Best of Search Engines
BEST OVERALL SEARCH ENGINES—Google and Yahoo are the
best overall search engines in my opinion.
They are easy to use and dependable; perhaps that is why they are so
well known. Here are some facts on
each.
Google (1st place)—Google arranges news stories with the most relevant news first. Topics are updated every 15 minutes (by computer algorithm) so the news stays current. This was the only site I chose that went directly to a local news event that occurred within the past week. I also like the way Google gives me the option of choosing top news stories broken down by categories. Google has a filtering option that demonstrates the responsibility of the company to its clientele.
Yahoo.com (2nd place)—Like Google,
Yahoo relies on computer algorithms to keep topics up to date. I like to search
for graphics on Yahoo because I can search for images as well as audio and
video. When you choose one of those
options, the input area changes color to remind you what category you are
searching for. Yahoo also has a safe search option.
.
Although you could find
news, business, or graphics by using Google or Yahoo, I checked out some
specific search engines for those topics.
These were my favorite choices.
NEWS SEARCH ENGINES—
World News Network (1st place)—I found this to be a very
comprehensive news site. Business,
society, science, photos, broadcast, entertainment, sports, and editorials are
some of the categories covered by this site.
Regional news and sites related to the major news topics of the day are
easy to access. Many stories contain
links to related topics for a more in-depth study of the topic. The goal of this site when founded was to be
the most comprehensive, one-stop news resource on the Internet. It has over 4000 thematic and regional news
sites and draws from hundreds of online new sources in 20 different languages.
AltaVista
(2nd place)— Although AltaVista did not rapidly find
the local news article I searched for, I liked the way it gave access to the
top news stories of the day broken down by category. AltaVista also had the
first multi-lingual search capability and the first Internet machine
translation service that can translate entire Web sites to different languages.
That is a great plus in today’s global society.
BUSINESS SEARCH ENGINES—
Business.com (1st place)—This is definitely a business search engine which
categorizes business news, people, and jobs. It gives you top business new
stories of the day, as well as news by industry. Popular products, services and
companies are just a click away that makes it very easy to locate topics of
interest. This is the Internet’s only business-focused search engine and
directory.
AllBusiness.com (2nd place)—is an online media and e-commerce company.
The site has received critical acclaim from The Wall Street Journal, Forbes,
Business 2.0, Fortune, and other publications. Business advice, directories, periodicals,
guides, and blogs, as well as general business news and information are
categories on this site. I like the
fact there are blogs available on this site, since this is still an emerging concept
in Internet use.
GRAPHICS SEARCH ENGINES—
Ditto.com
(1st place)—This site allows web searching by pictures. It may be easier for young children to search for a topic
visually rather than by typing keywords and website addresses. There is less
chance of typing errors and the resulting frustration when searching
graphically. Along with the pictures is a link to the source providing those
pictures. Ditto uses a metacrawler
technology to locate, rank and index graphics, photographs, drawings, etc. and
then display them in order of relevance.
Lycos (2nd place)—Lycos allows you
to search for images, audio and video. It has a very strong filtering
option. Each graphic contains a related
article or link to a topic related to the picture. Lycos also contains features of the day—news, entertainment,
music, and weather. Lycos is part of the Lycos Network which is a linked series
of web pages.
META SEARCH ENGINES—
Dogpile (1st place)—Being a dog lover, I enjoy using
this site. Owned by InfoSpace Search & Directory, Dogpile is a kid-friendly
site with Arfie, the virtual retriever, Favorite Fetches, and other
canine-named categories. It allows you to search for audios and videos as well
as images and yellow and white pages. Like all Meta search engines, Dogpile
searches all major search engines, removes duplicates, and analyzes results,
placing the most appropriate result first.
Metacrawler (2nd place)—Also owned by InfoSpace Search & Directory
since 2000, Metacrawler is very similar in operation to Dogpile. It searches
the Internet’s top search engines, Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, etc. The Meta
search technology is able to search 50% more of the World Wide Web than any
single search engine. The Advanced Search feature offers a domain filter, which
is a nice feature.
DIRECTORY SEARCH ENGINES—
About.com
(1st place)—Currently owned by the New York Times, this is
a great source of consumer information and advice. It gives short concise results to searches and has links to related
articles where you can search for more detail.
About.com employs “guides” who research and keep the site up to
date—many are published authors and recognized experts in their respective
fields.
Academic
Info (2nd place)—This is an educational subject directory.
Degree programs and test preparation resources were just two of the categories
on this site. I like being able to search by just clicking on topics. You don’t
have to worry about typing errors or what keywords to use in the search. The primary focus of the site must be academic, with its intended
audience at the upper high school level or above. This is obviously limiting
but you probably wouldn’t use this engine unless you had already reached that
level of education.