Find It! - Searching the Web

Beyond Google and Yahoo

What do you do if you don't find what you're looking for on Google (currently the most popular search engine)? There are a lot of other excellent search engines out there. We've listed several general search engines, if you don't find what you want in one, try another, they're all slightly different. Try the kid search engines for good sites for kids. If you want to search a bunch of different search engines at once, try using a meta search. For digging deep into the invisible web (resources not often found through standard search engines), try the invisible web directories. Finally, there are specialty engines for science, news, multimedia, and Houston/Texas.

AlltheWeb.com - http://www.alltheweb.com/

Powered by FAST, includes a customizable interface, multimedia searches, and an ftp search.

 

Altavista - http://www.altavista.com

One of the older search engines, includes multimedia searches, a news search, and a directory. Includes several other tools, including a translator.

 

Ask Jeeves - http://www.ask.com/

Natural language search engine. Search by asking a question (e.g. Who is Thomas Jefferson?), a word, or a phrase.

 

Gigablast - http://www.gigablast.com/

A no frills search engine offering an alternative to the big guys. Includes cached copies of pages like Google.

 

Open Directory Project - http://dmoz.org/

Directory, similar to Yahoo, put together by volunteer editors.

 

Teoma - http://www.teoma.com/

In addition to the regular results, offers suggestions for refining your search and links to expert resource collections.

 

Wisenut - http://www.wisenut.com/

Special features include a site preview and clustering of results from the same site. Includes the Wise Guide, a selection of related categories.

Meta Search

Dogpile - http://www.dogpile.com/index.gsp

Searches multiple engines including About, Ask Jeeves, FAST, FindWhat, LookSmart, Overture.

 

Ixquick Metasearch - http://ixquick.com/

Search across multiple engines.

 

SurfWax - http://www.surfwax.com/

Searches the major search engines. SiteSnaps offer a summary and the key points from a site.

 

Vivisimo - http://vivisimo.com/

Automatically clusters and sorts results into categories.

Kids

Ask Jeeves Kids - http://www.ajkids.com/

Use natural language (i.e. Why is the sky blue?) to search for fun and educational sites for kids.

 

Great Sites! - http://www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/

700+ great sites for kids selected by the American Library Association.

 

KidsClick! Web Search - http://www.kidsclick.org

A search directory for kids selected and reviewed by librarians.

 

Yahooligans! - http://www.yahooligans.com

Yahoo! for kids.

The Invisible Web

About.com - http://www.about.com/

Expert guides to hundreds of topics.

 

Complete Planet - http://www.completeplanet.com/

Directory of specialized search engines.  An advanced search option lets the user build a search across databases.

 

Direct Search - http://www.freepint.com/gary/direct.htm

A directory of search engines for the invisible web.

 

INFOMINE - http://infomine.ucr.edu/

Directory and search engine of scholarly Internet resources.

 

The InvisibleWeb - http://www.invisibleweb.com/

Invisible web resources are arranged into a directory format similar to Yahoo.

 

Price's List of Lists - http://www.specialissues.com/lol/

A directory of "top" lists, e.g. Top 50 Companies.

Specialty Engines

Scirus - http://www.scirus.com/

Science specific search engine.

 

Search Systems - http://www.searchsystems.net/

Public records database.

Multimedia

AltaVista Image Search - http://www.altavista.com/image/default

One of three multimedia search options at AltaVista. MP3/Audio and video searches are also available.

 

Ditto.com - http://www.ditto.com/

Deadicated to image searches.

 

Google Image Search - http://www.google.com/imghp

Image search from Google!

 

Lycos Multimedia Search - http://multimedia.lycos.com/

Search for pictures, audio, MP3s, or video; separately or all at once.

News

Google News - http://news.google.com/

"Search and browse 4,000 continuously updated news sources."

 

Northern Light Current News Search - http://www.northernlight.com/news.html

Database of current news with a two week archive.

 

Houston/Texas

 

 

Houston Online Resource Guide

Guide to community sites in Houston.

 

On-line Source of Houston Information

Links to local sites.

 

Yahoo! Houston Metro

Guide to sites in the Houston area.

 

Yahoo!Texas

Portal to city and county categories.

For more internet guides, search tools, and web design sites check out