Some information sites are known as -directories- which contain organized lists with links. These lists can be very helpful when you know what topic or subject area you are searching.
Another type of information site is the -search engine - that allow you to search for information by using forms and filling in a text string of what you want to search for. Search engines depend on databases which contain the information pool created by the search site's webcrawler. Another name for these crawlers is robots or spiders. These programs continually search the web looking for new sites, which they add on a regular basis to the database. Most major search engines will give you a description of the "hits" or pages they compile for you.
While search engines can look for all types of information, you still have to go from one search engine to another to ensure you've done a complete search. The latest tool for web research is the -metasearch - site. These sites actually run your search through several search engines at the same time. This may not be the most complete search for a topic or subject area, but it does cover more ground, saving time when doing online research.
The following sections list the various directories, search engines, and metasearch sites available to you online. The website's URL is linked to the sites listed.
Excite NetSearch
1,500,000 indexed pages.
InfoSeek
400,000 indexed pages.
Lycos
1,500,000 indexed pages.
New Riders' Official World Wide Web Yellow Page
17,000 indexed pages.
Open Text Index
1,300,000 indexed pages.
WebCrawler
190,000 indexed pages.
World Wide Web Worm
250,000 indexed pages.
CUSI
Aliweb, CUI's W3 Catalog, Galaxy, Harvest, InfoSeek, JumpStation, Lycos, Open Text Index, WebCrawler, Yahoo.
Fun City Web Search
Aliweb, CUI's W3 Catalog, Galaxy, Harvest, InfoSeek, JumpStation, Lycos, Open Text, SaavySearch, The Search Wizard, WebCrawler, World Wide Web Worm, Yahoo.
HyperNews
Aliweb, ArchiPlex, CUI's W3 Catalog, Dejanews, Galaxy, InfoSeek, JumpStation, Lycos, Nikos, Open Text Index, SaavySeekers, WebCrawler, World Wide Web Worm. Yahoo.
InfoMarket
McKinley Directory, Open Text Index, Usenet groups, Yahoo.
The Internet Sleuth
Dejanews, Lycos, Yahoo.
LinkSearch
Aliweb, CUI's W3 Catalog, Galaxy, InfoSeek, Lycos, Nikos, Open Text Index, Point, WebCrawler, Yahoo.
MetaCrawler
Galaxy, InfoSeek, Lycos, Open Text Index, WebCrawler.
SaavySearch
ArchiePlex, DejaNews, Galaxy, Harvest, InfoSeek, Lycos, Nikos, WebCrawler, Yahoo.
Searchers
ArchiePlex, Galaxy, JumpStation, Lycos, WebCrawler, The Whole Internet Catalog.
W3 Search Engines
Aliweb, ArchiePlex, CUI's W3 Catalog, Galaxy, JumpStation, Lycos, Nikos, WebCrawler, The Whole Internet Catalog, World Wide Web Worm.
Web-Search
Galaxy, InfoSeek, Lycos, New Riders' Official World Wide Web Yellow Page, Nikos, Open Text Index, Point, SaavySearch, WebCrawler, The Whole Internet Catalog, Yahoo.