i-Search Engines

Search engines and directories share a common goal in providing the searcher with relevant, meaningful results, however, there are many differences in their functionality.

A search engine might also have restrictions on the number of pages you can submit in a single day, perhaps only 5 or 10 pages are allowed to be submitted.

The ranking criteria can differ to determine who gets top placement so even though two search engines might use the same database they can provide different search results.

Many search engines and directories either partner with or license the use of another search engine or directory's search technology. Being indexed by these engines means your Web site is likely to be found in other major search services. For example, Google's results can be found on AOL, Netscape, and even sites such as CNN. Google's paid advertising results appear on many other sites as well.

To summarize, search engines all have different ranking criteria, and this is why you receive different results when you search on the same keyword with different engines. One particularly useful site with this information is searchenginewatch. The remaining major players in the search engine industry are: Google, Teoma, Yahoo! Search, MSN Search - Soon to be powered by MSNBot.

Some directories permit free submissions, while others require you to pay - just like the search engines. Popular directories include: Yahoo!, LookSmart/Zeal, Google Open Directory, About.com, Business.com

Directories catalog a smaller number of pages than search engines. Google currently claims that it has the largest index, with 4.3 billion indexed pages! Open Directory, Yahoo!, and LookSmart are popular directories, and each has a few million indexed Web pages.