Internet/Web Searching: Search Engines

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Scope

• Search Engines are, generally, very large databases of downloaded Web pages and other Internet documents.
• Search Engine databases are automatically created and indexed by software variously called:
  • Webcrawlers
  • Web robots
  • Web spiders
  • Metacrawlers
• These programs continuously request Web sites and other Internet hosts to send the contents (including graphics and other media) of individual Web pages and documents to the Search Engine.
• Automatic downloading results in very large databases of Web pages and other files, with the largest (Google) claiming over 2 billion Web pages in its database plus hundreds of millions of newsgroup messages and images.
• The Search Engine database software, in most cases, indexes each and every part of the downloaded page or file, indentifying every piece of ASCII text as belonging to the title, headings, body, links, image title, and so forth.
• The Search Engines have front-end query (search and retrieval) software that enable users to find desired information in the database and, subsequently, click on links that will take the user to the original Web pages or other files.

Using Search Engines

• Why to use multiple Search Engines
  • No Search Engine covers anything but a very small fraction of the Internet.
  • Search Engines databases overlap each other to some detree.
  • Some Search Engines are actually licensed databases from such companies as Google, AltaVista, and Inktomi. Different Search Engines (and Internet Indexes as well) may only license a certain amount of resources from the other Search Engine vendors.
  • Search Engines have varying ranges of search functionality.
• Use all the capabilities of the Search Engines
  • Most Search Engines have some degree of sophisticated search functionality, such as Booleans, phrase searching, truncation, etc.
  • You can better target your search if:
    • Use this functionality appropriately.
    • Think about the probable manner (language, structure, content) in which different people, groups, or organizations would put various kinds of information online.
      
• DOWNLOAD & USE THE HELP PAGES!!!!!!!!

Examples of Search Engines

AltaVista	www.altavista.com
Fast Search (All the Web)	alltheweb.com/advanced
Google - Advanced	www.google.com/advanced_search
NLResearch	www.nlresearch.com
OpenFind	www.openfind.com
Teoma	www.teoma.com
WiseNut - WiseSearch	www.wisenut.com/WiseSearch/

Indexes of Search Engines

• Best Search Tools Page
  • From InfoPeople, a not-for-profit information project.
  • www.infopeople.org/search/tools.html
• Search Links from Search Engine Watch
  • searchenginewatch.com/links/
• SearchEngines.com
  • Indexes of Search Engines around the world
  • http://www.searchengines.com/searchengine_listings.html
• Kid's Search Tools
  • www.rcls.org/ksearch.htm

 

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