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March 12, 2010
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Search Engines and Directories for the Internet

Lists of Search Engines and Directories   |   Search Engine Tips   
Comparing Search Engines and Directories   |   Search Engine Reviews   

Lists of Search and Engines and Directories

Search Engine Tips

General search tips (applicable to most engines):

  • Use quotation marks ("") around a phrase to search for the whole phrase. Use + or - in front of a word or phrase to forcibly include (+) or exclude (-) that term.
  • Search Engines may be accessed directly (by entering the URL in the "Location" or "Address" space) or by going to a site that provides links to Search Engines.


    • Comparing Search Engines and Directories

    Search Engines   |   Directories   |   Meta-Search Engines   |   Internet Guides   
    Search Engines
    • All the Web

      A keyword search engine that offers users the choice of "all the words,” "some of the words," or "exact phrase.” Standard +, -, and quotation marks work within these categories. AlltheWeb’s index is provided by Yahoo! and includes billions of web pages as well as tens of millions of other files.

    • Ask.com

      Formerly AskJeeves, this retooled search engine allows searchers to ask a direct question; also allows for searching of the web, images, news, city, maps, tv listings, events, recipes, videos, shopping, and blogs. Links to related searches are clustered in one area on the results page.

    • Bing!

      New from Microsoft in 2009, Bing is designed to be a “decision engine” to help people make better decisions, with special emphasis on information about shopping, travel, local businesses, and health-related research. “Preview,” a hover-over window, expands the search result caption to provide more information and give a better sense of the relevancy of the search result. Links to related searches are listed on the side of the search results page.

    • Cuil

      Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance and then offers suggestions and choices of sites. Timelines offer chronological information about the search topic; “explore by category” offers lists of related subjects, with roll-over definitions for many of the terms; and tabs at the top of the page offer additional suggestions and topics.

    • Ditto

      With a tagline of “see the web,” Ditto.com, is a visual search engine that enables people to navigate the web through pictures. Users are linked to the originating web site on which the pictures are located.

    • Google

      The first “go-to” search engine for many, Google determines good quality matches by a complicated mathematical formula. Search results assume that all keywords need to be present and in close proximity to one another. Results list includes a brief excerpt of the text that matches the search. Extensive help and advanced search features as well as an continuously growing list of other products and tools, including searching for images, video, maps, and news.

    • Yahoo!

      One of the oldest search engines, Yahoo! offers standard web searching as well as directory searching, which allows users to find sites and browse categories in the subject-based human-edited guide to web sites. Also allows searching for audio, video, images, local information, shopping, and more.

    Directories
    • Best of the Web

      Editors add sites on a daily basis, and results are listed in relevant categories. Users are directed to other suggested categories as well as to other search engines.

    • GoGuides

      A searchable human edited web directory, categorized by location and topics. Also includes image search, news, and other features.

    • Google Directory

      “The web organized by topic into categories.”

    • JoeAnt

      Provides information on a wide variety of topics, maintained by a 'community' of volunteer editors.

    • Open Directory Project

      Designed and maintained by volunteer editors, Open Directory Project uses a hierarchical scheme for organizing site listings. Listings on a similar topic are grouped into categories, which then include smaller categories.

    • Yahoo! Directory

      Offers category listings as well as listings of popular sites. Category listings then divide into sub-categories.

    Meta-Search Engines
    • Clusty

      In addition to showing lists of search results, Clusty also groups similar results together into clusters, so that users can view search results by topic or theme. The “remix” feature allows users to easily view other “submerged” topics.

    • Dogpile

      A metasearch engine that searches the Internet's top search engines, including Google, Yahoo!, Bing and Ask.com. Dogpile provides search results that are a combination of the top commercial (sponsored advertising) and non-commercial results. Sponsored results are clearly identified with a "Sponsored by" or similar designation.

    • Info.com

      A search platform that pulls together results from the leading search engines and pay-per-click directories. Also includes comparison shopping and product reviews.

    • Ixquick

      Starred rankings tell how many search engines include a match among their top 10 results. With the “Exclude Results Seen Before” feature, users can edit searches on the bottom of a results page, and the followup searches show only new results; the “Result Honing” feature allows users to pinpoint results by finding similar results and eliminating results that are not useful.

    • Search.com

      Allows for searching from multiple search engines, with suggestions for ways to expand or narrow a search. Also suggests similar sites and additional sites in a category.

    Internet Guides
    • About.com

      A network of web sites where each topic area -- or "About.com GuideSite" --is maintained by an "About.com guide" – a human expert who is experienced in a particular field and gathers appropriate sites, hosts chats and bulletin board discussions, recommends books, and responds to e-mail.

    • Essential Links

      Provides a select set of links to various sites by category and subcategory. Especially detailed are lists of links to news and reference resources. Also offers direct links to several search engines.

    • Internet Public Library

      An annotated collection of Internet resources, selected by IPL staff for their usefulness in providing accurate, factual information on a particular topic or topics.

    • Librarians' Index to the Internet

      A searchable, annotated subject directory of Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness and credibility.

    Search Engine Reviews

  • Search Engine Colossus

    An “international directory of search engines, ” Search Engine Colossus is searchable by country or category. In addition to a link to the site, each search engine listing includes information about the language used and the site’s geographic origin.

  • Search Engine Showdown

    Calling itself “the users guide to web searching,” Search Engine Showdown compares and evaluates Internet search engines “from the searcher's perspective.” Includes a search engine features chart, detailed search engine reviews, search strategies, and more.

  • Search Engine Watch

    Search Engine Watch offers tips and information about searching the web as well as analysis of the search engine industry.