Though we mostly use Google because it is familiar and easy to use and usually gives good results for well structured search queries, there are other search engines which are worth using as well.
In this module we will explore Yahoo, Bing and Exalead through a hands-on demonstration and conclude the module by looking at meta-search engines.
Yahoo
It’s the next popular search engine after Google.
- Right click Yahoo (open up in a new window / tab)
- Search for tsunami
- Have a good look at all the options offered.
?? Did you notice?
- The suggestions under Also Try
- When you click on the down arrow under the search box you get a list of related searches which you can scroll through via the up/down arrows.
- On the left side bar you can choose to limit your search to a specific website, e.g. Twitter, Wikipedia, etc
- There are also further 'related searches' listed in the left side bar.
- The Options link next to the search button which takes you to the Advanced Search
The latest feature added to Yahoo search is the Search pad, a kind of note taking application where the sites you visited are listed and you can add your own notes, share the your notes and save it. You need to have a Yahoo account to use it. For more information have a look at the Search Pad help page.
- Close your Yahoo search window.
Bing
Launched in June 2009, Bing is Microsoft's replacement for their previous Live Search engine.
- Right Click Bing (open up in a new window / tab)
- Search for tsunami
Features:
- Related searches are listed on the left side bar.
- Preview of website on the right of a listed result (hold the mouse for a few seconds to give the preview time to load.)
- Close your Bing search window.
Exalead
A very easy to use search engine from Europe that has all the options on one page – even when you select the Advanced search option you still stay on the same page.
- Right click Exalead (open up in a new window / tab)
- Search for tsunami
Notice:
- Thumbnails of websites are displayed to the left of the text result.
- Related searches are listed under the search box
- Related terms listed in the side bar. If you click on the related terms it will rerun your search with the related term/phrase added to the search query.
- Breaking news listed at top]
- Click on Advanced Search option
Notice how it opens up in the same screen - very convenient!
The Advanced search options include a Phonetic search option (e.g. soundslike:lite) and an Approximate spelling search option (spellslike:lite). (If you really misspell a word it will ask Did you mean … as Google does.)
- Close Advanced Search screen
- Click on Wikipedia link at top of page
Notice the interesting way of searching Wikipedia. The tag cloud on the right is colour coded searches for people , organisations, locations and categories related to the topic.
- Close your Exalead search window.
Meta-search engines - using more than one search engine at a time
Want to try several search engines but don’t have time to do each individually? Then meta-search engines are the answer. Meta-search engines return search results from several search engines for every query submitted. Use these engines when searching for a very specific topic where little information is available and where your search terms are quite unique.
Here are a few familiar ones:
The changing World of Search Engines
Search engines come and go all the time. It's both a fiercely competitive market and the web is constantly changing - even Google changes to keep ahead of competition. Search engines that are here today might not be there tomorrow or may change completely. Keep that in mind about the search engines listed in this module. Though we looked at these search engines, Google is still the most popular search engine.
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DISCOVERY EXERCISES
- Open each of the above meta-search engines in a separate window / tab and search for: tsunami to see how they differ from the other search engines.
- Search for any of the following NCEA topics using each of the above search engines:
- Indian salt march
- Sporting role models as portrayed in the media
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Now that you have an understanding of how general web search engines work, let's move on to specialist search engines in Module 6.
Updated: September 2010
