Good Sources: Search Engines & Directories (Part 1)

By Librarian Carl

Online search tools cover a lot of ground these days. One type of online search tool is the Search Engine, more formally referred to as a Web Search Engine. A modern search engine allows you to input one or more keywords and primarily by use of search algorithms and indexing software, often called crawlers, it produces a list of websites relevant to your search query. For most people this means, simply, you type in some words and the search engine brings up a list of web pages on your topic. The behind the scenes “software-powered” process for this is very complicated and often kept proprietary by the various search engine companies. For a more complete explanation of how search engines work, see here.

Another type of online search tool is the Directory. Web Directories rely primarily on “human-powered results” instead of "software-powered results" for cataloging and selection. A Web Directory lists webs sites by category and while most have a search option the focus is on browsing through the list. For a summary of the main difference between a search engine and a directory, see here.

Search Engines and Directories both help you find web resources about your topic of interest but do so by different methods and have different strengths and weaknesses. Search engines are often quicker and easier to use and cover more sites online than Directories. Directories have human chosen or peer-reviewed content with the goal of offering fewer but higher quality web sites and allow for serendipitous discovery that only browsing category lists can afford.

Below I have listed some of the better and larger general Search Engines and Directories. These tools are the best of the best available today and it would benefit any Internet searcher to become familiar with all of them (not just one *cough* Google *cough*).

1) Search Engines

• Google
• Yahoo
• Ask
• Live Search (MSN)
• Exalead
  

2) Directories

• Open Directory Project (ODP) (DMoz)
• Google Directory (content by ODP, organized by Google)
• Librarian’s Internet Index
• Yahoo Directory
• InfoMine
• About.com
  

3) Tips

It is a good idea to get in the habit of using multiple search engines and directories. No search engine is complete (not even Google searches the entire Internet) and all have different interfaces that allow for better or worse searching depending on what kinds of things you are searching for.


4) Learn More

• Search Engine Watch (latest in search)
• Noodle Tools (select the right search tool)
• General Guides [UC Berkley] (instructions)
• List of Search Engines (Wikipedia)
• List of Web Directories (Wikipedia)

Keep Searching,
Librarian Carl

The next two monthly posts will continue our exploration of search tools with a more detailed examination of Search Engines and their subtypes in (Part 2) and a more detailed examination of Directories in (Part 3)