Internet Search Engines

Google

Google started in 1996 as a graduate project at Stanford University. From those beginnings it has grown into the web's most popular search engine. Google is known for its
comprehensive web coverage and highly relevant results.

AlltheWeb

AllTheWeb Started in 1999,Alltheweb is known for outstanding search term relevancy and comprehensive web coverage. Alltheweb returns results from both its own database and the Yahoo database. Alltheweb is owned by Yahoo.

AltaVista

AltaVista Started in 1995, AlltaVista is the oldest crawler based search engine on the web. In early 2004 AltaVista dropped the use of its own database and now uses the Yahoo database.
AltaVista uses its own ranking algorithm to decide search results.

AOL

AOL AOL search is powered by Google.In many searches their results will mirror Google. AOL owns the Open Directory and may pull some results from that database as well.

AskJeevas

AskJeevas Started in 1995, AskJeeves is best known for its user interface. Instead of just entering keywords, users can enter a sentence or question and expect quality results.AskJeeves owns Teoma and uses their database for results.

DogPile

DogPile Started in 1996, Dogpile was one of the first meta search engines. Dogpile queries several different search engines at once, including Overture; Looksmart; Google; Yahoo; and others, then combines the results into one result page.Dogpile is owned by Infospace, both engines results are almost identical.

Ebay

Ebay Unlike every other search engine on this search engine list, Ebay is the web's largest auction site.Ebay offers an incredibly diverse selection of new and used items. Ebay is a great
comparison shopping tool. By checking the Ebay results to the search engine results, you can insure you are getting the best price the net has to offer. One more reason 20search.com is the web's best search engine list.

Excite

Excite Excite was once a crawler based engine. They were bought by Infospace in 2002 and both engines now return the exact same results. Excite does have several portal features that are still regularly maintained.

GigaBlast

GigaBlast Founded in 2000 and relaunched in 2008, Gigablast search eninge has finally made it's way on to the list of "major" search engines. Gigablast returns results from its own database and has the capability to index 200 Billion web pages.

IWON

IWON Iwon is a search engine with a twist. Their results are provided by Ask.com, however, registered members are entered into a contest, with some large cash prizes, each time they use the search
engine.

Joeant

Joeant Joeant is a human edited directory started by former Go.com editors that wanted to continue their community. Originally started in 2001, Joeant went through extensive changes in 2002,
which resulted in a great search directory.

Lycos

Lycos Started in 1994, Lycos is one of the web's oldest search engines.Lycos no longer crawls the web on their own but provides results from Looksmart, the Yahoo database, and their own
advertisers.

BigMamma

BigMamma Started in 1996, Mamma was one of the first meta search engines. Mamma searches on a large variety of search engines, directories, and deep content websites such as Teoma; Looksmart; MSN; and Google, and combines the results onto one page.

MSN

MSN MSN uses a combination of the Inktomi and Looksmart databases, as well as its own hand picked directory of websites, to provide interesting and relevant results.

NetScape

NetScape Netscape, owned by AOL, uses the Google database and the Open Directory for its search results. Although Netscape uses its own algorithm to determine rankings, its results are often very similar to Google.

OpenDirectory

OpenDirectory Started in 1998, The Open Directory is a large database compiled by a group of volunteer editors. Instead of trying to list every possible website, the directory tries to list some
of the best sites in each category. Google uses the directory for some of its results.

WebCrawler

WebCrawler Webcrawler is a meta search engine owned by Infospace.Results from Webcrawler are very similar and usually identical to Infospace. However, Webcrawler does have a nice advertising
free interface.

WikiPedia

WikiPedia While technically not a search engine, the Wikipedia Encyclopedia is one of the web's most popular research tools. Users can add material or edit articles at any time.
Inappropriate material and unrefrenced statements are removed quickly.

Yahoo

Yahoo Yahoo is the oldest and most popular directory on the web. Yahoo pulls results from its own human-edited
database as well as from Googles crawler database.