INTRODUCTION

• Since no search engine has downloaded the entire contents of the Internet/Web, you sometimes need to use more than one search engine to find obscure or very narrow ranges of information. Which search engine, though, is a question of deciding what features and functions you are looking for iand how comforable you feel using it.
• My personal strategy is to look for the largest search engine databases and learn how to use the various functions that each search engine possesses.
• An excellent site for all kinds of information on search engines is Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Watch (SearchEngineWatch.com).

CRITERIA FOR SELECTING SEARCH ENGINES

• Size of the database
  • How many Web pages and other Internet files have been collected in the Search Engine's database.
  • Information on Search Engine database sizes is at SearchEngineWatch.com
• Depth of Collection:
  • Does the Search Engine collect just collect the "home page" of a Web site or as many pages as can be collected in every layer of the Web site?
• Independence of the Database
  • Does the Search Engine develop or use its own Search Engine collection/database software, or is it licensing a database from another company, such as AltaVista, Google, or Inktomi?
• Thoroughness of Indexing
  Indexing involves locating each component and the relationship between each component of the web page or other document.
  • How much of each web page does the Search Engine index?
    • For example, Google indexes only the first 100KBytes (KB) of the web pages that it collects. Google indexes the first 110KB of each Acrobat (.pdf) document that it collects.
  • Does the Search Engine index every word:
    • Individually and in phrases?
    • By the field in which it is in (title, text, link, caption, etc.)?
• Sophistication of Search Capabilities
  • Does the Search Engine offer sophisticated search functions that can improve the accuracy of your searches.
  • Examples include Booleans (and, or, not), phrase searching, field searching (titles, headings, links, etc.), wildcards, proximity operators, and limiting by date?
  • Two sources of information comparing search engine functionality:
    • Search Engine Features Chart - from Search Engine Showdown. This table compares the search capabilites of 11 different search tools.
    • Search Engines - Comparison of Functions - On this LIB 15 WebCT web site. This is a downloadable Word document (.doc) that compare the basic and advanced interfaces of Google, AlltheWeb, and AltaVista.
• Internet Index Included
  • Does the Search Engine also offer an index to Internet resources?
  • Often Search Engines license an index from another company or organization, such as the Open Directory or the LookSmart directory.
• Help Pages
  • Does the Search Engine offer clear and comprehensive searching instructions and tips, including examples?

MAJOR "GENERAL" SEARCH ENGINES