Can you recommend a good search engine

Asks Madeline

A. Some of the most popular search engines include the following:

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Google

Google has become increasingly popular since it launched a couple of years ago - especially as it now boasts over two billion pages. But size isn't everything, some engines compile their results from so many sources that they are often inaccurate and you can spend days just trawling through the results and still not find what you're after.

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The good thing about Google is that its coverage is amazingly extensive and its results are both accurate and relevant as it uses link analysis technology - this basically means that it presumes that websites on its results listing that have the most links connected to them will be more relevant to your search, so lists them above smaller and often more obscure sites.

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The look of the engine itself is very simple, with little or no advertising (especially no annoying banner and pop-up ads) and its really easy to use. It has some great add-ons too - its I'm Feeling Lucky option takes you immediately to the site of the highest ranking result from your search; its safe search option that blocks porn; and you can also translate pages in languages other than English.

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Yahoo

Yahoo is the most popular search engine in the UK and one of the best as it is incredibly fast and accurate. It is more a directory than a search engine (see below for definition) because it is compiled by humans instead of a machine, with over one million pages. It has recently done a deal with Google, so uses some of its search results in its listings too. It also has some cool add-ons like email, auctions and an address book.

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MSN Search

Although you probably won't automatically associate MSN with search engines, it probably has the largest reach of any search engine in the world - simply because it is the default search engine on Microsoft Explorer. It compiles its list of results to your search from other sources (smaller search engines), as well as its in-house editors, such as Direct Hit, Inktomi and Looksmart. It is incredibly easy and quick to use and probably already bookmarked on your PC.

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Altavista

AltaVista was one of the first on the web, and has created a search model that many others have followed. It was the first search engine to introduce text translation into and from different languages, using Babel Fish. It claims to re-spider its pages every month to update them. While offering traditional search engine facilities it also offers MP3 and image search, a currency converter and current news.

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Ask Jeeves

Ask Jeeves is a search engine for Internet virgins and novices - its Butler gives it a user friendly feel and because it allows you to ask questions rather than type in a few key words it adds a human touch to your Internet experience. This is all well and good but all too often your question is not actually answered but rather you are presented with a list of questions similar to your own - which can be either helpful or very frustrating. Having said that, as a result of its major TV ad campaign, it is one of the most popular search engines in the UK

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Q. How do search engines work

A. A search engine is a tool that helps users of the Internet find information they need. It is basically a huge database of websites that you can search by typing in key words. Search engines use computer programmes called spiders (or robots) that crawl the web by following links to different sites, and indexing this information to compile a database.

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Each search engine will use its own criteria for interpreting this information and categorising it onto its own database - and then presenting this information to the customer. Once you have typed in your keyword/s into a search engine it will search its database, and come back to you with a list of relevant sites. By clicking on an item in this list, you will be automatically re-directed to that site.

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However, search engine results can vary from engine to engine, even if the exact same information is included on their databases - as each engine will use different criteria to present the results found, to you the customer. Some will list the results of a user's search according to which sites have the most links from other sites, known as link popularity, and present these at the top of their list of results.

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Other search engines will prioritise results according to the summary information contained in sites' meta tags, while some will look for common themes used throughout a site. Most engines will use a combination of all these methods in presenting the results of a search to the user.

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Q. How does a search engine differ from a directory

A. A directory will use real people to review and index their links, instead of spiders, and only include websites if they follow strict indexing guidelines. Hence, results from a directory may be smaller than those found using a search engine.

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Most search engines are a hybrid of a directory and a search engine.

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By Karen Anderson