GENERAL

Yahoo
This search engine has a high rate of accuracy,  in its descriptions of results, as well as relevancy to your query.  It offers a business directory, for the subject you are searching, for as well as a seperate directory of related categories.  Search preferences allow you to choose the appearance of the search results, the language in which you want the information displayed and also the option to  filter out material that you might find objectionable.  Well organized and designed!
http://www.yahoo.com/

Ask Jeeves
Not only does this engine display a large amount of relevant and accurately described results, it also offers suggestions for other related searches that include links to their results.  Search preferences include the filtering of adult content as well as the amount of results shown on each page.  The help section is very organized and comprehensive. Very well done!
http://www.ask.com/

Kid Safe Search Engines

Surf Safely
Enables you to "Search without surprises" by automatically filtering out material that is inappropriate for children or that adults might find offensive.  Offers many useful selections with a good level of relevancy and also accuracy. You can type in your search query or else make a selection from the directory.  Invites you to comment or make suggestions about its' performance. Includes a useful help feature.
http://surfsafely.com/

Kids Click!
I consider this one the better of the two.  Also automatically filters out material that is inappropriate for children or that may be offensive to adults.  Search results demonstrate a good level of accuracy and relevancy to search query. Offers a directory of categories or specific subjects as well, as the ability to type a query, and an advanced search that enables you to further narrow down the results.  Includes lessons on searching as well as tools for picture and sound searching.  Displays a rather large subject directory that you can choose from.  
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/

NEWS

Total News
Searches for news within the United States as well as international news. Allows you to type a subject you would like to find information on or you may choose from a directory of news subjects.  You can build your own news paper by using the "Personal Edition" feature which enables you to "Gather all of your favorite news sources onto one page".  Encourages feedback from users and welcomes suggestions for adding news related sites to their existing catalog.  Drawbacks are that it does not offer any helpful tips on using the site and it allows nuisance pop up ads which I find particulary annoying!
http://www.totalnews.com/

News Index
Definitely the better of the two, this site searches news from around the world.  Level of accuracy of descriptions and relevancy to query topic is very good. Site is an official member of the Lost Child Emergency Broadcast System which immediately announces the plight of a missing child.  Includes over 50,000. current articles from various news papers across the globe.  Offers detailed and useful instructions on using the site.
http://www.newsindex.com/

Medical


Med Hunt
Created by the HON (Health On The Net) foundation which states its purpose as to "Guide both lay users and medical professionals to reliable sources of healthcare information in cyberspace".
Search results produce a large amount of selections that have a high level of both accuracy of description and relevancy to search query.  Allows you to restrict your search by specific region and/or application as well as how you want the program to interpret your query.
http://www.hon.ch/MedHunt/MedHunt.html

Search-22
Offers your choice of twenty-two seperate medical search engines, all of which provide a good level of accuracy of descriptions and query relevancy.  Includes a list of additional medical search resources at the bottom of the page.  Provides helpful and easy to use instructions for using the site.  Allows you to make suggestions or contact the authors for advice.  
http://www.search-22.com/health.html

Shopping

Bizrate
Enables you to "Compare prices and read reviews for millions of products and thousands of stores" which seems to be a pretty accurate statement.  This site is easy to navigate and has a high rate of accuracy of descriptions  as well as relevancy of response to your search query.  This is a pretty well designed and organized shopping search engine.
http://www.bizrate.com/index.xpml

Amazon
My personal favorite!  This site provides a wide selection of stores and items for every consumer product imaginable. It also offers a list of featured items and stores in order to find out what the hot items and sellers are.  Customer service is first and formost with this site which offers a "Shopping Cart" service so that you can store and review your selections as well as a Wedding and Baby gift registry.  You can also add items that you would like to receive as gifts to a "Wish List" that others can view and purchase from.  MMMM... I like that idea!!!  The help section is quite useful and you can set up an account on this site in order to make future purchases more convenient.  I have mine, do you have yours???
http://www.amazon.com