Web Search Engines & Directories
Last updated:
June 19, 2009
The following Quick
Reference provides an overview of some of the more popular public
Web Search
Engines and Directories, including details on their history, information on how they work and tips
for using each.
Page 1 (Bing, Google,
Yahoo, Microsoft Live)
Page 2 (Alta Vista, Ask.com,
AOL Search)
Current Page (Business.com, Dogpile, Cuil)
Business.com
Business.com touts itself as both a business search engine and
pay-per-click advertising network. The search directory caters
to unique monthly visitors and its pay-per-click advertising
network serving more than 40 million unique business users. The search
is organized around a directory of more than 65,000 business product and
service categories linked to over three million keywords. when users
search Business.com the keywords are automatically match them to the
most appropriate directory category and search results are a broad
search across those categories. The search aims to help business
professionals in three main ways:
Learn with Business How-To Guides, which are integrated into many
Business.com categories, find information with links to related
categories on each directory page, and also to buy through its list of
relevant vendors across thousands of business products and services. In
2006, Business.com launched Work.com, a business-to-business community
publishing platform where experts share advice on common business
topics.
Business.com Search Tips:
- Business.com searches its Directory,
however for searches outside the Business Internet, Business.com will
search the entire Web for the most relevant results.
- By default, Business.com only returns results that include all of your
search terms.
- There is no need to search for plurals (searching for "monitor" also
returns results for "monitors")
- Stemming is automatically supported (searching for "manufacturing"
will return results for any form of the word "manufacture").
- Search symbols such as + or - do not work on the Business.com search
Dogpile
Dogpile Web search is a single search engines that produces results
compiled from what they call "all the best search engines." Dogpile is
the company's flagship metasearch engine — that is, one search engine
that searches multiple search engines. Dogpile offers users the most
relevant search results from twelve different search engines including
Google, Yahoo, About, Miva, LookSmart, Microsoft Live Search and Ask.com.
Dogpile is owned by InfoSpace who also owns MetaCrawler, WebCrawler,
Zoo.com and WebFetch. Infospace, Switchboard and Find It are the
company's local search brands.
Dogpile Tips:
- Dogpile recognizes spaces, so be sure to search with the correct
spaces included.
- Search using the most literal word order.
- Dogpile offers users the ability to refine search results. If you
search using the broad term of insurance, its "Are You Looking For"
technology suggests various terms such as home or auto.
- Dogpile's search categories, which should be used when looking for a
specific type of content. These categories include things like audio,
images, and news. Just check the category radio button above the search
box to use them.
Cuil
Cuil (pronounced 'cool') first launched in July 2008. The search engine has an interesting history—it was developed by
former Google employees Anna Patterson and Russell Power. Another unique aspect of Cuil is that, according to the site's privacy
policy, it does not keep logs of search activity. The search engine's main page says that Cuil has 124,426,951,803 Web pages
indexed as of July 18, 2009.
Cuil offers a
drilldown search. On some searches you may see a panel that says
"Explore By Category" and includes a list of subjects related to your
search. If you roll-over a category, it will open and show refinements
related to your search. By looking at these suggestions, you may
discover search data and other areas of interest. Cuil is available in
seven languages, including English, French, Spanish, Italian, German,
Portuguese and Turkish.
Page 1 (Bing, Google,
Yahoo, Microsoft Live)
Page 2 (Alta Vista, Ask.com,
AOL Search)
Current Page (Business.com, Dogpile, Cuil)
Webopedia's Search Engine Guide is compiled and maintained by Vangie Beal
Last updated:
June 19, 2009
Bing Search Page
Google Search Page
Yahoo Search Page
Windows Live Search Page
AltaVista Search Page
Ask.com Search Page
AOL
Search
page
Business.com Search Page
Dogpile Search
Page
Google Search Tips and Shortcuts
While Google produces fast search results, there
several quick and easy shortcuts that will help improve your Google
searches.
Google Webmaster Central
Statistics, diagnostics and management of Google's indexing of your website,
including Sitemap submission and reporting.
Search Engine
Land
Covering major search engine marketing news and search engines.
Search Engine Optimization Tips
What people need to know is that search engine optimization, which is
actually the effective utilization of search engines to draw traffic to
a Web site, is an art.
New Products Claim to Make SEM and SEO Easier
Adding to the confusion for small businesses unfamiliar with search
engine technology, is that search engine marketing (SEM) and search
engine optimization (SEO) are not the same thing . even though some tend
to use the acronyms interchangeably.
How to Hire a Good SEO Expert
For most online merchants, it's a simple equation: the higher they rank
in search engines, the more shoppers they attract.
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