Quick Guide To Internet Search Engines

General Search Engines

  • Periodically scan the web reading and indexing individual home pages
  • Master indexes are created and are used to match the keywords entered in the search
  • Advantages: Indexes cover over 35 million web sites and are updated frequently
  • Disadvantages: Searches often retrieve numerous irrelevant sites and may leave out highly relevant sites

Specialty Search Engines

  • Designed to search content-specific Web pages and are usually equipped with special features to help you pinpoint information
  • Information retrieved is obtained from a variety of scholarly sources including peer reviewed papers, theses, abstracts, and articles
  • Advantages: Great place to perform up-to-date subject-specific scholary research
  • Disadvantages: Search results can be limited if database is deeply rooted in one particular discipline of knowledge

Directories

  • Indexers examine each site and place it into a subject category
  • Advantages: Useful for broad, general topics;  high percentage of relevancy from retrieved hits
  • Disadvantages: Indexes a very small percentage of the web

Evaluated Directories

  • Professionally selected web sites with descriptions and/or evaluations
  • Suggested for finding reputable web sites for research purposes

Meta Search Engines

  • Runs your search over multiple search engines to increase the possible number of sites retrieved
  • Sites are ranked for relevancy and duplicate sites are eliminated
  • Advantages: Fast and easy way to find good sites on a given topic
  • Disadvantages: Do not always work well with comprehensive searches such as boolean and stringing together keywords and phrases