Internet Search Engines
Updated: 17 September 2001
Individual Search Engines
- Albert - demo of a natural language search
engine for submitting questions in plain English that retrieves results from AllTheWeb
- AllTheWeb - returns results quickly from an
extremely large database; also offers multimedia and FTP searches
- AltaVista - searches Web sites and Usenet
newsgroups with advanced Boolean and field search options. See also:
- AOL.COM Search - engine that defaults to AND logic
and offers an Options template for easy search construction; has an option to view results
by popularity; offers a directory based on the Open Directory
- Applied Semantics [formerly Oingo] -
"meaning-based" engine that constructs meanings and relationships from your
search terms to return results, from which you can choose your desired concept to refine
your search; derives results from the Open Directory
- Ask Jeeves - submit questions in plain English
and view suggested relevant sites; also offers the Open
Directory ranked in order of popularity
- Atomica
- engine
that retrieves results from Web search engines and related information from such deep Web
sources as general and specialty dictionaries, encyclopedias, financial databases, news,
user links, and more
- Direct Hit - retrieves documents in order of
popularity, i.e., sites that users select from search results for a similar request; also
available on HotBot and MSN Search. The Ask Jeeves
search engine is also available on this site.
- Excite - offers a Precision Search engine that
organizes results by term ranking combined with link ranking; offers "Zoom In"
feature for concept selection; also has a directory search and search functions for news,
photos, and audio/video
- Google - ranks pages by the number of links from
pages ranked high by the service, including results from the Open
Directory Project. See also:
- GoTo - free market search engine that displays
results based on competitive bidding
- Guidebeam -
organizes results into levels of increasingly narrow concept clusters based on results
from AltaVista
- HotBot - offers easy form-based Boolean, field,
and media search options; includes its channel content with the results for searches on
broad or popular terms; clusters results by presenting one hit per site
- iLOR - presents results from Google with options to view results in various ways.
NOTE: options are available when you hover your mouse over each results title
- Lycos - emphasizes search results from the Open Directory and offers up Web site from the FAST Search index
- MSN Search - derives results from a variety of
sources, including the LookSmart directory, Direct Hit and others; applies concept matching to
search statements; and offers an advanced search option with form-based field searching
similar to HotBot
- NBCi [formerly Snap] - search results are derived
from a large database of Web pages compiled by the Inktomi search engine; search feature
returns the most popular sites first; Power Search option offers a template for search
construction; directory results are also included
- Northern Light - results are organized into
concept or location folders; Special Collection articles available for a small fee; Alerts
service tracks search topics for new documents. See also:
- usgovsearch to search
U.S. government Web sites (.gov and .mil)
- Geosearch to find sites
located in the U.S. and Canada
- RealNames - search for companies, products,
brands, and services on the Internet; RealNames associated with URLs are registered with
the service for quick lookup of the associated Web site
- RLIN AMC database - the RLIN
Archival and Manuscripts Control database
- SearchEdu.com - service that limits results to
the .edu, domain; also offers to search well-known dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs,
etc. See also:
- SmartBorg - engine that parses your
query and recommends a search engine and/or directory to search
- Snoopa - service that offers an easy fill-out form
to search for Web sites and multimedia files
- Subjex - "dialogue-based" engine that
offers Web sites in response to a series of questions you can ask to progressively refine
your search; currently in beta
- Thunderstone Website Index
- search thousands of sites (vs. Web pages) from a continuously updated database; adds
25,000 sites per week
- Teoma - returns results in three sections:
popularity-ranked Web pages, related topic groups, and experts' links created by topic
experts
- TopClick: The Internet's Private Search Engine -
service that pledges to abstain from cookies, banner ads, or disclosure of personal data;
uses Google search technology
- WISEnut - offers a
large database and a companion directory of topics related to a search
- Web Crawler - search two million pages from the Excite search engine index
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Meta Search Engines
Retrieve Collated Results (limited number with duplicates removed)
- Baldy - fast-working meta engine with a clean
interface, i.e., "the baldest search engine on the Web"
- C4 - search a large number of search engines and
directories and configure useful customization options available with free registration;
formerly known as Cyber411
- Chubba - search the Web, Usenet, stock quotes, a
dictionary/thesaurus and encyclopedia; offers results that are collated or grouped by
source engine
- Copernic - client software that searches multiple
engines and directories, removes duplicates and dead links, highlights search terms in
your results, and offers a variety of search and retrieval options
- Debriefing - search the major search engines
with implied Boolean logic
- Fossick Meta Search - searches a dynamically changing
group of engines based on speed of availability, and ranks results based on search terms,
popularity and other measures; offers the option to search sites from individual
countries. Offers page translation using Babelfish,
the AltaVista translation service.
- GenieKnows - searches 25+ engines and
directories and ranks results based on the number of sources listing a page; chooses
sources to search based on consumer input; also offers searches of multimedia types
- Ithaki - searches
engines, directories, and also numerous deep Web sources
- Ixquick Metasearch - search engines, directories, news
and MP3 files; ranks results based on top ten rankings from the source sites; allows any
type of search syntax and will translate and direct your search accordingly
- Mamma - retrieve results in relevancy ranked
order; power search offers a user-friendly template for building a query
- MetaCrawler - retrieve results in relevancy
ranked order; useful power search available with a template of search options
- METAEUREKA - barebones interface for an engine
that sorts results by relevancy and offers a "Site info" link that returns
information on the server, date last modified, size, and descriptive information if
available
- MetaMission - searches several search services on
the Web, and also offers specialty searches of auctions, books, electronics, hardware and
software, jobs, multimedia, and Usenet News
- Meteor - searches multiple engines, directories and
databases; offers the option to see the size, date and availability of the document, to
extract the context of your search terms within the document, and to navigate
user-selected results within a frame
- MyWebHound -
offers searches of content from the Web, directories, and numerous deep Web databases from
a single interface
- The Pandia Search Central - searches multiple
engines and directories and also offers searches of news, books, music, videos and other
specialty databases; includes a searchable version of the Open
Directory
- ProFusion - meta engine that allows results to
be sorted by relevance, title, URL and source; offers a customizable Advanced Search
form for choosing the search services to search; also offers topical searches on the deep
Web
- Query Server - offers queries of the general
Web, or health, money or government sites and organizes results by concept, by site, or by
both
- SearchTurtle.com - offers navigation of the
retrieved Web sites from within the search results window; also offers searches for news
and multimedia
- SurfWax - offers options to see a quick view of
sites in the search results list to determine relevancy and choose alternative search
terms for a subsequent search from a thesaurus; offers personalization options
- Verio Metasearch - retrieves the top ten hits
from each source engine and directory in combined ranked order
- Vivisimo - searches multiple engines and directories
and organizes results into topical categories; similar to Northern Light
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Retrieve Results From Each Site Separately (more comprehensive results)
- 1Blink - search 11 sources and view the results at
the 1Blink site
- all4one - search 4 search engines and access
results at each site
- Altaseek - offers options to limit results by
country, choose source engines to search, and view results in various formats
- Dogpile - search 20+ search engines and retrieve
results separately, offering custom search options
- qbSearch - retrieve results from engines you choose;
offers the option to activate a QuickLinks feature that allows you to select links from
your results to display the first page of all of them on a single page
- Researchville - opens multiple browser
windows with search results from the originating search service; searchable categories
includes news, Web guides, reference, opinion and multimedia
- Webtaxi - use a helpful template to build search
types and access your results separately at each site; click on "Search" button
for numerous meta-search options
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FTP Search Engines
- ArchiePlex - has its own search interface, and
also offers a list of WWW Archie services on the Web
- FAST FTP search
- FtpFind - offers searches by keyword, filename, or
by themes including Linux, Windows, Sound, Movies and Pictures
- Monster FTP Site List - master list of
FTP sites with FTP FAQ
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Search Engine Collections
[Many also include directories]
- All-In-One Search Page - compilation of
search templates for an extensive range of information retrieval
- Beaucoup - compilation of 2000+ engines and
directories organized by category; also offers a meta search capability
- EZ-Find at The River
- search 10 search engines individually from the same site
- General Internet Search Programs -
compiled by BUBL Link
- Lookoff - offers a categorized collection of
search services on the Web; also allows you to query the collection and retrieve suggested
search services to use
- MetaIQ - multi-purpose site that serves as a meta
engine, a directory of searchable databases on the Web, a news source and more
- SearchBug.com - offers searches organized by
topic, and searching of single or multiple search services
- Search Engine Colossus - directory of
hundreds of search tools from 136 countries around the world
- Search Engine Guide - topical collection
of 3000+ engines, directories and portals
- SearchIQ - categorized collection of
engines and directories from the SearchIQ search engine informational site
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Specialty Search Engines
Deep Web
The so-called "deep" or "invisible" Web consists of content stored
in searchable databases mounted on the Web. These databases usually cover a targeted topic
or aspect of a topic. Search engine spiders cannot or will not index this information.
There is a huge number of searchable databases on the Web. The following is a selection of
sites that collect searchable databases on the Web.
- CompletePlanet - offers searchable access
to thousands of databases on the "deep Web" for results that include summaries
from the retrieved site
- Direct Search - large
compilation of links to the search interfaces of a wide variety of research resources on
the Web compiled by Gary Price of George Washington University [warning: large file]
- The InvisibleWeb - directory of over 10,000
databases, offering the option to search for the database you need, from IntelliSeek
- Lycos Directory:
Searchable Databases - large collection of invisible Web databases organized by topic;
almost identical to The InvisibleWeb above
- ProFusion - meta engine that also offers
searches of multiple "vertical search sources" on the deep Web organized into
topical categories
- Search.Com - dozens of topic-based databases from
CNet
- Search Engines and News - large collection of
topical search engines and newswires maintaned by wwwINTERNETS
- Subject Directory of Search Engines -
topical listing of searchable databases on the Web from the SearchIQ search engine review site
- WebData.com - collection of searchable
databases on the Web organized into topics maintained by ExperTelligence, Inc.
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Domain Names
- Checkdomain.com - search for the availability of a
domain name in nearly every country of the world
- Clickey - search for words contained in a domain
name, or keywords contained in a brief record, with options to limit searches to a
country, state and city
- Namedroppers.com - allows searches for domain
names with multiple keywords and the ability to limit to .com, .net, .org and .edu
domains; results link to the domain's Web site when available and to the InterNIC Whois
record
- Registry Whois Search - search the
database of registered domain names on the site of Network Solutions, the company that
registers many domain names
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Multimedia & Images
- AltaVista Photo Finder -
searchable collection of multimedia on the Web: search by media type: images, videos or
audios
- The Amazing Picture Machine - searchable
collecion of a variety of image types including architecture, animals, maps, artwork,
world leaders and more
- AMICO Thumbnail Catalog - Art Museum
Image Consortium (AMICO) offers a searchable catalog of artwork from member museums
- Corbis - image collection representing millions of
works from photographers, museums, cultural institutions, and public and private
collections
- FindSounds.com - searchable collection of
sounds and sound effects on the Web, with options to hear similar sounds, and to search
for sounds by mono/stereo, resolution, sample rate and file size
- The Picture Collection - commercial
site offering free access to more than 22 million photos, prints and illustrations taken
from popular Time-Life magazines and the historical Mansell photograph collection;
registration required
- Scour - searchable collection of multimedia on the
Web; search by media type: images, audio, video
- SpeechBot - experimental search
engine of popular U.S. radio shows, offering the option to listen to an audio clip
containing your search terms
- StreamSearch - search for streaming audio and
video, live events and pay per view on the Web; site offers links to media from updated
news, sports and entertainment
- Yahoo! News Image Gallery -
presents current news photos and a searchable directory of archived news photos
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New Page Tracking
- Axie - allows users to register queries for email
notification of relevant new sites added to the Open Directory
- Karnak - searches hundreds of Web sites, stores the
results online, and e-mails you notifcation of the results; premium fee-based service
tracks additional queries and offers customization options
- TracerLock - saves your search query and tracks
AltaVista for pages matching your search terms; the first ten results are sent to you in
an e-mail
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This page is maintained by Laura Cohen
Comments to libwww@albany.edu