Best of Search Engines

By Wendy McNeill-McBrien

Slm 521 5/22/05

Ask Jeeves-  this search engine is designed to allow kids to ask questions in their language. This is a great place to go to answer a question quickly.  http://www.ajkids.com/

Yahooligans- this search engine is best for finding kid friendly websites and games.  All searches are kept within the Yahooligan parameters, making it safe for kids to search.  Advertising is kept to a minimum. http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/

Kidsclick!- If the two have not worked, then try this site maintained by the Colorado State Library.  There are some great links provided by these librarians, but the search is limited. http://www.kidsclick.org/

Google- this has to rank #1 in my book.  I like how I can search differently for   information, books, maps , weather and images just to name a  few.  There are over eight billion  web pages referenced. http://www.google.com/

Yahoo – great for finding businesses and people including location. This is the oldest directory where human editors organize the web sites.  I am not fond of all the advertising.http://www.yahoo.com/

Bizrate – offers from over 40,000 stores.  They have been in existence since 1996 trying to provide shoppers with the best deals.  The shopper does get to look at all of the options before selecting the best price and store.  http://www.bizrate.com/

PriceGrabber- This bargin finding site has been in existence since 1999.  The pages with items are nicely laid out and not to busy to look at. After you select and item that you wish to purchase, a list of other vendors with the same item come up.  All sites mentioned with the same offer give reviews so the buyer can really check out if they are getting the “best” deal. http://www.pricegrabber.com/

Dogpile- This one comes in at number two and is eye catching.  Dogpile uses a combination of search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Ask Jeeves, About Find and LookSmart ) to eliminate and duplicated information.  It has a great feature of searching for  sound and video clips as well. http://www.dogpile.com/

Metacrawler – Another great way to search combining several search engines for the best match. It will also find sound and video clips.  This is a no frill site, but it gets the job done. http://www.metacrawler.com/

Orbitz- A great way to find flights, hotels, rent a car or anything else with your vacation.  Prices are then posted by each company for the shopper to compare. It is a great planning tool, but beware it’s members are limited so check around. http://www.orbitz.com/

Trip Advisor- A great combination of  many sites like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and American Airlines just to name a few. Hotels are ranked by their popularity and weekly emails are sent out based on zip codes to tell latest deals and suggested getaways.  There is also a forum to check out other satisfied customers and their vacations.  The only downfall is that this site only plans where you will stay.  http://www.tripadvisor.com/