1. FAQ
2. Strategy
3. Details
4.Wizard
5.Rankings
6.Spidap
Search
Engine
Ratings
Site
Map
What's
New?
Search
FAQ
Search
Strategy
How
Search
Engines
Work
Web
Search
Wizard
In-depth
Analysis &
Rankings
Monash
Information
Services
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of
Page
How To Use Web Search Engines
How to get the most from *search engines like *AltaVista, *Infoseek, *Excite, *Webcrawler, *Lycos, HotBot, *Open Text and the *Yahoo Directory.
(starred links are Hyper-Live connections to our Zoom-Inform demo, which provides in-depth information about companies, products and technical terms)
Page One--Tips On Searching The Web
The Spider's Apprentice, Spidap, is not another search engine. It doesn't crawl the Web looking for new URLs. It can't find stuff for you...but it can help you find it yourself.
That's what we're all about--helping you search the Web more efficiently. We figure out which search engines are most effective--in fact, we rate them for you. (See our current rankings below, and our more comprehensive ratings on our In-depth Ratings and Analysis Page.)
What's New with Search Engines
Image searching is hot these days! Most of the search engines allow users to search for image files (by looking for the image file extensions in the HTML code). Also new is Ultraseek (this was formerly in beta, but is now the official new Infoseek search engine). Infoseek also has a new functionality called Ultrasmart, which is a cross between a search engine and a Yahoo-like directory. It provides the user with subjects and categories to search against, and also attempts to automatically link query terms with directory subjects. If you're on the Web, try seeing what subjects your own name is linked to!
Meanwhile, here at Monash Information Services, we're looking at ways to get information more effectively, too. For an introduction to our technology, please see our Elucidate site, for SmartScape and the Zoom-Inform demo (currently limited to information about enterprise software companies and products). Ultimately, we hope to be able to say to the search engines, "Ha! We do it better."
| Top
of Page--Tips On Searching The Web
What's New with Search Engines What Spidap Offers Our Current Search Engine Ratings |
Page
Two--Basic Search Engine FAQ
Some Frequently Asked Questions about Web search. This page will be most useful for Web search beginners. |
| Page
Three--How To Plan The Best Search Strategy
Do you really want a search engine? Have you tried a Web directory like Yahoo first? We'll explain the differences between the two. |
Page
Four--How Search Engines Work
Explanation of keyword searching, concept based searching, test indexing, query refining (yes--all the Boolean stuff!) and relevancy ranking. |
| Page Five--The
Web Search Wizard
This is our Action Page! Jump straight here for tips on Smart Searching. You can also search the Web directly from our page. And we'll direct you to some specialized databases that will help you find people, phone numbers, company info or just plain fun! |
Page
Six--In-Depth Analysis of Popular Search Engines
Here we give the details on the most popular Web search engines. We also rank the search engines with letter grades for overall quality and usability. |
Highest Overall Usability
Rating: Ultraseek
Runner-up:
Yahoo
Most Likely to Find a Hit
When Others Can't: AltaVista
Runner-up:
Ultraseek
The Spider's Apprentice
was conceived and written by Linda Barlow, who maintains this site for
Monash Information Services.
Updated:2/12/97
E-mail: Linda Barlow
Copyright, 1996-7, Monash Information Services. All rights reserved. To discuss permission to re-use any of our material, or to translate into other languages, contact Linda Barlow at the above e-mail address.