite is one of the most popular sites on the Web. It also was one of the first to offer a customized home page, gathering news, weather, sports, and other information along with searching options. Excite is fast, and quickly incorporates new web pages into its index.
 

HotBot - http://www.hotbot.com

HotBot is Wired Magazine's search site. It is another favorite due to its large index of the web and many power searching features.
 

Other Choices

GoTo - http://www.goto.com
AOL Search - http://search.aol.com
Fast Search - http://www.alltheweb.com
 

 

M e t a S e a r c h

Ask Jeeves - http://www.ask.com

Easy to use, quality results. Everything one would want in a search site. Ask Jeeves is a human-powered search service that aims to direct you to the exact page that answers your question. If it fails to find a match within its own database, then it will provide matching web pages from various search engines.
 

Go2Net/MetaCrawler - http://www.go2net.com

One of the first Meta sites, Go2Net quickly returns results from several other search sites. Another feature - you can see what other people are searching for in real time!
 

Other Choices


DogPile - http://www.dogpile.com
Mamma - http://www.mamma.com
The Big Hub - http://www.thebighub.com 

 

 
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