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SEARCHING THE INTERNET

The Internet is huge. There are Gazillions of pages of information at last count. There are an estimated 7 million new pages added to the Internet per day! To locate a needle in a haystack that big is impossible without help. Search engines and directories are the most common tools available to provide that help.

DIRECTORIES

A directory collects Internet sites and sorts them into broad hierarchical categories and sub-categories. This collection of web sites is arranged to make locating information as easy as possible. There are several directories on the Internet. Here are two good examples.

www.about.com
Is a directory based on individuals that have assumed responsibility for a particular subject. The directory has 36 topics and an alphabetical listing to make searching the directory as convenient as possible. About.com uses Sprinks as its Internet search tool.

www.yahoo.com
Yahoo is probably the biggest and best known of the directories. Yahoo has 14 main topics in the directory that cover about 5 million web pages. Yahoo has contracted with Google for its Internet search results.

SEARCH ENGINES

Search engines send out "robot" or "spider" search programs to search the Internet for information. The information is sent back to the search engine to be indexed and added to the search engine collection. There are a great many search engines on the Internet. Here are three good examples.

www.alltheweb.com
Is a very large, very fast search engine. The main page is minimal, with little to divert the attention. It calls itself "fast" for a good reason.

www.altavista.com
Altavista is one of the early, true search engines. Because of the popularity of the directories, Altavista has added a directory section to the main page as well as popular topics to attract a users attention. Altavista also has a handy language translator to translate foreign languages.

www.google.com
Google is a very fast, and very large (1.6 billion+ pages) search engine that has been rising in popularity for its relevant results. Google has added a 16-topic directory. The "I'm Feeling Lucky" button can be very helpful.

META SEARCHES

Meta search tools don't maintain collections of their own, but rather relay a request to other search sites and collate the responses from those other search sites. The advantage gained is that more than one collection is searched at a time.

www.dogpile.com
Dogpile searches 4 of 16 search engines at a time to retrieve 10 results to answer the request. Dogpile includes a directory for frequent or common topics.

www.metacrawler.com
Metacrawler is a well-developed tool that searches 12 search engines at once. Metacrawler is easily customized for most precise searching.

www.savvysearch.com Savvysearch is a popular search tool that can access several other search tools. Savysearch also includes a directory to aid in browsing.

Note that when using a search tool, the tools returned results with the most relevant return at or near the top of the list. Each search tool wants information to be found quickly and easily, to promote return visits. The reason for this is partly because search tools use advertising to help pay the expenses. The more visitors returning to the site, the more revenue the tool receives from the advertisers. The dark side of this situation is that some search tools are accepting money to rank some sites higher on the list than is warranted. If a result looks really out of place on the list, that site may have paid to be there.

SEARCH STRATEGIES

Start with the best tool.
If specific information is known, such as "George Washington's Birthday", use a search engine. If help is needed with unspecific terms, such as "something about the Revolutionary War", try a directory.

Let the tool help.
Each search tool has a "help", "advanced", or "tips" button to show how to get the most from each tool. This information will help in selecting search terms and syntax to yield the best results from that particular tool. Do not be afraid to use these features, they are there to make your search easier. Go back to these helps periodically. New functions and features are added frequently.

Spend time with the tools.
Pick two or three search tools and explore what they have and how they arrange it. Once those tools are familiar, add two or three more until a core of favorites is found.

If at first you don't succeed, try again.
If one word or phrase doesn't get what you want, try another. Try "dolphin" and "dolphins" and note the differences in the results. Each search tool has a limited collection of web sites. If one search tool doesn't have the desired information, perhaps another one does.