Search Engines

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AcqWeb’s Guide to Searching the Web

Whether you’re just learning about the World Wide Web or have been searching successfully for quite some time, this page is highly recommended. In addition to linking to the major (and some “minor” but very useful) search engines, this Vanderbilt University page provides well-written details on exactly how to do your searching—which queries work and why, how not to query, and so on.

All-in-One Search Page

The color choices are a bit wild, but this page is one of the most useful places for starting a general search of the World Wide Web and Internet. Includes access to many search engines of all types from a single spot. Add this address to your bookmark list!

AltaVista

One of the most thorough search engines, AltaVista (developed by Digital Equipment Corporation) also powers quite a number of other, more specialized engines. On the main page, search for any word in any document published on the Web or in Usenet newsgroups. Multiple language choices. Highly recommended.

Ask Jeeves

For people who are familiar with more complicated Boolean queries, this “natural language” search engine may seem like a return to kindergarten. If so, it’s kindergarten taught by Albert Einstein. Enter your question in plain language, such as “Where is Afghanistan?” to find answers ranging from where to find a map of Afghanistan to where to find information on the recent conflict in Afghanistan. Extremely useful, especially if you’re not sure where to start looking for the information you need.

Excite

With a very readable layout, this site offers both straightforward text querying and several “channel” links that take you to general categories for browsing or more specialized searching. The Exciting Stuff section usually has several special offers for contests, links to new and interesting products, and more. For more specialized services, look to the links at the bottom of the main page. The Penn Jillette column is always interesting (parents, use discretion).

Goto.com [formerly World Wide Web Worm]

Old address: http://guano.cs.colorado.edu/wwww/. Still working, but you’ll probably like the new version better anyway. Use a general text search at the top of the page, or scan down through the keyword lists in the overall categories of People, Self, Home, Work, or Play to find what you’re looking for. Just browsing on a dull evening? If you live in a major metropolitan area, try out the Dinner and a Movie section. You might find something more fun to do than spending another evening on the Internet (kidding!).

HotBot

This is the search engine from the folks at Wired. Don’t be fooled by the crazy color scheme; it’s serious stuff. Conduct searches from general to very specific—including searching Usenet, discussion groups, shareware databases, news and entertainment info, and much, much more. (Parents: This site is for you, not your kids.)

Bots: Internet robot surfers that travel the Internet, constantly checking out sites and recording information for their masters.

Infoseek

One of the most popular search services, and for good reasons. Very powerful search capabilities. A variety of channel selections make the site friendly to people who are just browsing, in addition to the serious searcher. You can even personalize the service to produce news you can use in a format that fits your information needs. Highly recommended.

Infoseek combines a powerful search engine (such as Lycos and AltaVista) with a large Web directory (such as Yahoo!). On its basic search screen, you can enter search keywords or select from dozens of categories.

Lizst, the mailing list directory

This was already a really useful service, but has recently been improved. Browse through the nearly 85,000 mailing lists in the Lizst database to find something of interest to you—search the general categories of lists, or try specific keywords to find a particular list. Specify the level of “junk filtering” you want for your search; the default setting is Some but you may prefer Lots. Be sure to read the section called “What Do The Color Codes Mean?” before you get started (or in process).

Lycos

Lycos does a lot of filtering for you—particularly useful when you’re in a hurry and looking for sites on very specific topics. When you want the search to be really tight, try searching for pages with the topic word in the page’s title or in the URL. Of course, you can always do general searches as well, or browse through the channel lists. Note: In support of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Lycos supplies a special section of its site for posting photos of missing children. Please tune in to see whether you recognize any of those faces.

MetaCrawler

Very customizable search engine. You can set up searching to fit your needs, but keep in mind that cookies may be required (some people prefer not to accept cookies). Searching in the “phone book”-style lists is quite handy for anyone who’s comfortable using the local Yellow Pages. The Ultimate Directory section provides lots of resources in nine general categories, including some unusual options such as TV listings for your area.

SavvySearch

Available in multiple languages. Standard keyword querying, but you can specify the exact sections of the Internet you want to search, which narrows down the query and saves search time. You can also indicate how many results you’re looking for, and how you want those results displayed—Brief, Normal, or Verbose format.

tile.net

There’s nothing fancy about this engine. It’s just straight-up, very powerful searching. Click the check boxes to indicate where you want to search, type your keyword(s), and away you go. The engine searches discussion groups, newsgroups, FTP sites, and a select group of vendors. Very fast!

WebCrawler

Interested in a particular city? Search for it here to get the current weather and a map of the city. General categories as well links to some specialized services; the upper-right corner lists a few of the top news stories for those who don’t have much time for keeping in touch. The Entertainment section is particularly interesting and useful. Provided by the folks at Excite.

Yahoo!

Need some raw power for your search? This is the place. Extremely selective or broad-spectrum searching, plenty of reference sections, people searches, and much, much, much more. One of the very best search engines available. Highly recommended!

Yahoo! Is purely a Web directory. Its main feature is the categories list. You click a category, and then on a subcategory, and so on, until you arrive at the topic you are intersted in. For those of you who don’t have time to wade through categories, Yahoo! provides a text box in which you can enter the keywords for which you are searching, but it only searches its own small directory of sites.