Internet Search Engines

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Internet Search Engines

Updated: 13 February 2002

Individual Search Engines | Meta Search Engines
Search Engine Collections

Specialty Search Engines
Deep Web | Domain Names | FTP Search | Multimedia & Images | New Page Tracking

Visit How to Choose a Search Engine or Directory, a list of search tools organized by features

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:

Education Search for searching the .edu domain
Government Search for searching U.S. and international government sites
Babel Fish, the AltaVista translation service.

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.

Google - ranks pages by the number of links from pages ranked high by the service, including results from the Open Directory Project. See also:

Google Groups, Google's rendering of Deja.com's newsgroup archive
Google Search: Unclesam, a searchable database of U.S. government Web sites (.gov and .mil) ranked by link popularity
Google Web Directory, which uses Google ranking technology with the Open Directory Project

Gripe.com - searchable collection of categorized Usenet newsgroups with quality-sorted results

GuideBeam - organizes results into levels of increasingly narrow concept clusters

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 other search services and offers options to view and manipulate results in various ways. NOTE: options are available when you hover your mouse over each results title

Infonetware - categorizes search results into component subtopics with options to select multiple topics for a new set of topics and a filtered results list

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

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:
- SearchGov.com - .gov domain (also try usgovsearch)
- SearchMil.com - .mil domain
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

WISEnut - offers a large database and a companion directory of topics related to a search

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Meta Search Engines

Retrieve Collated Results (limited number with duplicates removed)

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, a dictionary/thesaurus and encyclopedia

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

Kartoo - categorizes content into relevant concepts and sites and displays results on a graphical map; requires Flash or offers an HTML version

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

Metor - 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

Virtual Learning Resources Center - searches several high quality directories; also offers its own directory

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
Turbo10 - retrieves results from multiple sources (including a few deep Web sources) and offers sorting by speed, relevance and source; also offers concept clusters to organize results into keywords and subtopics

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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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

Invisible-web.net

The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can't See

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

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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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FTP Search Tools

FtpFind - offers searches by keyword, filename, or by themes including Linux, Windows, Sound, Movies and Pictures

FTP search - offers a full featured search interface with numerous searching and output parameters

Ftpsearchengines.com - "file finding portal" listing FTP sites on the Web

Go!Zilla Search - FTP finding engine that searches for software, music, video and images

Oth Net - searches multiple FTP sites by keyword

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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

Cobion - offers searches of images by keywords, image filenames, and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scanned text in images; also searches for people, image type and color/black & white

Ditto - offers searches for images by word or phrase

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
Lycos Multimedia Search - search tool for audio, video and pictures

Picsearch - offers image searching by word and phrase; also offers and advanced search for animations/non-animations, color/black & white, and size

Singingfish - searches streaming content including music, movies, news, radio, sports, television and finance

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

TimePix - 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

Yahoo! News Image Gallery - presents current news photos and a searchable directory of archived news photos

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New Page Tracking

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

Webspector - software that tracks changes to a user-defined list of Web pages and highlights areas of the pages that have changed; email alerts can also be sent

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This page is maintained by Laura Cohen
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