Major Search Engines
Why are the services below considered to be the Major Search Engines? They are all either well-known or well-used.For webmasters, these services are the most important places to be listed, because they can potentially generate so much traffic.
For searchers, these well-known, commercially-backed search engines generally mean more dependable results. These search engines are more likely to be well-maintained and upgraded when necessary, to keep pace with the growing web.
Not all of the services below are "true" search engines that crawl the web. For instance, Yahoo and the Open Directory both are "directories" that depend on humans to compile their listings. In fact, most of the services below offer both search engine and directory information, though they will prodominately feature one type of results over the other.
AOL
Search
AOL Search allows its members to search across the web and AOL's own
content from one place. The "external" version, listed above, does not
list AOL content. The main listings for categories and web sites come from
the Open Directory (see below). Inktomi (see below) also provides crawler-based
results, as backup to the directory information. Before the launch of AOL
Search in October 1999, the AOL search service was Excite-powered AOL NetFind.
AltaVista
AltaVista is consistently one of the largest search engines on the
web, in terms of pages indexed. Its comprehensive coverage and wide range
of power searching commands makes it a particular favorite among researchers.
In addition to crawler-based web page matches, it also offers news search,
shopping search, multimedia search and human-powered directory results
from LookSmart (see below). AltaVista opened in December 1995. It was owned
by Digital, then run by Compaq (which purchased Digital in 1998), then
spun off into a separate company which is now controlled by CMGI.
Ask
Jeeves
Ask Jeeves is a human-powered search service that aims to direct you
to the exact page that answers your question.
Direct
Hit
Direct Hit measures what people click on in the search results presented
at its own site and at its partner sites, such as HotBot. Sites that get
clicked on more than others rise higher in Direct Hit's rankings. Thus,
the service dubs itself a "popularity engine." Aside from running its own
web site, Direct Hit provides the main results which appear at HotBot (see
below) and is available as an option to searchers at MSN Search. Direct
Hit is owned by Ask Jeeves (above). Some Direct Hit information appears
at Ask Jeeves.
Excite
Excite offers a medium-sized crawler-based web page index, as well
as access to human-powered directory results from LookSmart. Excite was
launched in late 1995. It grew quickly in prominence and consumed two of
its competitors, Magellan in July 1996, and WebCrawler in November 1996.
Magellan was discontinued in April 2001. WebCrawler continues to operate
as a separate service, but it provides the same results at the Excite.com
site itself.
FAST
Search
FAST Search consistently has one of the largest indexes of the web.
FAST also offers large multimedia and mobile/wireless web indexes, available
from its site. The site, also known as AllTheWeb.com, is a showcase for
FAST's search technologies. FAST's results are provided to numerous portals,
including those run by Terra Lycos. FAST Search launched in May 1999.
Google
Google is a search engine that makes heavy use of link popularity as
a primary way to rank web sites. This can be especially helpful in finding
good sites in response to general searches such as "cars" and "travel,"
because users across the web have in essence voted for good sites by linking
to them. The system works so well that Google has gained wide-spread praise
for its high relevancy. Google also has a huge index of the web and provides
some results to Yahoo and Netscape Search.
HotBot
HotBot is a favorite among researchers due to its many power searching
features. In most cases, HotBot's first page of results comes from the
Direct Hit service (see above), and then secondary results come from the
Inktomi search engine, which is also used by other services. It gets its
directory information from the Open Directory project (see below). HotBot
launched in May 1996 as Wired Digital's entry into the search engine market.
Lycos purchased Wired Digital in October 1998 and continues to run HotBot
as a separate search service.
IWon
Backed by US television network CBS, iWon has a directory of web sites
generated automatically by Inktomi, which also provides its more traditional
crawler-based results. iWon gives away daily, weekly and monthly prizes
in a marketing model unique among the major services. It launched in Fall
1999.
Inktomi
Originally, there was an Inktomisearch
engine at UC Berkeley. The creators then formed their own company with
the same name and created a new Inktomi index, which was first used to
power HotBot. Now the Inktomi index also powers several other services.
All of them tap into the same index, though results may be slightly different.
This is because Inktomi provides ways for its partners to use a common
index yet distinguish themselves. There is no way to query the Inktomi
index directly, as it is only made available through Inktomi's partners
with whatever filters and ranking tweaks they may apply.
LookSmart
LookSmart is a human-compiled directory of web sites. In addition to
being a stand-alone service, LookSmart provides directory results to MSN
Search, Excite and many other partners. Inktomi provides LookSmart with
search results when a search fails to find a match from among LookSmart's
reviews. LookSmart launched independently in October 1996, was backed by
Reader's Digest for about a year, and then company executives bought back
control of the service.
Lycos
Lycos started out as a search engine, depending on listings that came
from spidering the web. In April 1999, it shifted to a directory model
similar to Yahoo. Its main listings come from the Open Directory project,
and then secondary results come from the FAST Search engine. Some Direct
Hit results are also used. In October 1998, Lycos acquired the competing
HotBot search service, which continues to be run separately.
MSN
Search
Microsoft's MSN Search service is a LookSmart-powered directory of
web sites, with secondary results that come from Inktomi. RealNames and
Direct Hit data is also made available.
NBCi
NBCi is a human-compiled directory of web sites, supplemented by search
results from Inktomi. It was formerly known as Snap but had a name change
in late 2000. Backed by US television network NBC, the site's future is
in doubt, as NBC announced wide-spread layoffs in April 2001.
Netscape
Search
Netscape Search's results come primarily from the Open Directory and
Netscape's own "Smart Browsing" database, which does an excellent job of
listing "official" web sites. Secondary results come from Google. At the
Netscape Netcenter portal site,
other search engines are also featured.
Northern
Light
Northern Light is another favorite search engine among researchers.
It features a large index of the web, along with the ability to cluster
documents by topic. Northern Light also has a set of "special collection"
documents that are not readily accessible to search engine spiders. There
are documents from thousands of sources, including newswires, magazines
and databases. Searching these documents is free, but there is a charge
of up to $4 to view them. There is no charge to view documents on the public
web -- only for those within the special collection. Northern Light opened
to general use in August 1997.
Open
Directory
The Open Directory uses volunteer editors to catalog the web. Formerly
known as NewHoo, it was launched in June 1998. It was acquired by Netscape
in November 1998, and the company pledged that anyone would be able to
use information from the directory through an open license arrangement.
Netscape itself was the first licensee. Lycos and AOL Search also make
heavy use of Open Directory data.
RealNames
The RealNames system is meant to be an easier-to-use alternative to
the current web site addressing system. Those with RealNames-enabled browsers
can enter a word like "Nike" to reach the Nike web site. To date, RealNames
has had its biggest success through search engine partnerships.
Yahoo
Yahoo is the web's most popular search service and has a well-deserved
reputation for helping people find information easily. The secret to Yahoo's
success is human beings. It is the largest human-compiled guide to the
web, employing about 150 editors in an effort to categorize the web. Yahoo
has well over 1 million sites listed. Yahoo also supplements its results
with those from Google (beginning in July 2000, when Google takes over
from Inktomi). If a search fails to find a match within Yahoo's own listings,
then matches from Google are displayed. Google matches also appear after
all Yahoo matches have first been shown. Yahoo is the oldest major web
site directory, having launched in late 1994.