Just as with your own tools at home, the selection of search engine is a very personal decision. You need to feel comfortable using the search engine, and you must be satisfied with the precision of selection and the amount of information you want. Different search engines perform different types of jobs and have different features, so you might want to use different search engines for different objectives. The following questions are important in evaluating a search engine:

1) Is it user friendly?

Do you understand what the engine is asking for, or are the instructions Geekspeak to you? There should be no question in your mind about what the software is asking for. Are the instructions easy to follow? If the search engine is not easy to use or the instructions easy to follow, you are not likely to use the tool again.

2) Is it accurate and does it give you enough useful results?

You must obtain the accuracy of results that you need. Are you getting 500 hits, with 400 of them useless? You must obtain results which are useful for you, but not have to sift through the results to evaluate their usefulness. Are you getting only one or two hits on a topic? Believe me, by now all topics should have at least four or five Web pages containing information. Are you getting back hyperlinks with little or no explanation? There is no guarantee that hyperlink names give any useful identifying information.

3) Which databases does the tool use?

Because all tools use different databases from which to select information, you may get different results from different search engines. For example, if doing a copyright search, you would not use a search engine that specializes in news feeds.

4) Does the tool meet your needs?

You should match with the appropriate search engine tool the type and complexity of information you need. For example, if searching for a particular news item, you would use one of the search engines which specialize in searching news feeds. On the other hand, if you are searching for information and Web sites on earthquakes, a general-purpose search engine such as Yahoo or SavvySearch might suffice.

Now I would like to discuss some of the more popular and useful Web search engines.

Yahoo is one of the most popular and well-organized subject sites on the Web which has a search engine as well. Yahoo requests entry of five different parameters: 1) search keyword(s); 2) an indication of where to find the keywords (URL, title or comments, or a combination of any or all); 3) whether or not case sensitivity is required; 4) whether or not to use any or all keyword(s); and 5) limitation on the number of "hits." Yahoo is relatively easy to use once you understand what information you have to provide, and has a consistency in the quality of its search results. Yahoo is always a good search engine with which to start.

WebCrawler, another popular site, has a large database to use and an easy user interface with only three parameters required. It is extremely accurate, though it does get some hits slightly off base. Recently acquired by America Online, it is still available on the Internet.

Infoseek is an excellent commercial search engine. The interface is very well designed, and the results are highly accurate. You pay $9.95 per month, with 100 free queries. For a serious researcher or information broker, Infoseek is an excellent choice.

SavvySearch is one of a newer class of search engines called meta, or multi-threaded, search engines. These engines allow you to enter a search keyword once, and query all requested search engines at the same time. After the results are analyzed, you may search using different search engines and the same search keyword, or you may change the keyword and the same engines. The facility to query multiple search engines all at the same time, and to quickly modify keywords, makes this new class of engines very powerful. With the SavvySearch search engine you enter three parameters: 1) search keyword; 2) type of information to be searched; and 3) the number of search engines to use in the query. Based upon the type of information to be searched and the number of search engines to use, SavvySearch selects the appropriate search engines to query in the number that you requested. Upon completion of the query, the engine returns a list of clickable hyperlinks. Because SavvySearch uses the major search engines, I use SavvySearch almost exclusively.

The scope of the World Wide Web search engine is growing as fast as the Web itself, with new and improved products being developed every day. The best strategy to use for selecting search engines is to evaluate the way you are using the Web, study many of the various search engines, and select the engines that fit your needs. You can begin by using one of the search engines I mentioned above and search using the keywords "search engines." Happy surfing!

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