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Internet Search Utilities

This page deals with tools aimed at searching the Internet for information. Most sites listed here relate to the World Wide Web; a few provide services related to other services available through an Internet connection, such as ftp and Usenet.

For a general guide to surfing the 'Net (including more searching tips) check out Walt's Navigating the Net Forum.

A few things to keep in mind when searching the Web:

It's huge. And growing rapidly. The result is that it's a body of information (I didn't say "knowledge") that has no index or table of contents. Or incomplete ones, at best.

Nobody has figured out any way to calculate accurately the Web's true size. Estimates in the summer, 2001 suggested that it may be as large as 2 billion pages. (That's 2,000 million for some people.) As at December, 2002, Google claimed that it has 3 billion pages to draw from — but not all of those pages are indexed. AllTheWeb claims to have indexed over 2 billion pages.

Many search engines do their own indexing, using "webcrawlers" that go out and report back what they find. The result is that each has indexed different portions of the web, and AltaVista may therefore have pages indexed that Google doesn't, even though AltaVista's index is a fraction of Google's. Meta-search sites and search portals therefore may have an advantage in finding stuff, but can be slower and/or deliver incomplete results because of time-outs.

Part of the problem is that the web is simply growing and changing so fast that the webcrawlers can't keep up. And there is a significant (and growing) portion of the Web that isn't visible to the webcrawlers. That stuff is sometimes known as the "invisible Web" or "dark matter". It's composed of stuff that can't be directly indexed, like graphics, CGI scripts, Flash and Adobe Acrobat files, and database data that is assembled "on the fly" in response to specific requests.

The multiple- and single-engine websites below will help you search the "visible" Web. For a useful guide to the use of those search engines, go to Okanagan University College's "Sink or Swim: Internet Search Tools & Techniques" page. Or check the collection of tips at

Search Engine Watch
Screen.com: Life on the Internet
Windweaver's Search Guide

For some comments on when to avoid the major engines, read ZDNet's "When to Fire Yahoo and Alta Vista (And Who to Hire Instead)" re industry-specific or specialty search engines.

And which is the best search engine? It depends on what you're looking for. The bolded names are only my own preferences in the category shown. The descriptions provided may help, but they are far from complete. Many sites listed below have more than the capability suggested by the category they are in — that's only because they are listed in the categories they are best at.

If you want your search engine to provide particular functions for your searches, the "search engine selector" at SelectSmart.com may help you choose the engine that best meets your needs. NoodleQuest will do the same, but based on particular search needs.

For search engine ratings and more information about Web search engines, try these sites:

Computer Training 2000: Brief descriptions of the major search engines, and reasons for the ratings given. (9/01)
Nueva: Points you to particular search engines based on your particular needs. (1/02)
Search Engine Watch.: Provides search engine ratings and information about searching the Web. Unfortunately, current information seems to be unavailable (to the general public?), and what's there is now rather dated. (12/02)

And for more help searching the invisible Web, check out About.com's and UCal (Berkeley)'s pages on the topic. Some of the omnibus search sites below provide links to specialty search engines, many of which can access databases that are not visible to the webcrawlers. If you're working in a particular field of knowledge, a specialty engine dedicated to that area of study may be able to locate something useful that the mainstream engines can't see.

(12/02)

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Omnibus Search Sites

Multiple-Engine Resources

Single-Engine Resources

Text searches

Subject Searches

Clearinghouses

E-mail & Web addresses

Image Databases

ListServs

Resource Locators

Software Search Utilities

Usenet Searches

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Omnibus Search Sites, Search Portals, and Links Pages

These sites provide a wide range of Internet search tools, and/or links to the search engines listed below — and to others. Some of these pages provide access to specialty search engines, i.e., search engines dedicated to a particular subject or area of knowledge. Some of these can access portions of the "invisible Web".

The portals allow you to plug a search term into one of several search engines without actually having to go to that site. Some will enter your search term into all of the engines provided, then wait for your order as to which engine(s) you want to use. These are particularly useful if you want to search several sources separately.

The links pages work just like this one. They provide links to a variety of search engines. They all vary in their content. Use one of these if you find a dead link below — it might have a more up-to-date link.

AlphaSearch: The Hekman Digital Library's gateway to "hundreds of...sites related to a discipline, subject, or idea." In other words, a specialty search engine portal.
Bob's Bookmarks: A collection of bookmarks for Internet search tools. It's huge. But it doesn't give you much help as to which engine to use. (9/01)
Direct Search: "...a growing compilation of links to the search interfaces of resources that contain data not easily or entirely searchable/accessible from general search tools like Alta Vista, Google, or Hotbot." Also provides links to resources such as Fast Facts, Price's List of Lists, and others. The home page takes a while to load because it lists a whole bunch of specialty databases and other resources. But you don't have to wait for that – the search dialogue loads early on. (9/01)
ExpressFind.com: Acts as a portal to 16 major search engines, and provides links to a bunch more. Also provides links to some specialty engines. (9/01)
IncyWincy: One of the leading "invisible Web" search engines -- provides access to 100,000 specialty search engines in a wide variety of fields. A "drill down" subject index is provided. (9/01)
Infomine: A "virtual library of databases". A collective effort by librarians at several universities which claims access to more than 20,000 academically valuable resources. Most are related to the sciences and education. (9/01)
InvisibleWeb: "A directory of over 10,000 databases, archives, and search engines that contain information that traditional search engines have been unable to access." (9/01)
Search Engine Colossus: Provides links to over 1000 directories/search engines, by location and by category. (9/01)
Search Engine Watch: This page links to many of the engines reviewed elsewhere on the site. Also provides some speciality engines. (9/01)
Search Helper: "The Net Newbie's Search Help Page - How to search Effectively, Help with Search Engine syntax, links". Provides search syntax for the major engines, links to them, and some basic information on the use and advantages of the various types of search engines. The site may not be very current, but it certainly could be useful. Brought to you by Windweaver. (9/01)
SearchIQ: Provides many of the engines listed below, but organised somewhat differently. Also provides some specialty search engines not listed on this page. Brought to you by ZDNet, one of the major sources of information in the desktop computer industry. (9/01)
searchspell BETA: As search portals go, this one isn't huge. But what it does do is check the spelling of the search term you're using, and suggest preferable spellings (where appropriate) for you to plug into the offered search engines. It copies the preferred spelling into those search engines for you — all you have to do is click on "Search". (9/01)
UCal (Berkeley): Provides some useful comment about the invisible Web, as well as listing several sites that provide useful tools for searching the invisible Web. They are rated for their usefulness in academic research. (9/01)
WebLens: Bringing the Web into Focus: This may be the leading omnibus search site. The range of search and other tools it has is enormous, including a wide range of specialty search engines. Its frames-based approach makes navigation easy. (12/02)

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Meta-search Engines

All 4 One Search Machine: Results of 4 Web Search Engines Side by Side. Needs a frames-capable browser. (9/01)
Ampleo.com: This isn't your usual meta-search engine. Real people do the searching, and e-mail the results to you. Could be great if you're not in a hurry and are having trouble with obscure terms or aren't comfortable doing searches for yourself. (9/01)
Ask Jeeves: One of the more successful "plain language" engines, whether you're searching for words, subjects, or ideas. It also returns results from half a dozen search engines. The site stores the answers for questions already asked and now has about 8M such answers. Human assistance is sometimes used to prepare those answers. But if your question is not one of those, you might have to check another search engine as well. (12/02)
Beaucoup Search Engines: Searches 10 engines simultaneously, and provides access to a large number of specialty engines. (9/01)
Debriefing: Said to be rated as the most powerful meta-search engine. Also searches Usenet news, and for image and MP3 files. Powered by ixquick. (9/01)
Dogpile: Powered by InfoSpace. It provides little information about the engines it uses. (9/01)
Fetcher: Fetches results from up to 10 search engines. Does newsgroup searches in AltaVista and DejaNews. (12/02)
Locate.com All-in-One Search: Provides access to about 20 search engines, and provides directories for subject searches. Also allows searches for image and audio files. (9/01)
MetaCrawler: The search engine that searches search engines. Searches the Web and Usenet and does file searches. (9/01)
ProFusion: Claims access to 600,000GB of information in about 1000 sources. You get to choose some of the sources. ProFusion will remember your preferences if you don't mind registering and allowing cookies. (9/01)
Search.com: A meta-search engine — claims to access more than 800 sources for you. Also provides categories for subject searches. Once known as SavvySearch — now brought to you by C-Net. (9/01)
SearchIQ: Provides links to several popular search engines, and rates each according to the kinds of searches each does best. Also provides guides for the best use of search engines.
Webtaxi: Offers parallel and non-parallel searches of a number of sources, including more than a dozen of the search engines listed on this page. (9/01)

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Single-Engine Resources

These sites use their own resources to search the Web, index the results, and search their own indexes to deliver search information to you. Text engines index the text in the pages found by their webcrawlers; subject engines arrange the material by subject so as to group similar materials for your delectation.

Text searches

AllTheWeb: "All the Web, All the Time™" One of the largest engines, with over 2,000M pages in its catalogue as at December, 2002. Also handles searches for pictures, FTP and MP3 files. And yes, it is very fast – but Google might be faster. Ranked third (with a "B" grade) by Fortune in December, 2002. Formerly known as Fast. (12/02)
Alta Vista: Main Page: Search Engine Watch shows Alta Vista as the No. 3 largest site at August 2001, with 550M pages indexed. It has one of the most flexible advanced-search options. But several reviewers say they dislike recent changes in the defaults provided — you may want to use the advanced-search window so you can avoid unpredictable default settings. A subject index is also provided. (9/01)
C-Net search.com: It's fast, and does a good job of ordering the results by relevance. Also provides links to several other search engines of various kinds.
CUSI at Internet Direct: Provides a variety of Web and other search tools, including archie and veronica. Also includes on-line reference texts, shareware searches, and links to other search sites
The Electric Monk: C-Net says it works well, but AskJeeves has information that Electric Monk doesn't. However, it is programmed to enhance relevance of the responses it provides.
Excite Netsearch: Permits "concept" searches; provides site reviews. Also does Usenet searches; yellow-pages searches; e-mail address searches (good!). People-finder works only for US addresses. Also offers a personalized news channel. Good response rate.
ExpressFind.com: Provides a gateway to 16 search engines, and links to a whole bunch more. Also provides news, e-mail, sports, and other resources. You get to choose which one you use — it's not a meta-search engine itself. (9/01)
Galaxy: catalogued hot links; Web searches by subject and full text.
Google!: C-Net's favourite. Mine too. Easy to use. Blindingly fast. Ranks returns by the number of other sites which point to it and by the importance of those sites; ANDs search terms by default to minimize the number of useless hits. As of December, 2002, Google claims 3,000M available for searching, which may still be the largest search base. Ranked third in audience reach by Jupiter MediaMetrix in April, 2002;ranked second in performance (with a "B+" grade) by Fortune in December, 2002. It got good marks for returning relevant documents, but was marked down for excessive duplications. (12/02)
GoTo.com: Fast and simple. Also provides a short list of subject search headings.
HotBot: From Wired Magazine -- provides search engines for sites, e-mail addresses, Usenet, and many other sources. No longer the most comprehensive in terms of pages indexed, but still close. Search Engine Watch rated it "best" by the largest number of magazines.
Infoseek: A fast and fairly flexible search engine. Can search by strings and categories. Also uses topic channels. Search Engine Watch indicates it is second best, after HotBot. MediaMetrix rates it No. 5 in popularity.
Internet Sleuth: Provides access to 10 search engines from Alta Vista to Yahoo; allows searches by topic on around 2000 databases; can handle searches on 6 search engines simultaneously; can do Usenet searches as well.
Lycos: The usual range of internet search tools and search categories. Fast, effective, and popular.
MSN: No. 1 in the audience reach polls, according to Jupiter MediaMetrix in April, 2002. But how much of that is because it's what IE defaults to? Ranked fourth in performance (with a "B-" grade) by Fortune in December, 2002. It was marked down for excessive duplicated returns and for emphasizing relevance of returns from MSN partners. Its advanced search options are also weak. (12/02)
Netscape LookSmart: A popular engine, but it is the Netscape browser's default search engine, so that may not mean a great deal. PC Magazine rated it "fair" in 1998 (with 3 other sites and behind 7 others); in other reviews, it wasn't in the money. And it isn't in the top 8 in terms of size.
Northern Light: Currently claims 365M pages indexed. Permits boolean searches and organization of results, and several special-purpose search forms. Also provides stock market research and real-time newswire material. (12/02)
SearchBC: A search site specifically concerned with "British Columbia business Web sites and B.C. internet resources and media". Provides some categories for limiting or directing searches. This one should do better than the general-purpose engines for B.C.-related stuff.
Stumpers-L: The place where librarians go to find their answers.
WebCrawler: Fast and effective; returns relevance-ordered hits in one-line summaries that can be expanded. "Similar pages" links are available. Also provides a selection of channels.
WebTop: Now has one of the largest indexes (500M pages as at September, 2000), and offers WebCheck, which claims to be able to extract and search on concepts from a block of text. Also offers the option of restricting searches to specified broad categories to reduce the number of hits returned.

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Subject Searches

100Hot: Powered by InfoSpace. "Mentioned in dispatches" by Pam Blackstone. (9/01)
4Anything Network: Pam Blackstone says "this site is essentially a directory featuring rich collections of annotated links on numerous subjects." (9/00)
About.com: A great subject index. It provides its own content too. It may not be as popular as Yahoo, but perhaps it deserves to be. (7/01)
AOL NetFind - Canada's Internet Directory: Made in B.C. for Canadian internet users by Maple Square.
Data-Easy: Also does word searches.
Direct Hit: "One search engine, millions of minds" This one tracks users' responses to a hit. If the user clicks on a hit, then backs out with the "Back" button, Direct Hit assumes that the hit was not relevant, and reduces that hit's rating. Also provides a link to AskJeeves.
eBLAST: Encyclopaedia Britannica's directory of more than 25,000 sites selected for quality and usefulness, organised by subject. Text searches use Alta Vista technology.
Galaxy: "The professional's guide to a world of information"
LookSmart: Uses frames to provide drill-down submenus within upper-level categories. MediaMetrix rates it as the 2nd largest directory, after Yahoo.
Magellan Internet Guide: The usual collection of directories; also provides people & product finders, maps, stock quotes, weather, etc.
Maple Square: "Cataloging Canada's Web Sites and Creating and Promoting Canadian Content"
Oingo: C-Net liked the search categories and its ability to search for meanings. But the returns are not well organised, and the site design could use some improvement.
Open Directory Project: "Humans do it better." ODP is better for subject-matter searches than news. Easy to use; directories are human-created. Accuracy of returns is very good.
Snap!: Subject-oriented, but permits string searches too. Provides customization for topics like weather, stock quotes, etc.
Suite 101: A subject-based collection of contributed articles on a wide range of topics
Top10Links: 16 channels, and the usual subject directories. "Mentioned in dispatches" by Pam Blackstone. (9/01)
With1Click.com: Provides the usual subject directories. But also lets you set up searches without having to actually go to With1Click's site. Check out With1Click's "location bar search". (9/01)
Yahoo!: The largest and oldest (1994) subject catalogue — and edited by 150 live, warm bodies! MediaMetrix rates Yahoo as the most popular site. Ranked first (with a "A" grade) for superior performance in relevance and removal of duplicate links by Fortune in December, 2002. No. 2 in the audience reach polls, according to Jupiter MediaMetrix in April, 2002. (12/02)
Yep: Provides results ranked by quality and popularity. Fun for random surfing.

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Clearinghouses

Data clearinghouses provide subject-based guides, or Web-based resources to the subjects covered, which include links to appropriate pages. They are therefore akin to resources like Yahoo!, but attempt to collate related pages into an integrated package rather than just providing the location of pages of interest.

This category seems never to have caught on. There used to be more clearinghouses listed here.

Argus: "The Argus Clearinghouse provides a central access point for value-added topical guides which identify, describe, and evaluate Internet-based information resources." Unfortunately, it is not being maintained, though the work done remains as a resource. (12/02)

E-mail & Web Addresses

AnyWho:: Find Telephone Numbers, E-mail addresses, Home Page URLs, FAX numbers, Toll Free Numbers, and Addresses. Also does reverse telephone searches.
Bigfoot: Finds telephone listings within the U.S., e-mail addresses, etc. Uses 1-800-US-Search for some of its functions.
Dot Com Directory: Finds almost any origanization's web page if it has a .com, .net, or .org suffix. Also does searches by business type.
InfoSpace: Along with a top-notch people search, InfoSpace also features a lot of handy links to other Web necessities such as communities, city guides, government sites and more. Can handle searches for Canadian e-mail addresses and reverse phone searches, etc.
JournalismNet: Finds e-mail addresses, Usenet and Web page contributors; other miscellaneous resources. Uses some of the same type of resources as 1-800-US-Search.
MetaFinder tool: A Ziff-Davis facility. Submits search criteria to five search engines simultaneously; returns snail mail and/or e-mail addresses.
NYNEX Interactive Yellow Pages - Home Page
SwitchBoard: Does "what's nearby?" searches, as well as the usual.
WhoWhere: A good little phone, email and site finder. Plus it also has a few cool specialty searches, including a genealogy search, public records search and celebrity search. Brought to you by Lycos.
WorldPages: A very comprehensive search facility for people, business, governments, web sites, and some information such as stock quotes, weather, maps, etc.
Yahoo People Search: Can do searches based on domain name, organization tag or even old email addresses.
1-800-US-Search: Uses U.S. Public Record databases — the same databases used by private investigators and law enforcement agencies. Also finds people by first name. Liens, civil judgement, and bankruptcy records are also searchable. There is a charge for some searches.

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Image Databases

Image search engines do just that -- they index images. Trouble is, indexing is a bit subjective, so your mileage may vary.

Alltheweb: "all the web, all the time". Was known as FAST Search. It's the No. 2 search engine for size. (9/01)
AltaVista Images: Comes with AltaVista's usual ability to specify a search with precision if you want to. (9/01)
Debriefing: Provides for Usenet news, image and MP3 file searches from the same interface. Powered by ixquick. (9/01)
Google Images: It's Google. It has 250M images for you to look at. Need I say more? (9/01)
Locate.com All-in-One Search: Allows searches for image and audio files. (9/01)
Picsearch: Straightforward search engine, and reasonably fast. (1/02)

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ListServs

Listservs are the systems that handle e-zines and e-mail discussion groups. They're usually free. More detailed information on how they work can be found at this page. The sites listed below will help you find an e-zine or two that deals with your areas of interest.

Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists -- Index: Claims to be "the Internet's premier Mailing List Directory". Privately maintained. (9/01)
CataList, the catalog of LISTSERV lists: LSoft's search engine allows for searches of both lists and list sites, and will display lists on a variety of bases. (9/01)
Internet Mailing Lists Guides and Resources: Background info -- FAQ, netiquette, how-to-use. (9/01)
Low Bandwidth: Lists e-zines by category, provides descriptions and subscription instructions. May not be current. (9/01)
Topica: "Learn more. Surf less. Choose from thousands of newsletters and discussions." (9/01)

Resource Locators

Inter-links Internet Access: "Inter-Links is an Internet navigator, resource locator, and tutorial." (9/01)
Screen.com — Life on the Internet: Tool descriptions and usage; some links to resources. (9/01)

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Software Search Utilities

There is a great deal of software available for downloading from the Internet, whether as freeware, shareware, or "buy-before-you-try". In general, freeware is copyrighted, but no payment is required. Shareware is bought on a "try-before-you-buy" basis; if you decide to use it, you are obliged to pay a registration fee to the publisher of the software. Usually, nothing is paid to the site from which you download shareware. Some shareware includes enforcement provisions — it will disable itself if it remains unregistered past a certain trial period, or will nag you to death. "Buy-before-you-try" is the same as commercial shrinkwrapped software, except that there is usually a saving because the manufacturer's distribution costs are significantly reduced and there is no printed manual. Both are expensive for the software publisher.

Don't assume that the lack of indication of any cost means it's freeware. Sometimes the shareware registration fee is not disclosed by the repository, and you don't find out about it until you've unpacked the download.

Some of these sites maintain copies of shareware and freeware software on their own servers. Others redirect your download request to the publisher's website, so you get it direct. Some would suggest that a file obtained directly from the publisher is less likely to have been messed with. Regardless of the source, anti-virus precautions should always be taken. Links to further information on that topic can be found on the anti-virus information page on this site.

Dave Central Software Archive: Speedy and well-organized. Provides a very helpful expanding tree for navigation and file-finding. Windows 3.x, 9x, NT, Linux, etc. — but the lists don't show that. You have to select the file for downloading to find out what platforms it will run on. But generally you're downloading from the publisher, not Dave Central. (9/01)
DOWNLOAD.COM: C-Net's shareware search utility — by category. Most OS's supported, incl. Win 3.1 (12/02)
Galt Download Zone: Reviews let you know which OS you need, what the registration fee is, and provide links to the publisher's site for further info. (1/02)
Jumbo! - Shareware! Shareware! Shareware!: Server can be slow. Navigation could be clearer. Not clear what platforms or O/S's are supported on the site. (9/01)
OAK Software Repository: Uses the Virtual Software Library (VSL), which is now supported by C-Net at shareware.com
Personal Library Software: Commercial full-text search engine
PC Computing Magazine's Free Stuff
Rocket Download: A quick look suggests that this one is not an easy site to find what you want. But maybe I missed something. (9/01)
Shareware Shop Catalog: Provides access to a variety of FTP and other sites, with descriptive comments. Good for DOS and Windows shareware and freeware.
SHAREWARE.COM -- Simple Search: Another C-Net service.
Simtel.Net: Search engine for the Simtel Worldwide Shareware Distribution Network. Most O/S's are supported, including DOS and Win 3.x. (9/01)
"Tucows" — The Ultimate Collection of Software: Something for every O/S, including Windows 3.1 and Palm machines. The home page will direct you to an appropriate mirror site for faster downloads. They're everywhere. (9/01)

Usenet Searches

Debriefing: Provides for Usenet news, image and MP3 file searches from the same interface. Powered by ixquick. (9/01)
Deja News Research Service: Designed primarily for Usenet searches. Might be the best one. Well, it was the first one. Taken over by Google. (9/01)
Google Groups: Yes, brought to you by the same site that has the largest index of Web pages. (9/01)

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This page last updated on December 29, 2002