Finding information: search engines

Search engines that help you find whatever you are looking for. This is a collection of helpful resources to assist you in finding information.

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What do you need to find, and what do you already know?

What is the best resource to make use of?

I know what I'm looking for, and I can describe it with some key words Google is always a good bet, since it has the largest index.
Yahoo Search is useful if Google doesn't do it for you.
MSN (Live) Search is getting better and may provide results if the other two don't work.
I have an exact phrase that I want to search for Any of the above, with "double quotes" around the phrase will do the trick.
Where can I find the search engine test beds? SearchMash (Google)
AlltheWeb (Yahoo)
AltaVista (Yahoo)
MsDewey (Live/Microsoft)
Imagine Live (Microsoft)
Ask X (Ask)
I want a quick factual answer Microsoft Encarta provides factual information to questions
Ask can sometimes be worth asking, if you tightly phrase your question
Brainboost is new, but seems to work quite well.
Factbites is also new. Good for very specific search terms
Answers.com Good standby. Viewed by many as the resource for facts
I want to compare results from different search engines Dogpile's missing pieces Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves. This seems to have died.
Thumbshots Ranking compares results from Google, Yahoo, Alltheweb, AltaVista, MSN, Teoma, Wisenut.
TurboScout allows you to type in the search once, then run it across 23 different search engines.
WebFetch Same as Dogpile's missing pieces
Jux2 is back in business
I want an overview of a subject. Yahoo Directory provides 14 main categories
Google Directory provides access to 16 main categories
The Open Directory Project provides access to 16 main categories
I want to know about trends in searching Ask IQ Top searches, movies, news, advancing searches of the week
Yahoo Buzz Index Various options, mainly entertainment.
Google Trends Searchable, but not amazingly impressive.
Lycos Top 50 Various listings.
I want some suggested categories to narrow my search Clusty suggests narrower topics to search under
Ask suggests narrower and broader categories (Very good indeed!)
Exalead has related term suggestions and other methods of narrowing your results
I want people moderated results eBingBong lets users rate results.
Mahalo provides people generated lists of sites, part search engine, part directory.
ChaCha employs guides to help users find what they need.
Insuggest add a site you know, this shows others that relate to it. Very good.
iRazoo also lets you vote for sites.
Sproose is another 'vote for this page' engine, which has been around a while.
There are also bookmarking sites such as Technorati and Digg available as well.
I want a small collection of websites I can look at Virtual libraries from Pinakes. Drill down for the content/sites you need.
I need recent additions to search engines   GooFresh from Research Buzz for new additions to Google
Exalead Advanced Search to limit by time
AlltheWeb Advanced Search has a date limiting function
I want to see thumbnails of pages before visiting them Ask will show thumbnails if you click on the binoculars symbol
Exalead will show thumbnails and loads the page locally for you to see it
Redzee displays a flowing guide of pages rather than text rankings.
ZapMeta has a quick view option
I want to do a comprehensive search across search engines eZ2Find is a meta search engine with access to 6 major engines
Ixquick has a nunber of UK based engines in its collection
Aftervote does a GYM search
Fazzle gives you a percentage result
I want to re-rank or re-order my results Exalead Advanced re-ranks by date
MSN Search Builder re-orders on update/popularity/accuracy
Google Personalized will re-rank based on your interests
ZapMeta re-ranks on popularity, title, source, domain
Aftervote is a multi engine, re-rank on results, page rank, Alexa etc.
Yahoo! Mindset reorders on a sliding scale from shopping to researching
I want a more personalised search experience Personalised Google Emphasis subject areas of importance
Eurekster is good for groups of people
Searchy personalise it to look for what you want
Collarity is an excellent choice
Aftervote allows you to rank results.
My Stuff (from Ask) storage, access from different computers
I want RSS feeds for my searches. MSN Search will save a search as RSS, and you can add it to your aggregator
Google News will save searches (inc. Web) and email results to you, as well as create RSS feeds
IceRocket also allows you to create an RSS feed from a search
I don't know how to spell what I'm looking for Exalead Advanced search allows you to search for approximate spelling or phonetic spelling
The Reverse Dictionary will suggest words based on your suggestions
Dictionary.com can suggest correct spellings for you
I want a visual representation of my results Kartoo provides a visual indication of importance of results and links between them
Mooter provides an initial visual representation
WebBrain displays a visual representation above, and links below
Quintura is a new engine offering a tag cloud based on results
I need to search for different file formats Google Advanced search for .pdf .ps .doc .xls .ppt .rtf
Yahoo Advanced search for all these plus .xml
Exalead Advanced for .txt .pdf .doc .xls .ppt .rtf .wpd .swf
I need to find websites that I can trust Pinakes provides a list of Virtual Libraries with links to sites chosen by experts
Librarians' Index to the Internet sites are chosen by librarians
Scandoo accurately indicates a level of trustworthiness
The World Wide Web Virtual Library provides access to virtual libraries
I need access to academic resources Infomine for scholarly internet resource collections
Scirus provides access to scientific information
Google Scholar provides access to scholarly articles
SMEALSearch for Academic business information
ChemSpider for over 10,000,000 chemical structures.
I need to do a health related search Healia is designed for professionals, but great for all of us.
SearchMedica for GPs
I want to search geographically Country search engines is my list of over 4,000 country search engines
Teoma Advanced has a regional search option
Many search engines have regional versions - replace the .com with the country code
I want to search the hidden web or the invisible web Turbo10 searches over 700 deep web search engines
CompletePlanet has over 70,000 resources
OAIster emphasis on academic material
eZ2Find suggests appropriate databases once a search has been run
ProFusion and Invisible net, both previously listed here have closed.
I need to find images Google Images has over 1 billion indexed
Yahoo Search has over 1.5 billion images
Fagan Finder lists several dozen good engines
I need to find Weblogs Feedster is fast and effective
Technorati is probably the best known weblog search engine
Google Blog Search if you really must use Google
IceRocket blog search is an excellent resource as well
I need to find moving images Yahoo! Video Search broad search
Google Video Search for recent television programmes
Trooker is a multi search engine that allows you to save your clips
YouTube is the most well known of these services, recently bought by Google
Blinkx TV video search
I need to find sounds FindSounds for sound effects and musical instruments
I want to find out detailed information about a certain site link:www.sitename.com in a search engine tells you who links to it
The Wayback machine may be able to show you an archived version of a site
Better Whois shows ownership for top level domains
Ajaxwhois Great for site statistics searches
Alexa provides traffic details and related sites
I need search engines suitable for children SearchEngineWatch provides a good overview
KidsClick! directory listings, chosen by librarians
Yahooligans! for children aged 7-12
I want to find people Internet Address Finder US biased, but still useful
192 for UK individuals
British Telecom Directory Enquiries
I want people's opinions on a subject Google Groups provides access to newsgroups
Digg keeps you up to date on what people find interesting
Technorati searches weblogs in more depth
I want current affairs and news information Google news over 4,000 news resources
BBC it's the BBC - what else to say?
Accoona to super target your search
MSN Newsbot, wide variety of resources, slightly US biased
I want information on particular words Online Etymology Dictionary Large and impressive collection
World Wide Words International English from a UK viewpoint
Anagrams Very good utility for finding anagrams.
Acronym Finder is extremely good
What's new on the Internet? Neat New Stuff from an American Librarian, Marylaine Block
Librarians Index to the Internet new sites that have been discovered and listed
USA Today web guide is fairly eclectic
I want local information (UK local) Google provides local information by adding in a place
Streetmap for UK information on places, streets and postcodes
UpMyStreet for UK information on particular areas/regions
Yahoo Local for the US
Yahoo Local for the UK
I want to share or view bookmarks FURL excellent for saving pages and sharing them with others
SPURL is very similar to FURL
Del.icio.us for social bookmarking
Connotea online reference management service for scientists from Nature
My Bookmarks is the one that I've been using just for bookmarks.

This is a collection of search engines and similar resources that I use on a regular basis when I'm looking for different types of information. It's not an exhaustive list, nor is it comprehensive. It's a list of what I personally find very useful.

Other similar lists exist - I'm not pretending that mine is original in concept. You might also want to try:

I hope that you find this page to be of use to you:
if so, please consider making a small donation to help me
keep my site free.

This collection © Phil Bradley 2005, 2006, 2007 Last updated February 9th 2008