Skip to main content

Search Engine and Web Directory List

OWL logo

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.



Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.


Summary:

This section covers finding information online. It includes information about search engines, Boolean operators, Web directories, and the invisible Web. It also includes an extensive, annotated links section.

The following is a list of some of the most powerful search and metasearch engines and most comprehensive web directories.

  • All4one: One of the first metasearch engines, All4One allows simultaneous searching of 10 major search engines.
  • Bing: Microsoft's search engine.
  • Dogpile: A metasearch engine that will search Google, MSN, Yahoo, and Ask.
  • Environment Web Directory: A web directory that focuses on environmental and health issues.
  • Excite: A search engine that lets you search by language, for video, audio, and mp3, and by relevant date.
  • Google: Includes a new type of search, "Google Scholar," which allows you to search for more academically-oriented searches.
  • Lycos: A search engine that allows for news searches but does not have many advanced search features.
  • Metacrawler: A metasearch engine and will search other search engines.
  • The Open Directory Project: One of the largest and most comprehensive human-edited directories in the world. Only higher quality websites will be listed here as each site submitted must be approved by a directory editor.
  • WebCrawler: Another search engine that allows searching by location, domain name, and for multimedia.