Surfin’ by Slim

The internet

  1. started by Uncle Sam
  2. The Internet was created for exchanging files
  3. Terms you should know

Surfing

  1. toolbars
  2. How to get out of a frame (see finding info. #6)
  3. Where to get more information(search engines)

Finding information / Searching for information on the net

  1. directories
  2. collections of links to websites
  3. edited by humans
  4. Mr. Schneider’s Links Page
  5. search engines
  6. uses a special program (called a spider or a crawler) automatically, copying all the data into a huge database
  7. you are not searching the Web at all, but the information this engine has gathered
  8. meta-search engines
  9. They search several search engines and directories at the same time, trying to extract the most relevant hits from all of them.
  10. For more complex searches, you should go directly to the relevant search engine. Also note that the metasearch engines will give you but a small part of the results from each individual search engine.
  11. advanced search
  12. similar sites option for results (more like this)
  13. open in new window

Privacy

  1. Subscribe to our free newsletter!
  2. email lists
  3. unsubscribing from email lists
  4. junk mail - spam

The Best Search Engines

In this section Pandia presents the best search engines in the world. If you are looking for an all-in-one list of search engines, you should visit our Powersearch gateway.

About the best search engines

In case you did not know: A search engine is not a directory. Directories like Yahoo! or Pandia Plus are collections of links to websites reviewed and edited by human beings like you and me.

A search engine, on the other hand, uses a special program (called a spider or a crawler) to surf the Web automatically, copying all the data into a huge database (an index or list of information).

So when you are "searching" the Web using one of the best search engines, you are not searching the Web at all, but the information this engine has gathered on its computers.

Not one of the various search engines has information that covers the entire Web. Nor are all the results up to date. That is why you should use more than one of the best search engines.

Back to top

Search Engines
About the best...
Alta Vista[Q]
Alta V. Advanced[Q]
HotBot [Q]
Lycos US
Lycos local
Northern Light[Q]
Fast All The Web
Overture
Google
NEW!iLOR
Oingo
TopClick / Search Engines
WebTop
iWon
Alta Vista UK[Q]
HotBot UK [Q]
Lycos UK
[Q]
Overture UK
Euroseek
EuroFerret
SearchUK
Aesop.com
NEW!Teoma (beta)
NEW!SearchHippo
NEW!WiseNut
more...
/ Metasearch
Pandia Metasearch
Search.com
Ask Jeeves
Ask Jeeves UK
Metacrawler
Mamma
Dogpile
RedeSearch.com
C4
Ixquick
Subjex
qbSearch
Vivisimo
Comet way
NEW!MoonMist UK
more...
Directories
About the best...
Pandia Plus[Q]
Yahoo![Q]
Yahoo UK[Q]
LookSmart
Looksmart UK
Britannica
UKPlus
Femina Cybergrrl
Backwash
NEW!Joe Ant
NEW!Goguides.org / Directories
About.com
Argus
Librarians' index
BUBL UK
Infomine
Open Directory[Q]
Academic Info
BestoftheWeb.com
more... / Databases
Direct
Beaucoup!
Search.com
Invisible Web
Internets
WebData
Images and media
A.Vista Images
A.Vista Video
Scour.Net Media
Lycos Rich Media
Fast Multimedia
Excite Photo
Yahoo gallery
FindSounds.com
Ditto images
Webseek
Footage.net
NEW! picsearch / Music & MP3
Fast/Lycos MP3
A.Vista Audio/MP3
Audiofind
Sonico
MP3.com
Audiogalaxy
MP3 bot
Listen.com
more mp3... / Software
w=Win m=Mac *=other
Download.comwm*
Shareware.comwm*
Davecentralw*
ITProwm*
Jumbow
Tucows wm*
Beyond.comwm
ZDNetw
more...
Broadcasting
Pandia Radio Search
Yahoo Broadcast
Radio Locator (MIT)
BRS Radio Directory
vTuner
Live Radio
All Radio
Radio Spy
Virtual Tuner
Real Guide
more...
E-zines
E-zine-Universe.com
SparkList
Newsletter Access
NEW!Listfish / Discussions
Google Groups for Usenet/Newsgroups (Deja News)
Topica Liszt
Tile.net lists
Forum One
Meta-List.net
WebScout Lists
Message King (for boards)
more...
Online books
Gutenberg
On-line Books
The Etext Archive
myLITsearch
more...
Encyclopedias
Britannica
Encyclopedia.com
Encarta
The Canadian Encyclopedia
more... / Reference
Pandia Plus
xrefer
Research-It!
The Glossarist
RefTools
Fagan Finder
Bartleby
NEW! Calculators Online
NEW!XE Currency Coverter
NG MapMachine
World Factbook
more...
Dictionaries
Dictionary.com
Webster Dictionary
Roget's Thesaurus
NEW!Eurodicautom
NEW!Rhyme Zone
Lexical FreeNet Thesaurus
YourDictionary.com
OneLook Dictionaries
LexiCool (Dictionaries)
NEW!Verbix verb conjugator
Webopedia Computer Dictionary
more...
Shopping
Pandia Bookstore
Pandia Plus
Yahoo
BuyCentral
MySimon
Shop.com
CNET Shopper
Imandi.com (quotes)
Shopping Aide
Shop Search
DealTime
Webmarket
Auction Watch
Amazon.com
eBay.com
BiblioFind / Shopping UK
Pandia Bookstore
Pandia Plus
Top of the Shops UK
2020shops UK
ShopSmart UK
Shopping Unlimited UK
Amazon.co.uk
eBay.co.uk
NEW!homes2gardens UK / Business
InfoUSA
Business.com
Bocat B2B Guide
Bloomberg
andys-now2business UK
CNNfn
Forbes
CEO Express
BizProLink
Lycos Small Business
The Motley Fool
Hoover's
Yell UK
Business Credit USA
Bloomberg Currency rates
NEW!XE Currency Converter
Specialized SE
SearchIQ
Searchpower
Searchability!
The InvsibleWeb
A collection of special search engines
Search Engine Guide
FinderSeeker
Fossick.com
Complete Planet
NEW!Invisible Web.net
Ask experts
AllExperts
Knexa Knowledge Auction
more...
Topic specific
Jobs at Monster.com
Net-Temps Jobs
JobNext
SearchMil.com
SearchEducation
Hotelguide.com / More tools
FindTutorials
eNow ChatScan
Search PDF
Better-Whois domains
Domain names
Yahoo! Webring
Find Articles.com
Wintel.com
MagPortal articles
eHow
Science
Librarian's Index
NEW!RDN, Resource Discovery Network
NEW!BIOME, Health and Life Sciences
NEW!EEVL, Engineering, Mathematics and Computing
NEW!Humbul, Humanities
NEW!PSIgate, Physical Sciences
NEW!SOSIG, Social Sciences, Business and Law / More SE info
Sites devoted to Internet searching
SearchIQ
WebLens
SearchEngines.com
Search Tools
Search Beat
Internet Oracle
SearchBug.com
USAtrace
Search Tools for Web Sites, Intranets and Portals
NEW!Metasearchguide
Translation
Babelfish webpage-translator
Systran
Roy's InterTran Translator
WorldLingo
NEW! Proz
Search sites for children and teenagers
We have found some of the best search engines and directories for kids and teenagers. Please note that the Pandia Plus Directory has its own section for children and adolescents.
Ask Jeeves Kids
Yahooligans
Disney
KidsKlick!
Surfing the Net
Searchpolis / Pandia Plus Kids and Teens
SmartZone
Kid's almanac
Kids Search Tools
Ask An Expert
NEW!Ithaki metasearch
more...

Google breaks the 3 billion documents barrier

Google launches a new and bigger search engine index and adds fresh news headlines to results.

Google obviously took notice of this, because today it has launched a search engine database containing no less than 3 billion documents, "further extending" according to Google, "the company's position as the world's largest and most comprehensive search engine."

However, careful readers should note that we are no longer counting webpages only here.

2 billion are webpages (25 percent of which are non-English language web pages), 700 million are Usenet posts, and 330 million are images. Out of the 2 billion webpages, some 0.5 billion are not fully indexed, i.e. they are only registered as links from other webpages.

Unlike the Fast search index, however, Google Web Search also offers users the ability to search for numerous non-HTML files such as PDF, Microsoft Office and Corel documents.

"To search our collection of 3 billion documents by hand, it would take 5,707 years, searching twenty-four hours per day, at one minute per document. With Google, it takes less than a second."

Does the inclusion of 3 billion documents improve the quality of search results?

Links to more info:

Pandia is a registered service mark of P&S Koch, Oslo, Norway. All other company and product names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. © P&S Koch 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002. Comments or questions? Go to our contact page.


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