Search engines

Search engines are computer programs that search for Web pages that match with keywords. You type in the words you want and the search engine explores the Web for pages that match your request. Some of the most popular include:

But when you go to these sites you will see that they also have a directory category option.

Meta search engines

Meta search engines themselves search multiple search engines and show all the results at once. Examples include:

Using directories to find information

Directories work on categories. You need to think carefully about what category the information you are looking for would be stored under. This is not as easy as it sounds. You will have to make guesses to start with and work through the sub-categories to get to what you want. The more specific you can be the quicker the process.

Similarly with search engines – the more specific you can be the more quickly you will find useful information on your chosen subject. Let's try this out using Yahoo!