| GOOGLE | YAHOO | METACRAWLER | | ADDRESS | www.google.com | www.yahoo.com | www.metacrawler.com | | Description | Looks for exact matches Analyzes terms by proximityUses page rank technology | Search directoryLooks for indexed termsThe terms are ranked by frequency and which field they appear in | Searches multiple search engines | | Default Operator | And(adding terms narrows the search) | Or | Select Operator | | Boolean Operators | "And" assumed, "Or" not supported | No | Any, All, Phrase | | + or - Searching | Yes There must be a space before the operators | Yes | Yes | | Phrase Searching | Yes, "double quotations" | Use "double quotations" | Yes by selection | | Search Directory | Yes, there is one included | Yes | Yes | | Truncation | No | Yes, use *(asterisk) | No | | Advanced Search | Yes | Yes | Yes | | AI | Looks for exact terms requested | Yes in advance search | No | | Field Searching | No | Yes T: title U:url | No | | Stop words | Ignores common words | Yes | Includes all words | | Special Features | Link :<url> Shows back links Does not allow advertiser to improve their rank | Easy category searching and offers email Has an image searcher | Searches multiple search engines at once Allows you to look at what others are searching | | Treatment of duplicate hits | Duplicate sites indented | Duplicates if multiple categories | Listed together |
A BRIEF GUIDE TO SEARCHING THE WEB - continued
| Northern Light | Excite | Lycos | | ADDRESS | www.northernlight.com | www.excite.com | www.lycos.com | | Description | This is a combination search engine, document vendor | Searches content of web page, meta-tag, anchor text and link popularity to formulate search results | Searches for the exact terms and then categorizes the results Suggest related searches | | Default Operator | AND | OR | AND | | Boolean Operators | AND, OR, NOT | AND, OR, NOT Parentheses to group queries | AND, OR, NOT, ADJ, NEAR, FAR, BEFORE Can use numeric qualifiers | | + or - Searching | + to include word -to exclude word | + to include word - to exclude word | + to include word - to exclude word | | Phrase Searching | Yes, "double quotes" | Yes, uses "double quotes" | Yes, uses "double quotes" | | Search Directory | Business oriented | Yes, search may be limited in broad narrow or categories | Yes | | Truncation | Yes *(asterisk) sign replaces multiple characters% (Percent) sign replaces one character | No | No | | AI | Yes | Yes, suggest words | Yes, suggests alternative searches | | Field Searching | YesTitle:, Text:, URL:, Company: | No | No | | Advanced Search | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Stop words | Yes | Yes | No | | Special Features | Allows you to restrict the "search by" date Groups results in folders | Search results can be customized to show summaries or URL’s only | Searches can by limited by categories and languages Can search for documents that link to your web site | | Treatment of Duplicates | Displays duplicate records | Displays duplicate records | Displays duplicate records |
A BRIEF GUIDE TO SEARCHING THE WEB - continued
| HOT BOT | ALTAVISTA | ASK JEEVES | | ADDRESS | www.hotbot.com | www.altavista.com | www.askjeeves.com | | Description | Looks for exact matches Analyzes terms by proximity Uses page rank technology | Search directoryLooks for indexed terms | Meta search engine based upon searching other search engines AltaVista, Excite, Webcrawler, etc | | Default Operator | And(adding terms narrows the search) | First AND then OR | OR | | Boolean Operators | AND assumed, OR not supported | Not in simple search | Doesn’t use | | + or - Searching | Yes | Yes, with the simple search | No | | Phrase Searching | Yes, in "double quotes" | Yes, in "double quotes" | Yes, in "double quotes" | | Search Directory | Yes, contains 13 categories | Yes | Yes | | Truncation | Yes *(Asterisk)? One character | Yes *(Asterisk) | Partial with ? and *(asterisk) | | Advanced Search | Yes | Yes | No | | AI | Yes- related material | No | Yes | | Field Search | LimitedDomain:, Feature: | YesTitle, URL, Anchor, Link, Text | No Search across search engines | | Stop words | Ignores common words | Yes | Yes | | Special Features | Allows you to filter out misleading sites | Allows you to restrict search by date Allows field searching | Uses natural language Ranks sites by popularity | | Duplicate | Duplicate sites indented | Some duplication | Duplicates not displayed |
A BRIEF GUIDE TO SEARCHING THE WEB
There are more than 2,500 search engines/directories on the web. Search Engine is a program that looks for documents that contain specific words or phases. Search Directory is a database of web sites organized into categories or topics, which itself is searchable. (Like an Index) Push and Pull Technology - Current web technology relies heavily on users asking for information, as they need it, this is pull technology. Push technology allows information to be pushed to users at regular intervals or as soon as the information changes. Usenet Newsgroups - 20,00 each is dedicated to a particular topic. |
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