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Unit 2: Search Tools

Types and Comparison 

Overview Assignment Reading Resources

Directories  vs. search engines     

Search tools are usually classified as  a  Directory,  a collection of  web sites arranged in subject categories by individuals or a Search Engine, tool using software technology  to search the web .

 

How do I compare search tools?

Home page qualities appearance, functionality, organization, ease of use
Searching  issues methodology, database size, natural language questions, Boolean operators,  database refresh frequency, depth of search, advanced search , file types
Retrieval factors format, quality, ranking, annotations, pages   vs. sites, relevance
Value added features email, services, awards, filtering,  translation, organization of results, dictionary

    

 

Search tools with unique qualities related to each of the four categories are presented below. 

All searches should be performed using at least two large search tools. If you want comprehensive results several tools should be used because overlap is usually  minimal and the database of web sites for each tool is different.

 

Home page qualities
As search tools compete to be all things to all people some go to greater lengths than others. Users should evaluate  their need for a portal vs. search services as they select their top 3- 5 search tools.

Services offered 
  • Excite and Yahoo allow users to create a  personalized portal for  news , weather, stocks, and  sports
  • Google offers  page translation is also available
  • Most tools offer filtering software, email, personal calendars, stock tracking, horoscopes, chat, international versions, and  web page submission
Organization - for those seeking a more simple page organization 
  • Google and AlltheWeb offer the minimalist look, but have added features and advanced search options in the last year

 

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Searching issues

Size matters 
  • Google claims to be the largest indexing 3 billion pages   (Jan 2002)
  • Wisenut  1,571,413,207  (Jan 2002)
  • AlltheWeb contains 2,112,188,990 pages (July 2002)
  • Alta Vista and MSN claim 500 million each
  • Yahoo contains one of the smallest databases 100 million pages.
  • Open Directory "largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web"

Alliances

  • HotBot owned by Lycos
  • Inktomi powers HotBot, AOL, iWON, MSN 
  • Fast powers AlltheWeb and Lycos

Refreshment frequency

  • AlltheWeb refreshes every  9 days 
  • HotBot updates every 3-4 weeks 110 million web documents
  • WiseNut claims to offer the fastest refresh 7 days
  • Google has multiple databases Google 1, Google 2, Google 3 which are refreshed on 28 day cycle
Searching 
  • Hot Bot custom  precision searching - exact phrase, page title, and  person
  • Alta Vista, AlltheWeb, and Google (advanced search ) offer  a variety of file type searching -  image , audio, video,  and pdf
  • Hot Bot offers Javascript searching 
  • AlltheWeb indexes the site completely, Google & Alta Vista through first 100k
  • MSN offers separate listing of the 10 most popular sites
  • AskJeeves  allow users to enter their question using Natural language as if they were speaking to another person
  • Yahoo allows users to browse, but when they want to search with the larger tools links for several are available
  • Refine your search with AltaVista's new  Prisma feature 
  • Exact phrase searching option eliminates need for quotation marks around search phrases HotBot, AlltheWeb, MSN
  • Google finds all terms you enter, but phrases must be grouped in quotations
  • Alta Vista automatically "or" search terms which can distort results
User assistance features 
  • all tools offer Help options and Advanced search 
  • once you choose a few favorite tools, take the time to read the Help screens
  • links to the URL feature (Google, AlltheWeb, and HotBot) allows folks to see what pages link to particular URL, could serve as a "web folio" for web site designers demonstrating the quality of their work to potential clients
Field searching 
  • one of the most precise search methods -  field options usually  include title,  url,  image, domain -- look in advanced search or Help
  • Yahoo has variations on standard options " ti" not title for words in a page title

 

Advanced Searching 

The advanced search options allows the user to customize their search to ensure the most relevant information is retrieved. Most search tools offer a basic search box on their home page, but links to advanced search are available near the basic search box. 

Exact Phrase -- specify exactly the term you are looking for 

Words not to include -- eliminate unnecessary words 

Language - the world wide web is international in scope, if you are not bilingual select your native tongue or English

Occurrence - most relevant information is found in page title, but this can also limit a search too much. Try anywhere on page.

Domain - are you tired of seeing too many .coms? Do you want to limit your search to a .edu or .org site

Publication/Revision Date - select new sites or sites that have been recently revised

Filter - if you wish to control content

Beta tests - many search tools offer new untested services, but you can try them out in Beta.

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Retrieval factors

Results presentation 

  • Oingo offers users related meanings to their search terms
  • Excite and Wisenut offer links to related searches
  • Teoma's 3 Rs --results (web pages), refine(suggestions to narrow the search), resources (links to experts) 
  • Hot Bot gives the option of displaying a  web page or web site
  • Google supplies cached versions of a site which may no longer be available
  • Vivisimo offers document clustering and claims to be automatic, organized, and effortless - it is a metasearch tool
  • Understand that  paid placement or sponsored results have paid for top placement - AlltheWeb, Teoma, Alta Vista 
Popularity  
  • Google champions link popularity - sites that are linked too most frequently come up first  
  • HotBot  and MSN use  Direct Hit which ranks the sites most frequently clicked on higher
Term count 
  • Alta Vista and Hot Bot both show users how many hits were found with each search term entered

 

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Value Added Features

Translation  
  • Alta Vista -- Babel fish
  • Google offers a "translate this page" feature for foreign language web sites
Directories 
  • most search tools offer a directory or subject listing of topics useful to users 
  • Open Directory powers many of the larger search tools 
Supplementary information 
  • Excite provides a multitude of related resources when users look for geographic information (travel & tourism, maps, fact sheets) about countries, states, or cities   or medical information (definition)
  • Alta Vista provides a direct link to Real Names and fact sheets for companies searched
  • Google provides online versions of popular catalogs - Lands End, LL Bean
  • Google is now offering a commercial service to answer reference questions
  • AlltheWeb is known for its news coverage
International versions of the site 
  • Alta Vista,  Google, Wisenut 

Recognitions/Awards

  • Google powers Washington Post , Yahoo, and Netscape sites
  • Google ranked best search tool in user satisfaction survey conducted by  Yahoo Life

 

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                                        Professional Comparisons

Search tool comparisons have been done by amateurs and professionals alike. Here are some of the best done by individuals who KNOW the field.

Search Engines
InfoPeople  http://www.infopeople.org/src/chart.html
Search Engine Watch - http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/  Home of Search Day Newsletter
Search Engine Comparison - http://www0.delphi.com/navnet/faq/searchcomparison.html
Search Engine Showdown http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/features/
      also offers Dead Link comparison and Overlap Count http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/stats/ 
Search Engines Comparison 2001 - Diana Botluk

 

 

 The web changes hourly, how can I stay informed about new developments in search tools?

 

 

 

 

      For information contact jegan@nvcc.edu
      Last revision  August 24, 2002