Search Engine Information and Help
iGoogle http://www.google.co.uk
Google is a top choice for web searchers. It offers the largest collection of web pages of any crawler-based search engine. Google makes heavy use of link analysis as a primary way to rank these pages. This can be especially helpful in finding good sites in response to general searches such as "cars" and "travel," because users across the web have in essence voted for good sites by linking to them. The system works so well that Google has gained wide-spread praise for its high relevancy.
Google provides web page search results to a variety of partners, including Yahoo and Netscape Search (see below). Google also provides the ability to search for images, through Usenet discussions and its own version of the Open Directory (see below).
iAsk Jeeves http://www.ask.co.uk
Ask Jeeves is a human-powered search service that aims to direct you to the exact page that answers your question.
Microsoft's MSN Search service is a LookSmart-powered directory of web sites, with secondary results that come from Inktomi. Direct Hit data is also made available. This is the default search engine is typing words into the Internet Explorer address bar. It can be changed on your home system.
iAltaVista http://uk.altavista.com
AltaVista is one of the oldest crawler-based search engines on the web. It has a large index of web pages and a wide range of power searching commands. It also offers news search, shopping search and multimedia search. AltaVista opened in December 1995. It was owned by Digital, then run by Compaq (which purchased Digital in 1998), then spun off into a separate company which is now controlled by CMGI.
iDogpile http://www.dogpile.co.uk
This search engine searches the other search engines
iAllTheWeb.com (FAST Search) http://www.alltheweb.com
AllTheWeb.com (also known as FAST Search) consistently has one of the largest indexes of the web. FAST also offers large multimedia and mobile/wireless web indexes, available from its site. The site, also known as AllTheWeb.com, is a showcase for FAST's search technologies. FAST's results are provided to numerous portals, including those run by Terra Lycos. FAST Search launched in May 1999.
iAOL Search http://search.aol.co.uk/
AOL Search allows its members to search across the web and AOL's own content from one place. The "external" version, listed above, does not list AOL content. The main listings for categories and web sites come from the Open Directory (see below). Inktomi (see below) also provides crawler-based results, as backup to the directory information.
iHotBot http://www.hotbot.co.uk
In most cases, HotBot's first page of results comes from the Direct Hit service (see above), and then secondary results come from the Inktomi search engine, which is also used by other services. It gets its directory information from the Open Directory project (see below). HotBot launched in May 1996 as Wired Digital's entry into the search engine market. Lycos purchased Wired Digital in October 1998 and continues to run HotBot as a separate search service.
iLookSmart http://www.looksmart.co.uk
LookSmart is a human-compiled directory of web sites. In addition to being a stand-alone service, LookSmart provides directory results to MSN Search, Excite and many other partners. Inktomi provides LookSmart with search results when a search fails to find a match from among LookSmart's reviews. LookSmart launched independently in October 1996, was backed by Reader's Digest for about a year, and then company executives bought back control of the service.
i Lycos http://www.lycos.co.uk
Lycos started out as a search engine, depending on listings that came from spidering the web. In April 1999, it shifted to a directory model similar to Yahoo. Its main listings come from AllTheWeb.com with some results from the Open Directory project. In October 1998, Lycos acquired the competing HotBot search service, which continues to be run separately.
iNetscape Search http://search.netscape.com
Netscape Search's results come primarily from the Open Directory and Netscape's own "Smart Browsing" database, which does an excellent job of listing "official" web sites. Secondary results come from Google. At the Netscape Netcenter portal site <http://www.netscape.com/>, other search engines are also featured.
Yahoo is the web's most popular search service and has a well-deserved reputation for helping people find information easily. The secret to Yahoo's success is human beings. It is the largest human-compiled guide to the web, employing about 150 editors in an effort to categorize the web. Yahoo has well over 1 million sites listed. Yahoo also supplements its results with those from Google. If a search fails to find a match within Yahoo's own listings, then matches from Google are displayed. Google matches also appear after all Yahoo matches have first been shown. Yahoo is the oldest major web site directory, having launched in late 1994.
iScirus http://www.scirus.com/ GOOD FOR SCIENCE SEARCHES
Elsevier Science has developed the powerful Internet search tool Scirus. Scirus distinguishes itself from existing search engines by concentrating on scientific content only and by searching both web and journal sources
iIT Search portal http://www.itsearchportal.com/ GOOD FOR ICT SEARCHES
ITsearchPortal is a new search engine dedicated solely to the IT industry, enabling you to save time by searching for articles across the top IT websites in one place.
====================================================
iGet more help with searching at MSN Encarta