AltaVista
AltaVista | Click here to visit AltaVista | |
Run by Digital EquipmentSimple search does text search
Most comprehensiveAdvanced search uses Boolean OperatorsAdvanced search can limit search by dateAdvanced search can prioritize results
Does not rank sites, just looks for textExcite | Click here to visit Excite |  |
Searches by textOffers "Query by Example", which allows you to search for similar pages, without requiringQuite basic and simple to useOpening screen asks you to search by either "keyword" or "concept", but both give youDoes not allow you to change original query from the results pageInstead, you must click on "Refine Search"Ranks sites from 0-100%, but it is often an innaccurate measurementInfoseek | Click here to visit Infoseek |  |
Free search enginePaid service called Infoseek ProfessionalOffers categorized site reviewsSearches by textHas similar pages optionUses Boolean OperatorsSometimes gives you inaccurate resultsLycos | Click here to visit Lycos |  |
Instead of using * as the symbol for wildcard, the $ symbol is usedText search, as well as index searchAble to find more pages than Excite or Infoseek, but still falls behind AltaVistaHighlights occurences of keywords in the results page"Stems" words, meaning a search for "paper" will also search for "papers"Allows for exclusion of certain pages that have a specified keywordDoes not allow user to specify a required keyword to be presentYou can't match complete phrasesIncapable of Boolean searchesWebCrawler | Click here to visit WebCrawler |  |
AOL's search engineVery simple interface (good for beginners)Boolean Operators can be usedQuotation marks can be used to denote a sequence of wordsDoes not have a lot of sites under its search functions, making it less effectiveUsually gives you few matchesYahoo! | Click here to visit Yahoo! |  |
It's actually a searchable indexRelies on real people to visit sites and summarize them and categorize themSimple enough for beginnersWhen you search, you can search for a word in the category title, or in its site summaryVery easy to locate similar sitesResults page highlights the best sites, and puts them at the top of the listBy cataloging the web, the results aren't as broadDoesn't allow for text search in the contents of the page, so keywords must be in the summaryIt does have "Open-text" function which performs text searches, but isn't very good
