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Search Engines

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Search Engines are usually the fastest way to locate information. They are also particularly useful if you are looking for information on obscure subjects. The main difference from web directories is that search engines do not have human editors but have "spiders" which crawl the web, gathering pages which are then compiled in a huge database, material from which is then presented to the user on the basis of complex algorithms.

There are many search engines, but I shall only list a few of the major ones. Many use very similar algorithms or draw from the same databases, so I will only list a selection which will provide significantly different results from each other. Therefore if you cannot find what you are looking for in one of them, try the others. Please note that the search engine world is very dynamic and there are constant changes of ownership. The following comments are valid as of April 2004.

Major International Search Engines

• Google. The largest search engine, has grown to be very popular due to its ability to deliver relevant results quickly. It is used by many portals such as AOL, Netscape, etc. However, it is best to search directly with Google because the other portals do not always incorporate the full range of the Google results.
• Yahoo. As of February 18th 2004, Yahoo started using its own search engine, based on the expertise gained from its acquisition of the Inktomi "Slurp" spider, All The Web, AltaVista, and the Overture paid listings programme.
• Ask Jeeves. This delivers web search results via the "Teoma" spider, and has a focus on aiming to "understand" users' search queries.
• MSN Search. Not yet providing its own results, but coming soon. Microsoft currently uses Yahoo to provide its web search results. However, Microsoft are developing their own spider with a view to rivalling the ubiquity of Google.

If you are looking specifically for images, internet audio or video, then I would recommend AltaVista:

• AltaVista Image Search
• AltaVista Audio Search
• AltaVista Video Search

There are also meta-engines which combine the results of other search engines. However, these often only combine a selection of results from each and are not always good at delivering relevance. However, I quite like Vivisimo and Dogpile which cluster results according to categories. Meta-engines are not, however, usually as comprehensive as the major search engines from which they draw their results.

There are also tools which allow you to search multiple engines in one go, and save and store selected results of searches. These will be discussed along with other tools on the next page.

Most search engines offer advanced search options and preferences for how results are displayed. It is well worth spending a few minutes looking at these features as they enable one to hone down searches very specifically, and customise the way in which the results are presented. Installable toolbars are often offered, and these can be useful too.

3. Web Search Software >

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