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AOL Search allows its members to search across the web and AOL's own content from one place. The "external" version, listed above, does not list AOL content. The main listings for categories and web sites come from the Open Directory (see below).As backup to the directory information, Inktomi (see below) also provides crawler-based results.more search engine info 
AltaVista is consistently one of the largest search engines on the web, in terms of pages indexed. Its wide coverage and large range of power searching commands makes it a particular favorite among researchers. It also offers a number of features designed to appeal to basic users, such as "Ask AltaVista" results, which come from Ask Jeeves (see below), and directory listings from the Open Directory and LookSmart. In December 1995, AltaVista opened. It was owned by Digital, then run by Compaq (which purchased Digital in 1998), then spun off into a separate company which is now controlled by CMGI. more search engine info
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Ask Jeeves is a human-powered search service that aims to direct you to the exact page that answers your question. It will provide matching web pages from various search engines, if it fails to find a match within its own database. The service went into beta in mid-April 1997 and opened fully on June 1, 1997. Some results from Ask Jeeves also appear within AltaVista.
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Teoma is an important crawler-based search engine because it powers some of the results that appear at the popular Ask Jeeves web site. In fact, Ask Jeeves owns Teoma.
Teoma has no free Add URL page, unlike the other crawlers covered so far. This doesn't mean that you can't get listed, however. Teoma crawls the web, so you may get included naturally, if you have links pointing at your web site.more search engine info
Direct Hit measures what people click on in the search results presented at its own site and at its partner sites, such as HotBot. In Direct Hit's rankings, sites that get clicked on more than others rise higher. Thus, the service dubs itself a "popularity engine." Direct Hit provides the main results which appear at HotBot (see below) , aside from running its own web site and is available as an option to searchers at MSN Search. Direct Hit is owned by Ask Jeeves . more search engine info
Excite is one of the more popular search services on the web. It offers a fairly large index and integrates non-web material such as sports scores and company information into its results, when appropriate. In late 1995, Excite was launched. It grew quickly in prominence and consumed two of its competitors, Magellan in July 1996, and WebCrawler in November 1996. These continue to run as separate services. Excite is now own by Overture. more search engine info
Formerly called All The Web, FAST Search aims to index the entire web. To break the 200 million web page index milestone and consistently has one of the largest indexes of the web, it was the first search engine. The Norwegian company behind FAST Search also powers some of the results that appear at Lycos (see below). FAST Search launched in May 1999. more search engine info
Google is a search engine that makes heavy use of link popularity as a primary way to rank web sites.Users across the web have in essence voted for good sites by linking to them and this can be especially helpful in finding good sites in response to general searches such as "cars" and "travel,". Google has gained wide-spread praise for its high relevancy as the system works so well. Google provides some results to Yahoo and Netscape Search and also has a huge index of the web.
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Overture / Goto Unlike the other major search engines, GoTo sells its main listings. Companies can pay money to be placed higher in the search results, which GoTo feels improves relevancy. As Non-paid results come from Inktomi. In 1997, GoTo was launched and incorporated the former University of Colorado-based World Wide Web Worm. In February 1998, it shifted to its current pay-for-placement model and soon after replaced the WWW Worm with Inktomi for its non-paid listings. GoTo is not related to Go (Infoseek). The Paid listing from GoTo also appear on other major search engines, including AltaVista, Lycos, HotBot, Direct Hit, MSN, Yahoo,Excite and Web Crawler.
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HotBot is a favorite among researchers . In most cases, due to its many power searching features, HotBot's first page of results comes from the Direct Hit service and then secondary results come from the Inktomi search engine, which is also used by other services. It gets its directory information from the Open Directory project . In May 1996, HotBot was launched as Wired Digital's entry into the search engine market. In October 1998, Lycos purchased Wired Digital and continues to run HotBot as a separate search service. more search engine info
iWon Backed by US television network CBS, iWon has a directory of web sites generated automatically by Inktomi, which also provides its more traditional crawler-based results. Daily, weekly and monthly prizes were given away by iWon in a marketing model that is unique among the major services. In Fall 1999, it launched. more search engine info
LookSmart is a human-compiled directory of web sites. In addition to being a stand-alone service, LookSmart also provides directory results to MSN Search, Excite and many other partners. When a search fails to find a match from among LookSmart's reviews, Inktomi provides LookSmart with search results. In October 1996, LookSmart was launched independently, and backed by Reader's Digest for about a year, and then company executives bought back control of the service. LookSmart cange now to new keyword pay for placement system. more search engine info
Lycos started out as a search engine, depending on listings that came from spidering the web. In April 1999, it shifted to a directory model similar to Yahoo. Its main listings come from the Open Directory project, and then secondary results come from the FAST Search engine. Some Direct Hit results are also used. In October 1998, Lycos acquired the competing HotBot search service, which continues to be run separately. more search engine info
Microsoft's MSN Search service is a LookSmart-powered directory of web sites, with secondary results that come from Inktomi. RealNames and Direct Hit data is also made available. MSN Search also offers a unique way for Internet Explorer 5 users to save past searches. more search engine info
Netscape Search's results come primarily from the Open Directory and Netscape's own "Smart Browsing" database, which does an excellent job of listing "official" web sites. Secondary results come from Google. Other search engines are also featured at the Netscape Netcenter portal site. more search engine info
The Open Directory uses volunteer editors to catalog the web. Formerly known as NewHoo, in June 1998, it was launched. It was acquired by Netscape in November 1998, and the company pledged that anyone would be able to use information from the directory through an open license arrangement. Netscape itself was the first licensee. Lycos and AOL Search also make heavy use of Open Directory data. more search engine info
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