Additional Search Services

Besides Directories and Engines, there are additional search services available that will assist you in locating the precise information you are seeking.

Metasearch

There are also "metasearch" services like Search.com and GO2NET's Metacrawler. These services search multiple search services at once and return the results from the various search services. This saves your having to visit each web site and typing in the same search term repeatedly until you find what you are looking for.

The problem with this is that different search engines handle the same search differently. Smart metasearch services know how to adapt your search for each search service to maximize the quality of your results. For complex searches, skip the metasearches and go directly to the appropriate search site. Also keep in mind that metasearches only give you a sampling from each site they access. For full results, you must still go to each individual web site. Fortunately most metasearch service make this easy to do with just one click.

Search Utilities

Rather than going to a web site to perform a search, a search utility is a software program that performs a search for you. Typically you are presented with a number of options to assist in obtaining the desired results the first time. Most work similar to metasearches as they query many search services for you. A popular program for the PC is Copernic, while Apple users might enjoy Sherlock. Various search engines also provide tools, but many warn of privacy issues with these tools. A web search will certainly present you with many more options. Also check out http://www.wopr.com for information and a great book on using these tools.

What Are The Best Search Services?

With billions of documents accessible to Internet users, using the right search tool the first time can save a lot of time and effort. Of course the correct tool will depend upon the type of search (more on that later), however, for general searches we like Yahoo!'s non-directory section, Google and AllTheWeb. For directory searches, we like The Open Directory and the Yahoo! directory section. For metasearches, try Vivisimo and Ixquick.

By all means, try out other search services as your searching habits will differ from other individuals.