THE SEARCH ENGINES

THE SEARCH ENGINES

Alta Vista
http://www.altavista.com/

Alta Vista is a full text search engine, which uses “spiders” or “robots” to create its own databases from public Internet Web pages. It uses the word, acronym or phrase that is input and creates a database of Web sites containing those terms. The results are listed with the most relevant sites first. Alta Vista is considered a single or individual search engine since it searches individual sites only.
Additional features of Alta Vista include a directory of Web sites reviewed by its editors and organized by category. If you’re not sure what terms to search, you can select a category and follow its path to get where you want to go. A section with Web tools allows you to send and receive email, map out a set of directions, translate foreign language information, catch up on the latest news, etc. A business center and shopping directory are also available from the home page.

Reaction: Alta Vista for me, is a good example of search engines because it provides web and newsgroup search engines, as well as paid submission service and it is a unique engine because it uses spiders or robots to create its own databases.

Dogpile
http://www.dogpile.com/

Dogpile is a meta-search engine that transmits a search simultaneously to several individual search engines and their databases of Web pages. The default list of search engines queried varies. You can also customize Dogpile to search specific search engines. Results are retrieved in lists of 10 hits from each engine queried. If more than 10 results are found, a link to the next list of hits is given. It is important to remember that meta-search engines only spend a short time in each database and may only retrieve a small percentage of any of the results in any of the databases queried.

Reaction: Dogpile also for me is a best example of search engines for the reason that Dogpile fetches and ranks results from multiple search engines, letting you search for key word, pictures, audio, video, news,or phone numbers.

About.com
http://home.about.com/

About.com is a directory similar to Yahoo that covers more than 50,000 subjects with over 1 million links to resources on the Internet. The directory consists of over 700 sites organized by individuals called Guides, into 36 channels or subject areas. The Guides are experts in their individual subjects, who gather and create hundreds of thousands of pages of content to share with users. Guides are selected for their ability to provide the most interesting information for users, their commitment to finding the best sites, and their passion for their subject and the Internet.

Reaction: About.com search engines is also consider for me as a great types of engine in the reason that it covers a large number of subjects.