Brandy Burns

SLM 521

Search Engines

 

 

THE BEST SEARCH ENGINES OUT THERE!

                                                                   

After perusing several sites in each category, the best search engines are being declared in the categories of general, travel, news, medicine, and shopping. 

These are the ones that are the most useful, innovative, and straightforward. 

 

Keep reading to discover the frontrunners!

 

GENERAL

First Place is a three-way tie:

Google is a simple general search engine that has several avenues.  It allows users to search through a gamut of categories and is very easy to use.  It gives the option for an advanced search, as well as an option for a preferences page.  It's simple and straightforward for even those considered "internet illiterate."  www.google.com

 

Yahoo is a simple general search engine that has several avenues for the user to search.  On the home page there are numerous obvious options from which to choose for a search. Yahoo has options for preferences and advanced searches.  www.yahoo.com

 

WebCrawler is a huge search engine that uses information from other search engines to find the best results for the user.  It is very simple to use.  In a short period of time, a tremendous amount of information can be acquired.  www.webcrawler.com

 

Second Place is a two-way tie:

DogPile searches several other sites for the user so only one site must be visited.  The site offers tutorials on how to appropriately use a search engine.  Helpful related searches are offered as well.  www.dogpile.com

 

Duck Duck Go is easy to use and navigate.  Search terms are defined as one continues searching so a topic may be narrowed further into categories.  This is a useful tool for children learning the internet.  www.duckduckgo.com

 

NEWS

First Place:

Silobreaker is a great news search engine that is unique from the others.  While it shows all the current headlines, it allows the user to view the summary of the story when scrolling over it.  Also while scrolling over it, the site automatically produces a list of related past stories so that the user can track the story.  It also has a feature to create a personalized page with preferred sources and topics.  www.silobreaker.com

 

Second Place:

Google News  is a popular news search engine stemming from the popular search engine, Google.  It allows the user to easily search for news topics, and retrieves a vast amount of information.  Google News also features archived searches.  The search engine also allows the user to make a personalized news page, showing only those topics and sources desired.  http://news.google.com/news

 

MEDICAL

 First Place:

WebMD is a popular medical search engine.  With an easy to remember name, it draws millions of users.  The site has thorough information with a vast amount of topics.  The site also shows current medical news and links to stories and information about the conditions as well as what is happening with it.   Health, wellness, and nutrition are also covered on this site. WebMD provides the user with current FDA recommendations as well.  www.webmd.com

 

Second Place

HealthLine is a very straightforward medical search engine.  It provides a place to search for ailments under symptom or condition, as well as helps one find a local doctor.  HealthLine provides health, wellness and nutritional information, as well as provides a Body Mass Index calculator.  HealthLine shows a list of popular searches as well.  www.healthline.com

 

TRAVEL

First Place:

Travelocity is as thorough as a travel search engine can get.  It is very straightforward.  It searches for the best deal for vacations, flights, rental cars, cruises, hotels, and other helpful things to make a getaway great.  Travelocity searches many different companies and resorts to seek the best deal so that the user may then choose her favorite.  It searches on many different criteria, depending on where and when and what the user is trying to do.  The ExperienceFinder is a way to map out neat things to do in a specific area, so that on vacation none of the hotspots will go unseen by a Travelocity traveler.  www.travelocity.com

 

Second Place is a two-way tie:

Hotels.com has searches for hotels, flights, and cars, as well as a unique feature to search under a theme as well as bed and breakfast and condo rentals.  Relax and rejuvenate searches for spas and romance searches for special places geared especially towards that theme.  The site is very straightforward and easy to use. www.hotels.com

 

Kayak.com allows the user to search immediately for the best deal for cars, hotels, vacations, and choose other sites to compare.  Kayak allows the user to choose from their site or choose a deal it found on another site.  www.kayak.com

 

SHOPPING

First Place:

PriceGrabber.com is a shopping search engine that immediately shows the user the most popular searches.  It narrows down searches by category.  A whole section is available on green products.  Pricegrabber also features an entire coupon section for online shopping, where the code is indicated to enter when the user checks out at that specific site.  The coupons change, so it is good to go on the site frequently, but a coupon section is unique.  www.pricegrabber.com

 

Second Place:

Google Product Search, formerly known as Froogle, is a basic search engine that lets the user just type in what they want and searches the internet for it.  A wish list can be created and then viewed by others over the internet and by any computer, or so that the creator of the list can keep track of what's been purchased.  In the advanced search portion, the search can be narrowed even by the price range for the product.  http://froogle.google.com