That is the question everyone who searches the internet should ask themselves. Why? Google, as big and good as it is, and handy because we all know about it, and the fact that many sites use Google links, is NOT the only search tool out there. In fact, did you know that there are different types of search tool? More about that later!
Why should you use and / or try different search engines?
Fact: An individual search tool like Google does not search the whole of the web! (nor do the metasearch engines)
Different engines may give you different results because each of them use different methods of indexing or cataloguing the millions of webpages out there. By using a variety of engines, you may well get more results. This means you do need to evaluate the information you are finding so you can weed out irrelevant results.
Search engines are good for helping you to find detailed information and you can find information about every conceivable subject under the sun, BUT you often get far too many results which are time consuming to sort through and the information is often completely irrelevant or inappropriate to your needs.
The different search tools
There are three types of search tool: Indexing, Directories and Metasearch engines.
Indexing
These are the ‘Search Engines’, but the term is now commonly used to describe all search tools. The indexing engines use automated ‘bots’ or ‘spiders’ to trawl through the internet to create massive indexes which enable you to search billions of webpages. These are useful for searching using keywords or phrases.
Altavista |
|
Gigablast |
Lycos |
Directories
Directories are commonly compiled and catalogued by human editors, meaning that you may get fewer, more relevant results. They are best for general or topic searches. They tend to index homepages of sites, rather that every single web page. You can browse across broad and specific subject categories.
About |
|
The Open Directory |
|
Yahoo |
|
Metasearch Engines
These search tools will carry out a search through a number of engines and directories. There may be fewer hits but the results may be more relevant.
Ask |
Ixquick |
Clusty |
Mamma |
Dogpile |
Metacrawler |
Hotbot |
|
For more information about searching the internet go to: Searching the Internet; or for a quite comprehensive list of search engines: Hero (Search Engines)
