Recently, the Nielsen NetRatings rated the popularity of the Internet’s major search engines. The most popular search engine was Google (www.google.com), followed by Yahoo (www.yahoo.com), Microsoft (search.msn.com), AOL (search.aol.com), and Ask Jeeves (www.ask.com). Other popular search engines are Alltheweb (www.alltheweb.com), Lycos (www.lycos.com), Hotbot (www.hotbot.com), AltaVista, (www.altavista.com), and hundreds of other free standing search engines. It is interesting that Google has licensed its search technology to AOL, Yahoo, and others. It is also noteworthy that several of the major search engines have taken over others, combining their services. Yahoo has recently purchased the popular search engine Inktomi, and is attempting to buyout AltaVista. To add to the confusion, there are hundreds of “Meta” search engines that rather than maintaining their own databases of websites, they search several other search engines, and display the information as an integrated solution. Two of the most popular Meta engines are Dogpile (www.dogpile.com), where the user “fetches” data, and Mamma – The Mother of All Search Engines (www.mamma.com).

While most of the search engines are still capable of using “Boolean” logic to narrow selections, they have also made searching easier by utilizing intelligent search technologies. Most engines also allow for the search requests to be in the term of a question, in addition to simple terms. Ask Jeeves was one of the first masters of the “search by asking a question” format, but that method has now become almost universally accepted. My personal favorite search engine is Alltheweb. As I type this, Alltheweb states that it has over 2.1 billion web pages in its database, which it can search in an instant. Using a very clean interface, Alltheweb can search for anything in billions of websites, countless news stories, and hundreds of millions of pictures and other graphics, videos, audio files, and programs available for download. In addition to web pages, Alltheweb also has cataloged tens of millions of word processor documents, mostly in Microsoft Word Doc or Adobe PDF formats. While I use the basic search interface, there is an easy to use advanced interface available that offers tools to narrow and filter searches. Using one of the most widely used search technologies, the Norwegian designed “FAST” system, Alltheweb scans the entire internet every seven to 11 days, verifying and updating all of its billions of listings, adding new finds, and deleting obsolete links, which ensures that its users get current and accurate results. Capable of searching for, and translating, web pages in 49 languages, Alltheweb is truly international in scope. I frequently need to search for news stories, and here is where this site shines; it receives news feeds from thousands of sources, and automatically catalogues hundreds of news stories every minute. Google, the most popular search engine according to Nielsen, has earned its ranking. According to the Google website, it currently has cataloged over 3 billion websites, and is capable of searching the web for data, images, and news. It also has the capability to search the countless postings on the tens-of-thousands of newsgroups for any tidbits of information. The news search gathers stories from over 4500 sources, and updates its news database continuously. For those who like to search from a menu, rather then a search box, Google offers a “Directory” style search using a menu hierarchy similar to that developed by one of its major competitors, Yahoo, over a decade ago. An interesting Google feature is the “Language Tools” where the address of any web page can be listed, and then translated in over a dozen combinations of languages. The Google search is also available in, or can be translated to, over 80 different languages, including silly ones like “Pig Latin”.

The Microsoft and AOL search engines, while comprehensive and popular, owe their high rankings not necessarily to the quality of their listings and features, but to the fact that they are the “built-in” default search mechanism for their respective users. While the tens-of-millions of AOL users can access any search engine manually, any automatic search on AOL will by default use AOL’s own integral engine, which accounts for its ranking. Microsoft can thank its millions of MSN users for the rankings of its engine, as well as the fact that the default search built into recent versions of Internet Explorer (IE) will automatically direct any user to the Microsoft search engine. To demonstrate this, click on the “Search” icon on the top of most versions of Internet Explorer, and enter a search term in the box that opens in a left window on the browser; notice that it will automatically search the Microsoft search engine. To change the default search engines in IE, click on the “Search” icon, and then “Customize” on the top-right of the search window. Since most users do not change the defaults, the hundreds of millions of IE users default to the Microsoft search.

Using any of the major search engines can expand the availability of information to the user, and enhance the Internet experience.

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