The Search Engineers; search engine optimisation (SEO) and page ranking specialists.
There are many thousands of search engines and directories world-wide. The following search engines/directories are listed because of one or more of the following reasons:
- They are popular International search engines and are used by people throughout the World, including the UK.
- They are popular search engines whose focus is UK businesses or sites that are of interest to people in the UK.
- Although not particularly popular themselves, they supply data to one or more search engines that fall into one or more of the categories above.
- Although not a search engine in their own right they are popular destinations for UK Internet users and consequently have a popular search facility powered by one or more of the the other search engines listed below.
- Although not particularly popular yet, it is more than likely that they will become so because of their marketing strategy or because of their ownership.
- Although not particularly popular with UK users they are either very popular elsewhere (usually the US) or for historical reasons are worth a mention.
To visit any of the search engines/directories below click on 'details' for further information or 'website' and the search engine/directory will open in a new window.
A recent addition to the search engine World from Amazon the results come from Google. This search engine also searches the contents of books and offers other useful features including a site info button which shows basic information about a site and which sites other people who have visited this site also visited.
Sometimes called FAST Search, All The Web draws its results from the Yahoo! Search database and is owned by Yahoo!.
AltaVista was one of the first crawler type search engines having started in December 1995. AltaVista draws its results from the Yahoo! Search database and is owned by Yahoo!
UK version of AltaVista which offers the ability to search UK sites only or Worldwide.
With the large numbers of people who use AOL as an ISP, AOL's search services are highly significant. The main listings come from Google.
UK version of AOL which offers the ability to search UK sites only or Worldwide.
Ask Jeeves is designed so that users can ask questions in plain English. Results from Teoma, which it owns are integrated. Data is also supplied to Excite.
The UK version of Ask Jeeves designed to produce results more significant to UK users.
The search function on the extremely popular BBC web site. Three types of results are presented for a search under different tabs. The first tab is results from BBC web sites. The second tab is from BBC news. The third tab is from the web as a whole with results coming from Inktomi and supplemented with BBCi recommended sites.
Search engine which compiles its results by searching other popular engines and returning combined results all in one place.
European pay per click engine. Espotting's results are displayed on Yahoo UK, Lycos UK and Ask Jeeves UK, Netscape UK and UK Plus amongst others.
A European-based search engine which is powered by Google. Also offers a directory powered by the Open Directory Project.
A European-based search engine which is powered by Google, Yahoo! and Teoma. Also offers a directory powered by the Open Directory Project.
Go was a portal site produced by Infoseek and Disney. Disney shut down the portal at Go in 2001 and the results are now provided by Yahoo!.
Google is a search engine that uses link popularity (Page Rank) amongst other techniques to rank web sites. Google claims that this means that sites with the most links to them have been effectively endorsed by the sites that link to them and thus are more popular and should be ranked higher. Google also offers a Directory (powered by The Open Directory Project) and image and Newsgroup searches. Google provides its data to many other search engines including A9, AOL, Euroseek, Excite, Netscape, and WebCrawler.
UK version of Google which offers the ability to search UK sites only or Worldwide.
HotBot started in 1996 and was purchased by Lycos in 1998 but is run separately. Users can select which database results should be drawn from. The options are Google and Ask.
UK version of Hotbot which offers the ability to search UK sites only or Worldwide. Results come from draws its results from the Yahoo! Search database.
Lycos's main listings come Teoma and Yahoo!.
UK version of Lycos which offers the ability to search UK sites only or Worldwide.
Mirago is a search engine aimed specifically at UK businesses and families. As well as indexing UK and Irish they also index International sites which are of interest to residents of the British Isles. Mirago offers the ability to ask plain English questions.
Microsoft's MSN Search a new search engine, index and crawler; all built from the ground up on Microsoft technology.
The UK version of MSN designed to produce results more significant to UK users.
 Netscape results come primarily from Google together with results its editors have hand picked.
The UK version of Netscape designed to produce results more significant to UK users.
The search function of this popular ISP. Search results are provided by Google UK.
Open Directory Project :: [ website]
The Open Directory Project uses volunteer editors to catalogue the web. It was launched in 1998 as NewHoo. It was acquired by Netscape in November 1998 when the company pledged that anyone would be able to use information from the directory through an open license agreement. A lot of search engines and directories use Open Directory data including Euroseek, Google, Hotbot and Splut.
Formally known as GoTo, Overture sells its main listings on a per click basis. Non-paid results come from Inktomi. Overture is owned by Yahoo!. Overture listings appear as "sponsored" or "featured" sites on many search engines and directories including AltaVista, Excite, Lycos, MSN, Netscape and Yahoo!
The UK version of Overture designed to produce results more significant to UK users. Results appear on many search engines and directories including AOL UK, Ask Jeeves UK, AltaVista UK, BT Openworld, Freeserve, Lycos UK, MSN UK, Tiscali and Yahoo! UK.
Search.com is a meta search engine operated by CNET. Results are drawn from a large number of sources including Google, Ask Jeeves, MSN and The Open Directory Project.
A fast and free directory of UK web sites. Open Directory Project data is also used.
Owned by Ask Jeeves, to whom it also provides its data. Three categories of results are returned for each search. The first is web results. The second is a list of suggested options to refine the search. The third is a list of sites from experts and enthusiasts which are themselves links to sites dealing withy the subject of the search. The database is also used by Excite, WebCrawler and Hotbot.
The search function of this popular ISP. Search results are provided by Google.
UK Plus launched in 1997 as a directory featuring reviews of sites in the UK or relevant to people in the UK. It is owned by Associated Newspapers who own the Daily Mail. Results now come from Teoma.
Wanadoo formerly Freeserve :: [ website]
The search function of this ISP which is one of the largest in the UK. Search results are primarily provided by Overture.
WebCrawler launched in 1994. AOL purchased WebCrawler in 1995 but sold it to Excite in 1996. Excite continued to run WebCrawler as a separate search engine until its demise. As with Excite, WebCrawler is now owned by Infospace and operates as a meta search engine drawing results from Ask Jeeves, Google, Overture, Teoma, Yahoo! and other sources.
A search engine that appeared in 2001 with a database nearly as large as the biggest players. Bought by LookSmart in April 2002.
Yahoo is the oldest major web site directory, having launched in late 1994 and is considered by many to be the most popular search service. In addition to its directory, Yahoo launched its own search engine in February 2004 to replace the results previously provided by Google and for a short period after that by Inktomi. Yahoo owns Inktomi, AltaVista and AllTheWeb. Its results also appear on Excite and WebCrawler.
UK version of Yahoo which offers the ability to search UK sites only or Worldwide.
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