Jennifer Clagett
SLM 521
Search Engines
My
Favorite Search Engines
Search engines are very useful tools for finding information on the web. I have compiled a list of my top picks, ones I feel are good starting points for internet searches. I've listed the ones that have time and time again displayed the most relevant, useful information, and are easy to use.
Best General Search Engines
General search engines are a great starting point when looking for information on the web. The two search engines listed below are the best in providing a wide variety of information on numerous topics.
http://www.google.com
Google is a powerful search engine that sorts through billions of websites, providing excellent results. It displays results in order of relevance, and provides great help topics regarding their many useful tools. Google boasts multiple search types, including web, news, image, and even scholarly paper searches. In addition, Google allows users to create their own personalized homepage, search settings, and records past searches for convenience.
http://www.bing.com
Bing is marketed as a "decision" engine, which categorizes results, and allows for the user to choose the site that applies to their search the most. Bing displays results with an excellence relevance, and the category display on the side helps organize the data. Bing also provides a visual search tool, that makes it easier for users to browse through a number of topics on the web. Bing is customizable, provides safe search, and is easy to use.
Meta Search Engines
Meta search engines search through the information of various search engines. These are useful tools to use when refining a search, and comparing results. The two listed below do a good job of pulling from multiple sources and displaying results with the greatest relevance.
http://www.dogpile.com
Dogpile does an excellent job of pulling results from the leading search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask. Dogpile searches for relevance to the selected topic, and eliminates duplicate websites, when displaying results. Dogpile boasts a number of useful search tools and preferences, including information filter preferences, advanced search options that even include display languages.
http://clusty.com
Clusty is another good meta-search engine that pulls from multiple sources. Clusty's claim to fame is that it categorizes the results of the search into similar clusters of information. The data displayed shows good relevance, and in addition, there are a number of customizable search options, including an adult filter.
News
News search engines pull news stories from a number of online newspapers. This is a great option to use when you want to search news topics for a variety of sources and perspectives.
http://news.google.com
Google News allows you to personalize your news, and provides you with updated alerts, and even mobile applications. Google News pulls from a number of national and international newspapers and displays them according to relevance, date, and other customizable preferences. In addition, Google News provides a searchable news archive, dating back over 200 years, which is extremely useful for tracking the history of a particular topic.
http://news.yahoo.com
Yahoo News is similar to Google news in that it updates frequently, pulls from a variety of different sources, and provides news categories, and preferences. Yahoo News displays a number of images, and videos, good for the news hound lead by visual interest. In addition, Yahoo displays a number of popular news searches, and even displays a category titled "Odd News."
Images
Image search engines allow users to search a number of different sites for pictures and images of a particular topic.
http://images.google.com
I tried a number of image search engines, and got a wide variety of results. However, Google Images displayed the most relevant results out of all. Images are searchable by color, image type, size, as well as other advanced image search options. In addition, there is a great Google Images maintains the Life Magazine photo archive, which is full of searchable photos that appeared in the magazine.
http://www.bing.com/images
The second most impressive image search engine I found was Bing Images. Results were similar in relevance to Google Images. The site was very easy to use, and provides customizable display options based on size, layout, color, etc. Safe image search was also included.
Travel
Travel search engines allow the user to search a number of different travel sites at once for information on airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, cruises, and package deals.
http://www.kayak.com
Kayak pulls price results from over 400 travel sites, such as airlines, hotels, and other major travel outfitters. Kayak includes price comparison tools, so that you can compare results for the best prices available. In addition, Kayak has been named "Best Travel Search Engine" by the Associated Press, and has won numerous other awards.
http://www.mobissimo.com
Mobissimo is another great travel search engine, that searches 140 travel sites. Though not as comprehensive as Kayak, Mobissimo displays city guides and an online community of travelers, which Kayak does not provide. Users can peak at city highlights such as restaurants, and other places of interest before booking.