Introduction

Surfing on the Internet can be like grocery shopping on an empty stomach without a shopping list. You often end up with a cart full of things that you don't need. Casual Web surfing can be interesting and fun, but it can also waste your time. Search tools help you find the Web sites that have the information you need.

Which search tool is the best? Finding the best search tool requires knowing what you are looking for and matching it with the search tool that will help you gather that information. Search tools do not produce the same results. Keep track of the results of your searches so you can determine which tools most often produce the information you are looking for.

Read up-to-date information about the most popular search engines and how they are organized at Search Engine Watch.

Types of Search Tools

Search engines and directories are two categories of search tools that can help you create a manageable set of Web sites to review. Search engines use software programs called spiders. to constantly gather information about Web sites. Information about Web sites goes through a database, which the search engine queries when you conduct a search. You have to sort through the results of the search to find the most relevant pages and sites. AltaVista and Google are examples of search engines.

People, not software, find, describe, and catalog the Web sites in directories. For example, Yahoo's directory is a database with over one million Web sites. When you search a directory, you are searching their cataloged database. Ask Jeeves and Infoseek are also directories.

Many search engines and directories are now trying to become portals, which are Web sites that offer one-stop shopping on the Internet. At a portal, you can use email and chat rooms, make travel reservations, search for information, or get directions to a friend's house, all at one Web site. Most portals also let you set up special links for frequently accessed information. Yahoo! and Metacrawler are two search tools that have become portals.

Advantages and Disadvantages

The advantage of using a search engine instead of randomly surfing or browsing the Web can also be a disadvantage. Search engines can produce such an extensive list of results that you can't possibly review all the possible sites. Directories and engines look only at a portion of all Web sites, so results are limited to what is in that tool's database.

Try your search with several search tools to get varied results. Some search engines and directories specifically review and collect "kid safe" materials, so these sites are good places for students to use for searching. Yahooligans! is a good Web site for children.

Metasearches

Metasearches collect results from multiple search engines and can cut down on the amount of time you spend searching. DogPile and Metacrawler are metasearch engines. Some search tools combine search engines, directories, and metasearches. Ask Jeeves and Ask Jeeves for Kids are good examples.