In order to find what you are looking for on the Internet, a general understanding of how search engines work is desirable. This page will link to some information to help you understand how search engines work. Looking for some search engines which are 'safe' for kids? The links at the bottom of this page provide some safe search engines.

The Kansas City Public Library states, “All search engines do keyword searches against a database, but various factors influence the results from each.” (Kansas City Public Library 2002). Alan November, noted educational technology specialist, explains, “Search engines search databases of several different Internet directories to give users results that are not always sorted in the same way" (November 14). Click here to see Alan's complete explanation about how Search Engines work.

The most common questions about how search engines work are listed below. Click on the question to open a webpage which answers the question.

How do search engines work?

How do search engines rank web pages?

What are meta-search engines and how do they work?

What are the best search engines?

What are some good subject directories?

To see an example of a clustering search engine, go to Vivisimo, enter the words classroom teacher, and be amazed!
http://vivisimo.com/index.html

Safe Search Engines for Kids

Tek-Mom's Search Tools for Students is a great site which compiles many search engines into one page. It also gives tips on how to enter search terms for each search engine. http://www.tekmom.com/search/

Kid Safe Search Sites A searchable web directory created by "a bunch of librarians" at the Ramapo Catskill Library System. A directory of educational and fun web sites created by educators. An index to the Web for net surfers ages 8 - 14. http://www.sldirectory.com/searchf/kidsafe.html

Safekids recommends several search engines for children. http://www.safekids.com/search.htm