Sara Barakat
SLM 521
Search Engines
February 16, 2005

Best Search Engines

This is a list of search engines that I feel are the best on the Internet.  I have listed five categories including general, news, shopping, multimedia and kids search engines.

General Search Engines


Dogpile
- Dogpile is ranked number 1 in my general search engine category.  Dogpile also has webpages, images, audio, video and news.  Toward the bottom of the main page there are some favorite fetches making it easy to have quick access to the most popular searches, web sources that include directory, weather, maps and horoscopes.  Another amusing attribute is the joke of the day.  As the site says, Dogpile is the best search engines piled into one.

Google- Google come in a close second on my best of.  Google is great search engine for webpages and more.  Webpages, images, groups, news and now even local pages are accessible through Google.  Google also has a downloadable tool bar that makes it easy to search without going to the Google's main page.  Another fun thing about Google is that it's always decorated for holidays.  

News Search Engines

CNN.com
- CNN.com is the best search engine for news.  Powered by Yahoo, this site specifically covers just the news including international, stocks, and sports.  There is a wide variety of tools on the site and multimedia that bring images and audio of current or past news.  The front page has the top stories, which makes it easy to access what is going on in the world.
MSNBC News- MSNBC news is a great site also to search for news.  The site is easy to use and includes many subdivisions of news, multimedia, images and even the online version of Newsweek.  This search engine also covers lots of past stories.  

Shopping Search Engines

Bizrate
- Bizrate is the best search engine for the shopper.  Items are divided into categories making it easier to search what you want; you can even shop designer items! There are also product ratings given by previous customers.  On the opening page, the most popular searches and purchases are also available.  
Froogle- Google's shopping search engine, Froogle, ranks number 2 on my best shopping search engine.  It's easy to navigate and even has a tour where you learn to "shop like a pro".  There is also a list of items that have recently been found on Froogle.  

Multimedia Search Engines

Google Images
- This is an image only site.  Google is one of the best search engines on the Internet so the images section is also great. Images can be found from all over the web.  There is also an advanced images engine along with a help section.
AltaVista- AltaVista has everything from images, MP3/audio to videos.  It is an easy site to navigate and has a variety of different options to search with.  This is a great site for multimedia fans.

Kids Search Engines


Ask Jeeves Kids
- Ask Jeeves Kids is an excellent website for kids and students.  There are study tools on the main page including dictionary, thesaurus, almanac, biography, science, clip art, astronomy, world atlas, math, and history.  There is a search bar where kids can type in the question to ask jeeves so it is easy to use.  There is also a link with what kids are searching now and the option to do that search.  Jeeves also has fun and games and news resources for kids.  This is a great search engine and can be used in the classroom.
Yahooligans- Yahooligans, run by Yahoo, is also a great search engine for kids.  It has a variety of links to choose and search in.  There is also the plain search bar to get to the main point.  Yahooligans also has a reference section on the main page.  It's a great site for kids to get the same information as adults in a child friendly manner.