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The
Major Search Engines
Which of the many search engines really matter? Usually, it's the search engines that are well-known and well-used. This is true whether you are a webmaster or a searcher. For webmasters, a good listing in a search engine that promotes itself well, or has strong strategic alliances, is more likely to bring traffic than a lesser-known search engine. For example, a search engine listed on the Netscape Net Search page is guaranteed to receive much use. That translates into more traffic for sites that are ranked well by these search engines. For searchers, well-known, commercially-backed search engines generally mean more dependable results. These search engines are more likely to be well-maintained and upgraded when necessary, to keep pace with the growing web.
Search Engines: Also called "spiders" or "crawlers," search engines constantly visit web sites on the Internet in order to create catalogs of web pages. Because they run automatically and index so many web pages, search engines may often find information not listed in directories. Directories: Unlike search engines, directories are created by humans. Sites must be submitted, then they are assigned to an appropriate category or categories. Because of the human role, directories can often provide better results than search engines. Yahoo is an example of a directory. Hybrid Search Engines: To further confuse matters, some search engines also have an associated directory. These are sites that have been reviewed or rated. For the most part, these reviewed sites do not appear as the "default" when a query is made to a hybrid search engine. Instead, a user must consciously choose to see the reviews.
AltaVista
AltaVista is consistently one of the largest search engines on the web, in terms of pages indexed. Its comprehensive coverage and wide range of power searching commands makes it a particular favorite among researchers. It also offers a number of features designed to appeal to basic users, such as "Ask AltaVista" results, which come from Ask Jeeves (see below), and directory listings from LookSmart. Advertisers can also pay to be listed higher within the service. AltaVista opened in December 1995. It was owned by Digital, and now is run by Compaq, which purchased Digital in 1998. Ask
Jeeves Ask Jeeves is a human-powered search service that aims to direct you to the exact page that answers your question. If it fails to find a match within its own database, then it will provide matching web pages from various search engines. The service went into beta in mid-April 1997 and opened fully on June 1, 1997. Results from Ask Jeeves also appear within AltaVista. AOL
NetFind AOL NetFind is a branded-version of the Excite search engine in the US and Canada. It has a different name and a different look, but it is basically Excite underneath. In Europe, Lycos provides the results in the same manner as Excite. AOL NetFind launched in March 1997. Direct
Hit Direct Hit is a company that works with other search engines to refine their results. It does this by monitoring what users click on from the results they see. Sites that get clicked on more than others rise higher in Direct Hit's rankings. Thus, the service dubs itself a "popularity engine." Direct Hit's technology is currently best seen at HotBot. Excite
Excite is one of the most popular search services on the web. It offers a medium-sized index and integrates non-web material such as company information and sports scores into its results, when appropriate. It also offers one of the best news search services available: Excite NewsTracker. Excite was launched in late 1995. It grew quickly in prominence and consumed two of its competitors, Magellan in July 1996, and WebCrawler in November 1996. These continue to run as separate services. Excite also "powers" the results that appear in AOL NetFind and Netscape Search. Go is a portal site produced by Infoseek and Disney. It offers portal features such as personalization and free e-mail, plus the search capabilities of Infoseek. It officially launched in January 1999. It is not related to GoTo, below. Google
Google is a search engine that makes heavy use of link popularity as a primary way to rank web sites. This can be especially helpful in finding good sites in response to general searches such as "cars" and "travel," because users across the web have in essence voted for good sites by linking to them. GoTo
Unlike the other search engines (except for AltaVista), GoTo sells its listings. Companies can pay money to be placed higher in the search results, which GoTo feels improves relevancy. Learn more about this model via the articles below. Non-paid results come from Inktomi. GoTo launched in 1997 and incorporated the former University of Colorado-based World Wide Web Worm. In February 1998, it shifted to its current pay-for-placement model and soon after replaced the WWW Worm with Inktomi for its non-paid listings. GoTo is not related to Go, above. HotBot
Like AltaVista, HotBot is another favorite among researchers due to its large index of the web and many power searching features. In most cases, HotBot's first page of results comes from the Direct Hit service (see above), and then secondary results come from the Inktomi search engine, which is also used by other services. It gets its directory information from the Open Directory project (see below). HotBot launched in May 1996 as Wired Digital's entry into the search engine market. Lycos purchased Wired Digital in October 1998 and continues to run HotBot as a separate search service. Inktomi
Originally, there was an Inktomi search engine at UC Berkeley. The creators then formed their own company with the same name and created a new Inktomi index, which was first used to power HotBot. Now the Inktomi index also powers several other services. All of them tap into the same index, though results may be slightly different. This is because Inktomi provides ways for its partners to use a common index yet distinguish themselves. There is no way to query the Inktomi index directly, as it is only made available through Inktomi's partners with whatever filters and ranking tweaks they may apply. Infoseek
Infoseek is one of the more popular search services on the web. It has a small-to-medium sized index, so it may not be the best place for those doing a comprehensive search of the web. However, it consistently provides quality results in response to many general and broad searches, thanks to its ESP search algorithm. It also has an impressive human-compiled directory of web sites. Infoseek is the main power behind the new Go portal site, which it produces in partnership with Disney. Infoseek launched in early 1995. LookSmart
LookSmart is the closest rival Yahoo has, in terms of being a human-compiled directory of the web. In addition to being a stand-alone service, LookSmart provides directory results to AltaVista and many other partners. AltaVista provides LookSmart with search results when a search fails to find a match from among LookSmart's reviews. LookSmart launched independently in October 1996, was backed by Reader's Digest for about a year, and then company executives bought back control of the service. Lycos
Lycos started out as a search engine, depending on listings that came from spidering the web. In April 1999, it shifted to a directory model similar to Yahoo. Its main listings come from the Open Directory project, and then secondary results come from spidering the web. Lycos also feature another directory of web sites called Lycos Community Guides. Sites are automatically listed in these guides using technology from WiseWire, a company Lycos acquired in early 1998. Lycos is one of the oldest search services, around since May 1994. It began as a project at Carnegie Mellon University. The name Lycos comes from the Latin for "wolf spider." In October 1998, Lycos acquired the competing HotBot search service, which continues to be run separately. MSN
(Microsoft) Microsoft's MSN service features both directory listings and search engine results, powered by Inktomi. Other search engines are also featured at the service. The service went live in October 1998 with its Inktomi results, although it had existed in various formats and under different names previously. Netscape Like AOL NetFind, Netscape Search is a branded version of the Excite search engine. Netscape also runs the Netscape Open Directory, which uses information from the Open Directory project (see below). Netscape relaunched itself as a portal site with search offerings in Spring 1998. Now owned by AOL, the Netscape site is expected to continue operating as a separate service. Northern
Light Northern Light is another favorite search engine among researchers. It features a large index, along with the ability to cluster documents by topic. Northern Light also has a set of "special collection" documents that are not readily accessible to search engine spiders. There are documents from thousands of sources, including newswires, magazines and databases. Searching these documents is free, but there is a charge of up to $4 to view them. There is no charge to view documents on the public web -- only for those within the special collection. Northern Light opened to general use in August 1997. Open
Directory (NewHoo) The Open Directory uses volunteer editors to catalog the web. Formerly known as NewHoo, it was launched in June 1998. It was acquired by Netscape in November 1998, and the company pledged that anyone would be able to use information from the directory through an open license arrangement. Netscape itself was the first licensee. Lycos also uses the information for its main service and within Lycos-owned HotBot. RealNames
The RealNames system is meant to be an easier-to-use alternative to the current web site addressing system. Those with RealNames-enabled browsers can enter a word like "Nike" to reach the Nike web site. To date, RealNames has had its biggest success through search engine partnerships. In particular, it is strongly featured in AltaVista's results. Search.com
Search.com is a branded-version of the Infoseek search engine, operated by Cnet. It also offers specialty searches, where Infoseek technology is used to spider selected sites within particular categories. Search.com also provides links to a variety of specialty search services. Search.com was launched in March 1996 as an single interface to several search engines. The partnership with Infoseek began in May 1997. Since late 1997, Search.com has been eclipsed by Cnet's new search offering, Snap (see below). Snap
Snap is a human-compiled directory of web sites, supplemented by search results from Inktomi. Like LookSmart, it aims to challenge Yahoo as the champion of categorizing the web. Snap launched in late 1997 and is backed by Cnet and NBC. WebCrawler
WebCrawler has the smallest index of any major search engine on the web -- think of it as Excite Lite. The small index means WebCrawler is not the place to go when seeking obscure or unusual material. However, some people may feel that by having indexed fewer pages, WebCrawler provides less overwhelming results in response to general searches. WebCrawler opened to the public on April 20, 1994. It was started as a research project at the University of Washington. America Online purchased it in March 1995 and was the online service's preferred search engine until Nov. 1996. That was when Excite, a WebCrawler competitor, acquired the service. Excite continues to run WebCrawler as an independent search engine. Yahoo
Yahoo is the web's most popular search service and has a well-deserved reputation for helping people find information easily. The secret to Yahoo's success is human beings. It is the largest human-compiled guide to the web, employing 80 or more editors in an effort to categorize the web. Yahoo has at least 1 million sites listed. Yahoo also supplements its results with those from Inktomi. If a search fails to find a match within Yahoo's own listings, then matches from Inktomi are displayed. Inktomi matches also appear after all Yahoo matches have first been shown. Yahoo is the oldest major web site directory, having launched in late 1994. By
Danny Sullivan
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