Justin's Theatre Links

For a more detailed guide on Internet search engines, visit the Search Engine Guide PowerPoint presentation. Many useful search tools can also be found on the meta search engine page.

Google The ultimate in Internet search engines. Google has the largest database, the most relevant results and a nice, clean user-friendly interface. But no search engine can scour the entire Web. So if you want the best results, Google is a great start, but contrary to popular belief you won't find everything you're looking for. Google is both a search engine and a directory, modifying the Open Directory database. Sponsored results are conveniently off to the right and not in the way for the serious web searcher.

Yahoo! Search A new and improved search engine, Yahoo Search! is now a powerful search tool that no longer relies on Google to retrieve many of its results behind the scenes. Now even better than it always was, Yahoo is both a search engine and a directory. Sponsored results are at the top and right of each page, but are clearly identified.

AlltheWeb Now owned by Yahoo, AlltheWeb's future is unknown. Although using Yahoo to retrieve many of its results, AlltheWeb is still a great search engine that also features news, picture, video and audio searches. You can also retrieve similar results with suggested topics. Sponsored results are at the top of each list.

AltaVista Also now owned by Yahoo, AltaVista (one of the Web's first search engines) waits in limbo. Nevertheless, it is still a very useful search tool with Web, images, video, MP3 and news searches. Also features directory searches using the Open Directory database. Sponsored results are located at the top of each page.

Open Directory Project The world's largest search directory compiled by humans (as opposed to computers). Great for very specific searches on a multitude of topics, but it has a significantly smaller database of websites than many search engines. Human editing means that many irrelevant or useless websites are filtered out and not included in the database. No ads, just the good stuff!

Hotbot Useful search tool, although it has probably been overtaken in recent years by other major players. Sponsored links are located at the top of each list.

Ask Particularly relevant for beginners of all ages and children (Ask Jeeves has a great kids section). Employs special technology that understands complete questions in the search query. Uses Teoma to retrieve some of its results. Sponsored links can be either at the top or bottom of each list and unfortunately (depending on the search query) can be numerous.

AOL Search Popular search tool owned by America Online. Uses Google for its results. Sponsored listings at the top of the page.

Web Crawler Effective search tool that unfortunately sneaks in sponsored results amongst the middle of the real stuff.

Wisenut Fantastic little 'no frills' search engine that produces surprisingly relevant results. Owned by LookSmart.

Live Search Very popular search tool with relevant results. Owned by Microsoft.