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Internet Search Tools

Searching the Internet for useful information can be a daunting experience. With over a billion web sites on the World Wide Web, finding the right one for your research can be a challenge. We have selected a few search engines and directories that can help you find information.

Here are some direct links to a few search engines and search directories. Scroll down for an explanation of search engines and search directories.

 
 
          
 
You can search the Internet with either a Search Engine or a Directory.
 
Search Engine

A search engine is a giant database of many Web pages. A search engine generally returns the results of a search ranked by that particular search engines' indexing criteria. That's why you can get different search results from different search engines.

Some examples of search engines are   and   

   
Search Directory

A search directory is similar to a search engine in that they each compile databases of web sites. A directory differs in that it only enters sites that are directly submitted to it and instead of crawling a site they send humans to inspect and decide if your site is worthy of a listing. The listings are then categorized and alphabetized.

Two examples of Search Directories are  and About.com. and About.com differ in that the sites researched and submitted to About.com are found by experts in their respective fields.

   

   
Search Engines
   
 

Searches over 3,307,998,701 web sites in an ad free environment. You can also use Google to search for images or news items.

 
  Whatever you want or need from the U.S. government, it's here on FirstGov.gov.   You'll find a rich treasure of online information, services and resources.
 
  Can search either as a Search Engine or Search Directory.
 
Dogpile is an example of a Meta Search Engine. Meta Search Engines search other search engines for results.
 

 
Search Directories
 
A Search Directory that has its links provided by experts in their field.
 
One of the oldest Web Search Directories and also one of the most popular. Yahoo is a good place to search for information about cities, states and regions.

Last Updated: 8/24/05