How to Actually Find Something on the Web
         by Odin Wortman

As Seen in the Business Monthly, July 1999

So I get a call from a colleague. He’s looking for a Web site he visited recently and now he can’t find it. "You should see this site," he says. "Only I can’t remember how I found it."

"You should use your bookmarks," I say. He remembers basically the keywords he used to perform the search but isn’t sure whether the search engine he used was Excite, HotBot, or AltaVista. Meanwhile, I’m asking a few questions and acting casual while I’m really searching for the address. I’m showing off. "I can’t understand it," he says. "I’ve been looking for over an hour."

"Check your email. Maybe the Net fairy has left you a present." He’s checking his email. "You found it! How’d you do that?!"

A good magician never reveals his tricks but the Web has been getting a bad rep as a useless wasteland for long enough. In this case the "magic" is the meta search.

Rather than use search engines one at a time, a meta search queries several search engines at once. A good meta search tool then cleans up the results, removing bad, inappropriate, and duplicate links. So simplify your life. Amaze your friends. Let meta searches do the work.

Where Do I Start?

WWW.metacrawler.com For many situations, it's the best all around tool. Start with MetaCrawler and, in general, you will find what you need. It uses a good assortment of search engines: Yahoo!, Excite/Webcrawler, Infoseek, AltaVista, and MiningCompany. It's also a pretty decent small directory offering categories including: Computing, Education, Entertainment, Finance, Games, Health, News, Shopping, Sports, People Finder, and Travel.

A Whole Lotta Consolidation Goin’ On

Try to follow along. AOL owns Netscape. MCI uses AOL’s Compuserve for their porthole. AltaVista uses LookSmart’s directory. LookSmart uses AltaVista’s search engine. Lycos owns HotBot, Tripod, and WhoWhere. HotBot uses Inktomi's search engine and uses LookSmart's directory. Disney is backing Infoseek as the Go Network. Infoseek serves Search.com and WebTV for searches. Yahoo owns Geocities and Microsoft . . . well Microsoft has a sly hand in a little bit of everything. Talk about your tangled web.

One of the phenomena promoting the mad rush of mergers and partnerships is the porthole. A porthole is designed to be a one-stop-shop for all your Web needs. This means Excite doesn’t just want to be your search engine, it wants to be a place for shopping, news, weather, email, Web space, chat--your entire online experience. There is such an emphasis on portholes, that every major player is scrambling to add more services. So if you visit your favorite search engine to do a search, you may get the impression that searching has taken a back seat to the online community porthole. I’m reminded of a story written by Polish sci-fi satirist, Stanislaw Lem. In the future, competing washing machine manufacturers become so innovative that washing machines can do everything including household chores. Somewhere along the way, the washing machines lose their clothes washing capabilities. None of the search engine/portholes have dropped their ability to search but some have stagnated while focusing on porthole features.

Same Place Different Face

As you might expect, you may try different search engines thinking you’re expanding your view of the Web without finding any additional content. That’s because many of the major search services share data. For example, Excite, AOL Netfind, and Netscape Search use essentially the same database and search engine. The MS Search uses Inktomi for content and brains. Yahoo! uses the Iktomi search engine and HotBot’s database. All the more reason to use a meta search or a directory instead of an ordinary search engine.

Search Tips

Search by Category

Rather than jump on your favorite search engine and enter your key words, try visiting a directory such as Yahoo! or LookSmart first. Directories list and organize Web sites by category. They are most useful for identifying services and resources in an uncluttered fashion. Think of them as an analog to the Yellow Pages only they aren't limited to businesses.

How is a directory different from a search engine? Directories list only the entry page to site. They do not index or "spider" pages within a site. This means that if the information you really need is on a page other than the main page, you may never find it.

You should understand that directories can have search engine features as well. For example, if you perform a search on Yahoo! and the subject you are requesting is not in its directory, Yahoo! then looks to HotBot's indexes for the requested content. In order to know you are gaining the advantages of using a directory, first try clicking through the categories listed.

Search Regionally

The best directories offer the convenience of regional categories. If you're looking for a local service, Yahoo! and LookSmart may be your best bet. If you're looking for local/regional entertainment, try AOL's Digital City with local cities like Baltimore or Washington.

Use Your Math

Most search engines will allow you to use math operators to refine your search. A "+" means include and a "-" means exclude. So if you’re searching for Houston, not Whitney, try the following: +houston, texas -whitney. Nearly all the search engines will recognize these commands so it’s safe you use this strategy even if you’re doing a meta search.

Use the Best Search Tools

MetaCrawler www.metacrawler.com.
See "Where do I Start?" above. Honorable mention for meta searches goes to Ask Jeeves (askjeeves.com). The most user friendly search tool period. Jeeves uses a nice assortment of search engines, checks your spelling, and offers advice on how to improve your results.

Yahoo! http://yahoo.com
Simply the king of the directories. Yahoo! is the most used tool for finding things on the Web. That's because Yahoo! is a terrific tool. It lacks the depth of a search engine but offers a cleaner look at the Web. What makes Yahoo! so effective? They use real live humans to create its categories and place sites within those categories. Every page is reviewed by a Yahoo! editor before being added to its directory. Honorable mention for a directory goes to LookSmart (looksmart.com) Yahoo!'s closest rival, LookSmart, originally owned by Reader's Digest, is a newer and very clean directory. Like Yahoo!, only humans review and categorize the Web sites.

Yahoo! People Finder Not the largest but apparently the most up to date people resource. Same as Four11.com.

Ask Jeeves for Kids http://ajkids.com
Jeeves does it all. It makes suggestions to explore related topics and has a fair amount of its own encyclopedic content. Honorable mention goes to Yahooligans! (http://yahooligans.com). The folks from Yahoo bring their directory expertise to a kids directory.

For More Info

A good resource for using and locating appropriate search tools can be found at http://imarketingsolutions.com/search

Happy searching.

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Odin Wortman is president of Internet Marketing Solutions, a firm that designs profit centered Web sites and helps businesses use the Web strategically. He can be reached at 410-799-9283, by email at ask@iMarketingSolutions.com or on the Web at http://iMarketingSolutions.com.