Finding Things

Compilations of Resources | Search Engines | Directories | Other Tools | Who Owns It? | Shareware & Freeware | Homepage Exercise | Going Further

Web directories, such as Looksmart and Yahoo, are similar to search engines. At first glance they appear to be the same, but people compile directories while web crawlers and similar computer programs compile the databases used by search engines. In other words, a directory is built by someone looking at a web site to determine if it's worthy of being added to their database and if so, under what category it should fall. Regular search engines are not so discerning. As you might suspect, directories don't cover as much of the Web as a search engine, and there is the potential element of human bias in categorization.

Many directories have search tools to help you find specific items within each category.

Caveat about Search Engines-Directories

Sometimes, a search engine company or directory decides to accept what are termed "paid listings". This means that companies can pay to be displayed prominently in the search engine results. For example, if someone types in a search for "antique car," someone could pay to have "sellmywreck.com" appear at the top of the results listings.

Because paid listings tamper with the credibility of search engines, most engines avoid the practice altogether or at least mark the results list in a way to let the user know that someone paid to be listed first---that the first link is not necessarily the best place to look for the requested information.