Harry Ainlay High School

Search engines use ’spiders’ or ‘robots’ to go out and retrieve individual Web pages or documents, either because they’ve found them themselves, or because the Web site has asked to be listed. Search engines tend to “index” (record by word) all of the terms on a given Web document. Or they may index all of the terms within the first few sentences, the Web site title, or the document’s metatags. Remember when you are using a search engine you are not searching the Internet “live”, as it exists at this very moment. Rather, you are searching a fixed database that has been compiled some time previous to your search.

All search engines will produce different results. Factors that influence results include the size of the database, the frequency of updating, and the search capabilities. Search engines also differ in their search speed, the design of the search interface, the way in which they display results, and the amount of help they offer.

If you would like assistance in choosing a search tool select ‘ Choose the Best Search for Your Purpose ‘.

Fast and with a refreshingly spare interface, Google consistently turns up high-quality, highly relevant results. Try the Advanced Search option for customizing yor search request.	Bing is Microsoft’s new search engine. It has received mixed reviews but many users have enjoyed the enhancements which have been built into the search engine.
Infotopia is an academic search engine accessing only trusted websites previously selected by librarians and teachers. Infotopia is recommended for students and teachers. Infotopia was created by, and is maintianed by, Dr. Michael Bell, former chair, Texas association of school librarians.	AllTheWeb (also known as FAST Search) consistently has one of the largest indexes of the web.The AllTheWeb database is updated every nine to 11 days.
Brainboost, Using the AnswerRank™ system, intelligently reads hundreds of web pages derived from search results and extracts just the short and concise answer to your question, saving you time. Brainboost actually finds answers to your questions posed in plain English as opposed to directing you to pages that simply mention the questions.	Answers.com is a free, ad-supported, reference search service, accessing some of the better free reference sources on the Web. Answers.com displays quick, snapshot answers with concise, reliable information. This is a good choice for you if you want direct answers to search queries without requiring you to click on any further Web links.
WebBrain which provides a Java-based graphical view of the Open Directory. It has been called “the smartest way to see the web”.	Ask.com is now the search engine which has replaced Ask Jeeves. Ask.com is committed to providing users with information which meets their needs in an ever changing Web.

Subject Directories

A subject directory is a catalog of sites collected and organized by humans. Typically, they start with a few main categories and then branch out into subcategories, topics, and subtopics. Directories are a good place to start when you don’t have a specific idea of what you need.

Because directories cover only a small fraction of the pages available on the Web, they are most effective for finding general information on popular or scholarly subjects. If you are looking for something specific, use a search engine.

If you are looking for a scholarly resource, this is a great place to start. The INFOMINE project at the University of California, Riverside categorizes resources by subjects, titles, and keywords.	A good choice for popular or general information, Yahoo can be searched directly or browsed by category. Be careful much of the content is dated and it has a significant commercial emphasis.
A large collection selected by staff at the University of Michigan. You can browse or search this collection of quality sites. Check out the reference section.	A hierarchical subject index with particular strengths in commercial and recreational sites. The index covers only sites submitted to Galaxy.
An excellent choice to begin any exploration of a new subject area.The About.com network includes over 700 highly specialized areas, each overseen by an expert guide. Search results include original essays by the guide, which offer subject context, as well as picks for the best directories and links .The “homework help” section may help you with research assignments.	The Open Directory is a significant resource collection compiled by thousands of volunteer editors and promising extensive expansion. One of the larger directory databases but quality sometimes is inconsistent.
This database is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 9,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. It is used by both librarians and the general public as a reliable and efficient guide to Internet resources.	A Yahoo for kids, this directory contains hand-picked sites for student information needs.
Britannica.com is a directory with a more scholarly focus than the other directories, featuring academic resources. By using our paid subscription you eliminate the advertising. See the library staff for passwords.

Canadian Search Engines

If you need Canadian information these are excellent choices to search Canadian databases.

This site features options to search the entire web, to search pages from Canada only, and the ability to quickly customize Google’s interface and search language to French.	This directory and search engine permits you to search Canadian listings and all of Yahoo!
The English-Canadian edition of Looksmart.
Canada.com is Canada’s leading general news and information destination online. canada.com integrates credible Canadian content and perspectives together with community-building tools and devices at the country’s most recognizable web address.	This engine provides access to a crawler-compiled index of millions of Canadian-specific web pages, as well as the ability to search against AltaVista’s worldwide crawler-based index. This service is provided by Telus.
A Canadian meta-search engine.

Metacrawlers

A meta-search tool utilizes a number of search engines in parallel. You use keywords to conduct your search employing commonly used operators or plain language. Hits are listed either by search engine employed or by integrating the results into a single listing.

This metacrawler queries multiple websites simultaneously and will deliver a combined results page of the best sites from each search engine. You are able to submit queries to 9 search engines and subject directories.	Searches on about 16 engines showing the results of the pay per click search engines first. Dogpile supports full Boolean logic and phrase searching.
This engine allows you to choose “Focus” words (top left) to add broader, narrower or similar words to your search terms.	Vivismo automatically clusters your results in an easy to understand fashion. You can scroll through these on the main part of the page or click on the handy folders on the left hand side of the page. Either way this additional organization makes it easier to navigate the search results and find what you are looking for more quickly.
Kartoo is a new metasearch tool developed in France by Web developers Laurent and Nicolas Baleydier. Unlike a typical search engine, Kartoo gathers hits from other search tools and then maps out the subtopics it finds. For example, if you’re looking for a map of the War of 1812 type “map” War of 1812 into the search box, you’ll pull up a diagram that shows the relationships between the many subtopics related to your search. Give this search tool a test drive on your next search.	In a single search, your words are submitted to all the major indexes and directories on the web. The search engine is attempting to give Google a run for its money. Give it a try and compare.
Beaucoup uses over 2000 search engines and organizes sites into a number of different categories.	Searching 14 engines, this search engine is fast, comprehensive and ranks findings by relevance. Results are ranked by relevancy and includes information about which search engine it came from. Currently one of the few meta search tools that supports regular searches, natural language searches, and advanced boolean searches, and knows which engines can handle which types of searches.
Turbo 10 is a metasearch engine which allows you to search the deep net.

Semantic Search Tools

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True Knowledge answer engine is a technology capable of answering questions put to it on any topic

                                                                                                                                             Hakia’s  semantic technology provides a new search experience that is focused on quality, not popularity. hakia’s quality search results satisfy three criteria simultaneously: They (1) come from credible Web sites recommended by librarians, (2) represent the most recent information available, and (3) remain absolutely relevant to the query

Image Search Engines

Image search engines and directories help you find artwork, photographs, and multimedia on the Web. Many image search engines display artwork and photographs as thumbnail pictures.

Google provides a keyword based image search with over 150 million images held in their database. Google analyses the text on the page adjacent to the image, the image caption and dozens of other factors to determine the image content.	GazoPa is a next generation similar image search engine that uses image features such as a color and a shape that are extracted from an image.
Copyright-Friendly and Copyleft Images and Sound (Mostly!)for Use in Media Projects and Web Pages, Blogs, Wikis, etc.	Sprixi helps you find an image for school assignments. sprixi can arrange images into topics and order images by usefulness.

Other Search Tools

Search Engine Colossus has organized search engines by country and by categories. This is a well presented and very comprehensive list of search engines, directories and subject portals.

If you are interested in learning more about search engine features and performance select ‘ Search Engine Watch ‘.