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In Nature1 was reported that as of February 1999 only approximately 30% of the index able pages on the internet had been indexed by search engines. Search engines are everywhere and are being built for every purpose. Some are good for one type of search but not for another. Knowing the purpose of a search engine and the properties or their query engines will help you find what you are looking for. General Purpose search engines are just that, general purpose. However, because they usually are indiscriminant in the type of information that they index they contain references to pages that you will not find in other places. The trick in using them well is to identify keywords that will make your search unique. For example, instead of searching for a surname, search for the surname AND genealogy. At www.savvysearch.com searching for "Riggins" found 60 pages of mostly business links while searching for "Riggins and Genealogy" found 58 mostly pertinent links and it was a lot less to search. A tutorial "How to Search the World Wide Web" at http://204.17.98.73/midlib/tutor.htm is a great place to learn how to use the search engines. Always on the look for a good search tool I have recently discovered a new one, and it is free. Blue Squirrel™ (http://www.bluesquirrel.com/) is an internet tools company. They give away a consolidated search tool called EasySeeker. It performs consolidated searches like SavvySearch, except from your machine and you have much finer control over the results. If you like the results you get, but want even more control the have an advanced product called WebSeeker. I recommend that you give EasySeeker try. Genealogy Search Engines
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| http://www.familysearch.org/ | Family Search (Ancestral File) | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Ancestral file search site. |
| http://www.rootsweb.com | Rootsweb | This is the mother load of genealogical data on the net. At least that is their goal. They do not necessarily house the data, but the index it and direct you to it. I find Rootsweb hard to navigate at times, but well worth the effort always. |
| http://genealogy.tbox.com/ | Helm's Genealogy Toolbox | Seven coordinated genealogy sites. |
| http://www.surnameweb.org/ | Surname Web | The Genealogy Web Project of Surname Resource Centers |
| http://genealogyportal.com/ | GenealogyPortal.com | A good starting place. |
| http://www.ancestry.com/ genpagefinder/ | Ancestry GenPageFinder | A consolidated search for genealogy. |
| http://familypoint.com/ | FamilyPoint | A coordination center for family reunions, also has a search engine. |
| http://family-reunion.com/ | Another family reunion site. |
General Search
Consolidated |
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| http://www.savvysearch.com/ | SavvySearch | Where I start most of the time. |
| http://www.dogpile.com | DogPile | |
| http://www.mamma.com/ | Mama | |
Search Agents |
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| http://www.karnak.com/ | Karnak | Searches for days/weeks & emails results to date, verifies links!!! |
Smart Indexes |
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| http://www.electricmonk.com/ | The Electric Monk | Just ask your question, really. I love this engine because of it's accuracy when you ask a question. |
| http://www.about.com | About | I am not sure about his one yet. |
| http://www.ask.com/ | Ask Jeeves | |
Directories |
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| http://www.yahoo.com/ | Yahoo! | The table of contents for the web. |
| http://www.lycos.com/ | Lycos | |
| http://magellan.excite.com/ | Magellan | |
Indexes |
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| http://www.hotbot.com/ | Hotbot | A well behaved index. |
| http://www.altavista.com/ | AltaVista | Every word index. Usually overwhelms but useful for those hard to find items. You must learn and use the advanced search for this site to be useful. |
| http://www.northernlight.com/ | Northern Light | A filtered and reviewed index. One of the most popular of this type. |
| http://www.excite.com/ | Excite | Starting to combine several different search engines. |
| http://ftpsearch.ntnu.no/ | FTP search | Find files on the net. |
Search Engine News |
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| http://dir.yahoo.com/ Computers_and_Internet/ Internet/ World_Wide_Web/ Searching_the_Web/ | Yahoo! Web Resources | Yahoo's list of search resources!! |
| http://www.searchenginewatch.com/ | Search Engine Watch News, Tips and More About Search Engines | A search engine for search engines and they keep track of the news about search engines |
Electronic Phone Book
Electronic Phone books are good for finding living relatives or contacts that you do not have current information for.
| http://www.anywho.com/ | Any Who | AT&T Labs search engine. Has nearly everyone who has a phone. Also supports reverse searches. My first choice for finding people. |
| http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/ | Who Where! | The next best place. |
| http://www.infospace.com/ | The Ultimate Directory | Good Yellow pages index. |
| http://www.switchboard.com/ | Switchboard The Internet Directory | Where people can register themselves. |
| http://people.yahoo.com/ | Yahoo! People Search | Since many people register here they have many people not otherwise found. |
1"Accessibility of information on the Web" Steve Lawrence, C. Lee Giles, Nature (http://www.nature.com) Vol. 400, 8 July 1999, pg. 107. Also see http://www.neci.nj.nec.com/homepages/lawrence/websize.html for the most current estimates.
Last Updated: Friday, February 25, 2000
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Questions or problems regarding this web site should be directed to Kent
Riggins. |
