GUIDES & RESOURCES

Internet Search Engines

One of the best ways to find what you are looking for on the Internet is to use a search engine or a metasearch site. A search engine is a web site that lists other web sites so that they can be searched either by category or keyword. A metasearch site is a specialized search engine that submits your search to multiple search engines and organizes the returns for you.

If you want to do your own search engine research, a good source for reviewing search engines is Search Engine Watch. Their Search Engine Listings link lists some top choices in various categories and provides up-to-date information about each engine in the list.

About.com: A network of sites that includes over 650 highly targeted environments, each overseen by a professional guide.
Ask Jeeves: Lets you ask a question the way you'd ask it in the real world, then searches the Internet for the answer.
Ask Jeeves for Kids: Lets you ask a question the way you'd ask it in the real world, then searches the Internet for the answer. This site is specially designed for kids.
Excite: A concept-based search engine.
Google: Uses sophisticated next-generation technology to produce the right results fast with every query. Google returns relevant results because it responds to your query using an automated method that ranks relevant websites based on the link structure of the Internet itself.
Google Tools: Google has many special services and tools to help you to find exactly what you're looking for.
Looksmart: An interactive guide designed to help you quickly find information on the Internet. This directory links to more than 1 million of the most useful Web sites, which is updated every day by a large staff of editors who look for the best information on the Web. Each site is reviewed for quality and placed into one of more than 70,000 categories.
Lycos: includes a complete array of best-of-breed online services and content including community, chat, e-mail, online shopping, personalized news and more, is the most visited hub on the Web.
MetaCrawler: Incorporates from the top search engines on the Web. It collates results, eliminates duplication, scores the results and provides the user with a comprehensive list of relevant sites.
Refdesk.com: A very thorough and well organized site of research and reference links.
Teoma.com: Goes beyond traditional page ranking methods to determine authority, in addition to relevancy. To determine the authority or quality of a site's content, Teoma uses Subject-Specific Popularity. Subject-Specific Popularity ranks a site based on the number of same-subject pages that reference it, not just general popularity, to determine a site's level of authority.
WhoWhere?!: An online directory service that includs free access to telephone listings, e-mail addresses and business URLs.
Yahoo!: A browsable, searchable directory of Internet sites.
Yahooligans!: A browsable, searchable directory of Internet sites for kids. Each site has been carefully checked by an experienced educator to ensure the content and links are appropriate for kids aged 7-12. In addition to the directory, it also has a number of fun features, including a Hypersite, a Joke of the Day, a Cool page, and much more.