Directories are not search engines. They are small databases that use editors to select web sites and place them into subject categories. Being small and selective makes directories excellent for browsing, beginning research, or finding the most popular or important sites for a topic. Some directories also rate the sites they select. All "best" selections in this guide are based on a summary of reviews and journal literature.
Best Directories (and Free Article Databases)
Yahoo! http://dir.yahoo.com
3,000,000+ pages
"Best portal" and "Net's best one-stop
destination" ~ PC World, 8/2002
Just the "classic" human-compiled directory with category links and
directory results
Open Directory
http://google.com/dirhp
3,800,000+ pages
"Best" ~ PC World, 9/2000; "Substantive...a must-visit for... the human touch"
~ CNET 8/ 2000
URL above connects to Google version of Open Directory, using Google's PageRank
technology
LookSmart
http://www.looksmart.com
2,500,000+ pages
One of the larger directories, popular focus, links
to full-text magazine articles via FindArticles.com
FindArticles
http://www.findarticles.com
and Magportal http://www.magportal.com
Subject directories with free access to millions of full-text
journal articles (post 1998); Greg
Notess (8/9 2002) calls FindArticles a "great resource" if you have
no access to subscription databases and cites Magportal (which also indexes Net-based
online articles) for "quality content" unavailable even from largest
subscription databases.
Academic Directories of Interest to Faculty and Students
WWW Virtual Library
http://www.w3.org/vl
Managed by subject experts, includes
full-text documents, databases, gateways
Academic
Info http://academicinfo.net
"Finds Web-based material suitable for teachers and student research"
~ NYTimes 1/25/01
Quality online resources (25,000+) for upper-level high
school and college students
Infomine
http://infomine.ucr.edu
Database of 120,000+ scholarly internet resources chosen by
college librarians
Librarians' Index to the
Internet http://lii.org
Directory of 14,000+ Internet resources selected and
evaluated by public librarians
Search Engines are large databases created by automated systems and used for comprehensive searching. Although search results can be overwhelming, relevancy ranking makes it unnecessary to view everything. Search engines differ from each other in content, interface, presentation, and how they rank results. The Web (15 billion+ pages) is now so large that no single search engine covers more than 15% of it. Moreover, overlap of results between search engines is low. Thus, you should run searches on several engines for best results. Before searching, be aware of the following features that have become standard on most search engines:
Most default automatically to AND when dealing with word combinations
Most recognize phrases when quotation marks are used: "high blood pressure"
Most provide Basic and Advanced search interfaces. allowing boolean and field searching
Many offer pull-down menus with search options for AND (all the words), OR (any of the words), phrases, and field searching (words in titles, URLs, etc.)
Best Search Engines
Google http://www.google.com
4.3 billion+ pages
"Very good" overall, "ahead of the
pack" ~ PC Magazine, 5/2003
"Outstanding Search Service, 2003, 1st place" ~ SearchEngineWatch,
2/2004
Yahoo! Search http://search.yahoo.com
3.0 billion+ pages
Brand new search engine; indexes much greater portion of a web
document than Google
Search experts find the database "very
large," are impressed by the "quality of results," and say it's a
"very viable alternative to Google" ~ SearchEngineWatch, 2-5/2004
Teoma (also powers
AskJeeves) http://teoma.com,
2.0 billion+ pages
Unique ranking algorithm based on link popularity among
subject experts and enthusiasts improves relevance, "refines"
(narrows) topics, and offers subject "resources" (meta-sites from experts or enthusiasts).
AskJeeves is powered by Teoma's database.
"Offers some unique features" and strong on "identifying
metasites" Search Engine Showdown 4/2004
"Most Promising Search Engine Award, 2003," Pandecta,
12/2002
HotBot (Inktomi)
http://www.hotbot.com 3 billion+ pages
Revamped in 2003 for speed, control, and power, the new HotBot recently
became a Yahoo/Inktomi database; provides
one-stop access to Google and Teoma in addition to its own database.
"The new HotBot is a great tool" ~ Online 3/4/2003
New Search Engines to Watch
Mooter http://www.mooter.com
Still in beta testing Mooter utilizes new intelligent
algorithms to learn from the user as a search progresses, clustering results
into themes. "Technology Review" (3/2004) reports this promising
engine analyzes a search before dumping links on users
Dipsie http://www.dipsie.com
Also in beta testing, Dipsie's mission is to crawl the
Invisible Web, the 99% of the Web that is 'hidden." By the time Dipsie's
public beta test debuts in the summer of 2004, it expects to index over 10
billion documents ~ Technology Review, 3/2004.
OAIster
http://oaister.umdl.umich.edu/o/oaister
A search engine developed at the University of Michigan,
indexing more than 3 million scholarly documents from 277 institutions; In
a major development Yahoo! has worked with Michigan to crawl and read OAIster's
database.
Metasearching allows use of one search service to query several search engines at once. Can save time and be useful when individual search engines fail to produce results. However, poor recognition of search syntax used by individual engines often reduces relevant results; note that most services exclude Google, the largest search engine.
Best Meta Search Engines
Dogpile
http://www.dogpile.com
"Best meta search engine, 2003, 1st Place" ~
SearchEngineWatch, 2/ 2004
"Dogpile can work its canine charms even on users who
are happy with Google." ~ PCWorld 2/2004
Searches Google, Teoma, Yahoo, combines and refines results
Vivisimo
http://vivisimo.com
"Best meta search engine, 2003, 2nd Place" ~
SearchEngineWatch,2/ 2004
Searches major engines except Google,
categorizes results into topic folders
Ez2Find
http://ez2find.com
"Honorable mention, 2002 ... a service to try and
watch" ~ SearchEngineWatch, 6/2003
"Provides excellent results in neat interface...THE best" ~ Daniel
Bazac, Internet researcher, 9/2002
Searches best search engines, including Google, Yahoo, Teoma
Specialty Search Engines go beyond finding web pages and web sites. They include Topical Search Engines for specific kinds of information (Medical, Financial, Science, Government, etc.), Answers Searching (AskJeeves, Information Please, etc.), and The Invisible Web (tens of thousands of web databases whose contents are not included in general search engines for technical or economic reasons): try The Invisible Web Directory and the Invisible Web. Click below for a full list of specialty search engines:
http://searchenginewatch.com/links/Specialty_Search_Engines/
Keeping Up
Search Engine
Showdown http://searchengineshowdown.com
This site is run by Greg Notess, a reference librarian and
leading expert
on web search services
Search Engine
Watch http://searchenginewatch.com
Another search expert, Danny Sullivan, runs this site featuring
guides,
reports, statistics, and commentary
PowerPoint Presentation on Directories and Search Engines
Dennis Kimmage, June, 2004