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Google
http://www.google.com
Voted three times Most Outstanding Search Engine by Search Engine
Watch readers, Google has a well-deserved reputation as the top
choice for those searching the web. The crawler-based service provides
both comprehensive coverage of the web along with great relevancy.
It's highly recommended as a first stop in your hunt for whatever
you are looking for.....read more
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AllTheWeb.com (FAST)
http://www.alltheweb.com
An excellent crawler-based search engine, All The Web provides both
comprehensive coverage of the web and outstanding relevancy. If
you tried Google and didn't find it, All The Web should probably
be next on your list. Indeed, it's a first stop search engine, for
some.
In addition to web page results, AllTheWeb.com provides the ability
to search for news stories, pictures, video clips, MP3s and FTP
files. The site is operated by FAST and used as a showcase for FAST's
search technology.
AllTheWeb.com/FAST results are also provided to other search sites
around the world, with its strongest partnership being with Terra
Lycos. AllTheWeb.com launched in May 1999. no
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Yahoo
http://www.yahoo.com
Launched in 1994, Yahoo is the web's oldest "directory,"
a place where human editors organize web sites into categories.
However, in October 2002, Yahoo made a giant shift to using Google's
crawler-based listings for its main results.
If Yahoo is now powered by Google, then why bother using it? For
one thing, you might find that the way Yahoo "enhances"
Google's listings with information from its own directory may make
search results more readable.
In addition, Yahoo's search results pages still show "Directory
Category Matches." When offered, these will take you to a list
of web sites that have been reviewed and approved by a human editor.
read more......
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MSN Search
http://search.msn.com
Microsoft is known for constantly reworking its software products
until they get them right, and MSN Search is a shining example of
the company putting that same effort into an online product. In
particular, the company has its own team of editors that monitors
the most popular searches being performed and then hand-picks sites
that are believed to be the most relevant.
After performing a search, "Popular Topics" shown below
the search box on the results page are also suggestions built largely
by editors to guide you into making a more refined search. When
appropriate, search results may also feature links to encyclopedia
content from Microsoft Encarta or news headlines, at the top of
the page. read more.......
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Ask Jeeves
http://www.askjeeves.com
Ask Jeeves initially gained fame in 1998 and 1999 as being the "natural
language" search engine that let you search by asking questions
and responded with what seemed to be the right answer to everything.
In reality, technology wasn't what made Ask Jeeves perform so well.
Behind the scenes, the company at one point had about 100 editors
who monitored search logs. They then went out onto the web and located
what seemed to be the best sites to match the most popular queries.
Humans are still used at Ask Jeeves, though the number of editors
is now only around 10. Nevertheless, the human-provided answers
may still be the selling point for why some people, especially those
new to the web, may want to use Ask Jeeves. For popular queries,
the human-selected matches in the "Click Ask below for your
answers" sections of the results may feel very relevant. If
shown, these appear at the very top and bottom of the search results
page.
Besides humans, Ask Jeeves also uses crawler-based technology to
provide results to its users. These results come from the Teoma
search engine that it owns, which is described above
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Ask Jeeves also owns the Direct Hit service, but results from Direct
Hit are no longer offered to the public directly through the Direct
Hit site.
Getting Listed: For the main editorial listings at Ask Jeeves, you
need to be listed with Teoma, which is described below.
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HotBot
http://www.hotbot.com
HotBot provides easy access to the web's four major crawler-based
search engines: AllTheWeb.com/FAST, Google, Inktomi and Teoma, all
of which are described elsewhere on this page. Unlike a meta search
engine, it cannot blend the results from all of these crawlers together.
Nevertheless, it's a fast, easy way to get different web search
"opinions" in one place. read more........
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Lycos
http://www.lycos.com
Lycos is one of the oldest search engines on the web, launched in
1994. It ceased crawling the web for its own listings in April 1999
and instead uses crawler-based results provided by FAST (see above).
So why bother with Lycos rather than using FAST's own AllTheWeb.com
site? You might like some of the features that Lycos provides. read
more......
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Teoma
http://www.teoma.com
Teoma is a crawler-based search engine owned by Ask Jeeves. It has
a smaller index of the web than its rival crawler-competitors Google,
AllTheWeb.com, Inktomi and AltaVista. However, being large doesn't
make much of a difference when it comes to popular queries, and
Teoma's won praise for its relevancy since it appeared in 2000.
Some people also like its "Refine" feature, which offers
suggested topics to explore after you do a search.
The "Resources" section of results is also unique, pointing
users to page that specifically serves as link resources about various
topics. Teoma was purchased by Ask Jeeves in September 2001 and
also provides some results to that web site. end
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Inktomi
http://www.inktomi.com
Inktomi is unusual in that it is the only major search engine on
this page that does not offer its own search site. If you go to
the Inktomi site listed above, you'll only find company information,
not the ability to search the web. Instead, Inktomi prefers to be
solely a "behind-the-scenes" partner for other search
engines that need results, such as MSN Search (listed above). read
more....
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LookSmart
http://www.looksmart.com
LookSmart is a human-compiled directory of web sites. The company
does operate its own web site, but this really isn't intended for
the public to use. Instead, similar to Inktomi, LookSmart provides
its results to other search engines that need listings.
LookSmart gathers its listings in two ways. Commercial sites pay
to be listed in its commercial categories, making the service very
much like an electronic "Yellow Pages." However, volunteer
editors at the LookSmart-owned Zeal directory also catalog sites
into non-commercial categories for free. Though Zeal is a separate
web site, its listings are integrated into LookSmart's results.
LookSmart launched independently in October 1996, was backed by
Reader's Digest for about a year, and then company executives bought
back control of the service. no more text
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Open Directory
http://dmoz.org/
The Open Directory uses volunteer editors to catalog the web. Formerly
known as NewHoo, it was launched in June 1998. It was acquired by
AOL Time Warner-owned Netscape in November 1998, and the company
pledged that anyone would be able to use information from the directory
through an open license arrangement.
While you can search at the Open Directory site itself, this is
not recommended. The site has no "backup" results that
kick in should there not be a match in the human-compiled database.
In addition, the ranking of sites during keyword searching is poor,
while alphabetical ordering is used when you choose to "browse"
categories by topic.
Instead, to scan the valuable information compiled by the Open Directory,
consider using the version offered by Google, the Google Directory.
Here, keyword searching uses Google's refined relevancy algorithms
and makes use of link analysis to better propel good pages from
the human database to the top.
In addition, when viewing sites by category, they will be listed
in "PageRank" order, which means the most popular sites
based on analyzing links from across the web will be listed first.
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Overture
http://www.overture.com/
Formerly called GoTo until late 2001, Overture is an extremely popular
paid placement search engine that provides ads to many of the search
engines listed above. no more text
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AltaVista
http://www.altavista.com
AltaVista is the oldest crawler-based search engine on the web.
It opened in December 1995 and for several years was the "Google"
of its day, in terms of providing relevant results and having a
loyal group of users that loved the service.
Sadly, an attempt to turn AltaVista into a portal site in 1998 saw
the company lose track of the importance of search. Over time, relevancy
dropped, as did the freshness of AltaVista's listings and the crawler's
coverage of the web.
Today, AltaVista is once again focused on search. Improvements have
been made, but crawlers such as Google and AllTheWeb.com still provide
more comprehensive results. Because of this, AltaVista is probably
a third-choice crawler, one to try if you haven't found what you
are looking for at one of its competitors.
AltaVista does remains strong is in terms of some of the specialty
searching it offers. It provides a good image search service, and
you can look for video and audio clips, as well. It also has an
outstanding news search service.
AltaVista was originally owned by Digital, then taken over by Compaq,
when that company purchased Digital in 1998. AltaVista was later
spun off into a private company, which is now controlled by CMGI.
Getting Listed: Read the Submitting To AltaVista section of Search
Engine Watch's Essentials Of Search Engine Submission guide for
more information on being included in editorial results. Paid listings
come from Overture, described above. no more
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Netscape Search
http://search.netscape.com
Owned by AOL Time Warner, Netscape Search uses Google for its main
listings, just as does AOL's other major search site, AOL Search.
So why use Netscape Search rather than Google? Unlike with AOL Search,
there's no compelling reason to consider it. The main difference
between Netscape Search and Google is that Netscape Search will
list some of Netscape's own content at the top of its results.
Netscape also has a completely different look and feel than Google.
If you like either of these reasons, then try Netscape Search. Otherwise,
you're probably better off just searching at Google. no
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WiseNut
http://www.wisenut.com
Like Teoma, WiseNut is a crawler-based search engine that attracted
attention when it appeared on the scene in 2001. Like Teoma, WiseNut
features good relevancy. Unlike Teoma, WiseNut has a large database,
making it nearly as comprehensive as Google, AllTheWeb.com and Inktomi.
However, the WiseNut database has consistently been months out of
date. This incredible staleness should be corrected in early 2003,
when WiseNut's owner LookSmart is promising to revamp the engine.
LookSmart bought WiseNut in April 2002. If the revamp happens, then
WiseNut may deliver on its initial promise.
Getting Listed: There is no current submission system for WiseNut.
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Google continued
Google provides the option to find more than web pages, however.
Using "tabs" on the top of the search box on the Google
home page, you can easily seek out images from across the web, discussions
that are taking place on Usenet newsgroups, scan through human-compiled
information provided from the Open Directory (see below) or locate
news information Also offered, though not through tabs, is catalog
searching and product searching.
Google is also know for the wide range of features it offers, such
as cached links that let you "resurrect" dead pages or
see older versions of recently changed ones. It offers excellent
spell checking, easy access to dictionary definitions, integration
of stock quotes, street maps, telephone numbers and more. See Google's
help page for an entire rundown on some of these features. The Google
Toolbar has also won a popular following for the easy access it
provides to Google and its features directly from the Internet Explorer
browser.
In addition to Google's unpaid editorial results, the company also
operates its own advertising programs. The cost-per-click AdWords
program places ads on Google as well as some of Google's partners.
Similarly, Google is also a provider of unpaid editorial results
to some other search engines.
Google was originally a Stanford University project by students
Larry Page and Sergey Brin called BackRub. By 1998, the name had
been changed to Google, and the project jumped off campus and became
the private company Google. It remains privately held today.
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Yahoo continued
It's also possible to do a pure search of just the human-compiled
Yahoo Directory, which is how the old or "classic" Yahoo
used to work. To do this, search from the Yahoo Directory home page,
as opposed to the regular Yahoo.com home page. Then you'll get both
Directory Category Matches and "Directory Site Matches,"
which are the top web site matches drawn from all categories of
the Yahoo Directory.
Sites pay a fee to be included in the Yahoo Directory's commercial
listings, though they must meet editor approval before being accepted.
Non-commercial content is accepted for free.
Consider Yahoo any time you think you might be well served by having
a list of human-reviewed web sites. It's also a good choice for
popular queries, since the category listings it provides may help
you narrow in and refine your query. Doing a pure Yahoo Directory
search also provides an unique human view of the web.
Finally, expect further changes at Yahoo throughout 2003. The company
expect to complete its purchase of Inktomi -- crawler-based rival
to Google -- by April 2003.
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MSN continued
Of course, humans editors can't do everything, so MSN Search also
relies on search providers for answers to many of its queries. Usually,
it will be human-powered results from the LookSmart directory that
dominate the page. Unlike when MSN editors are involved, these human-powered
results are not hand-picked to match a query. Instead, MSN uses
its own search algorithm to sift through all the listings from LookSmart
to automatically find answers that are believed to be best. More
about LookSmart is described below.
For more obscure queries, it is crawler-based results from Inktomi
that are provided. More about Inktomi is described below. By the
way, if you'd prefer to get "pure" Inktomi results via
MSN Search, you'll need to use the MSN Search Advanced Search page.
Overall, MSN Search provides a blend of human-powered directory
information and crawler coverage different from any of the other
top choices listed above. It's a high quality resource that provides
its own unique view of the web and one worth checking.
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Hotbot continued
The "4-in-1" option at HotBot was introduced in December
2002. However, HotBot has a long history as a search brand before
this date. HotBot debuted in May 1996, it gained a strong following
among serious searchers for the quality and comprehensiveness of
its crawler-based results, which were provided by Inktomi, at the
time. It also caught the attention of experienced web users and
techies, especially for the unusual colors and interface it continues
to sport today.
HotBot gained more notoriety when it switched over to using Direct
Hit's "clickthrough" results for its main listings in
1999. Direct Hit was then one of the "hot" search engines
that had recently appeared.
Unfortunately, the quality of Direct Hit's results couldn't match
those of another "hot" player that had debuted at the
same time, Google. HotBot's popularity began to drop.
Even worse, HotBot also suffered by being owned by Lycos (now Terra
Lycos). Lycos had acquired HotBot when it purchased Wired Digital
in October 1998. Lycos failed to make search a priority on its flagship
Lycos site as well as HotBot through much of 1999 and 2000, as it
focused instead on adding "portal" features.
The company refocused on search in late 2001, making significant
improvements to the Lycos site and, as noted, reworked the HotBot
site at the end of 2002.
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Lycos continued
"Fast Forward" lets you see search results in one side
of your screen and the actual pages listed in another. Relevant
categories of human-compiled information from the Open Directory
appear at the bottom of the search results page. At the top of the
page, Lycos will suggest other searches related to your original
topic right under the search box. Perhaps you might even like the
look and feel better! Whatever the reason, under the hood, Lycos
provides all the same relevancy and comprehensiveness you'll find
at AllTheWeb.com.
Lycos is owned by Terra Lycos, a company formed with Lycos and Terra
Networks merged in October 2000. Terra Lycos also owns the HotBot
search engine described further above.
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Inktomi continued
Among the major search engines, Inktomi is the second-oldest crawler.
It briefly operated as an experimental search engine at UC Berkeley.
However, the creators then formed their own company in 1996 with
the same name and gained their first customer, HotBot, in the middle
of that year.
Today, Inktomi continues to crawl the web. The company had been
left behind by rivals Google and AllTheWeb.com in terms of comprehensiveness,
but changes made in the summer of 2002 made it much more competitive.
Yahoo seeks to acquire the company.
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