Search Engines, Directories and Resources

Pandia Powersearch - List of search engines and directories. Also includes a metasearch engine, search tutorial, and a free newsletter.
Age of Dot Com - Links to search resources including start pages, integrated search forms, portals, engines, guides, and directories. Offers both a simple links page and a directory with descriptions and ratings.
Aleph Search - A directory of directories. Links to selected information rich web resources, both unspecialised and specialised, with a strong emphasis on United Kingdom based sites.
Alt Search Engines - Charles Knight maintains a list of the top 100 alternative and niche search engines. Includes news, reviews and debates on search engines.
Big Search Engine Index - Directory listing hundreds of search engines, categorized, described and rated.
Complete Planet - Directory of databases and specialty search engines from Bright Planet.
CyberTimes Navigator - The starting point that New York Times reporters and editors use for their explorations of the Web. A straightforward list of some of the best sources on the Web for all types of information.
Direct Search - Gary Price's compilation of links to the search interfaces of resources that contain data not easily or entirely searchable/accessible from general search tools.
Fetchfido - A graphical interface of links to search engines. Multi-layered, with universal, United Kingdom, United States, European and worldwide sections.
FinderSeeker - Find the search engine you want by selecting a thematical category and/or country, or search by keyword.
FTP Search Engines - Rated links to ftp and mp3 search sites.
Geniusfind - Categorizes thousands of the most useful topic-specific directories and databases, with descriptions.
Indexing the Internet - An essay by John Hubbard analyzing the question of what is the best way to index the Internet, with references.
ISEDB - A directory of search engines and directories worldwide, organized by geographical area and subject, includes articles on site submission, marketing, and optimization.
OpenSearch - A collection of simple formats for the sharing of search results. Includes specifications and frequently asked questions.
Search Engine Colossus - Directory of hundreds of search engines, organised by country and topic.
Search Engine Relationship Chart - Bruce Clay's pictoral view of how search engines provide data to partner engines and directories. Requires Acrobat Reader.
Search Engine Showdown - A user's guide to Web searching with features, comparative analysis, strategies, discussion, news and reviews.
Search Engine Watch - Comprehensive guide to search engine marketing and search engine optimization. Forums, reviews, articles, ratings, and frequent newsletters. Paying members receive access to extra content.
Search Engines Worldwide - Search engines sorted by geographical location.
Search Tools for Web Sites and Intranets - Provides information, news and advice about web site searching technology. Includes a guide, search tools list, glossary, and opportunity to compare searches of its own site by different tools. Offers a free monthly email newsletter.
Searchenginez - Search forms for the most effective engines in dozens of categories from Robert Skelton. Includes reviews, ratings, webmaster tools, and tutorials.
Those Dark Hiding Places: The Invisible Web Revealed - Librarian Robert J. Lackie provides annotated links to directories, searchable sites, databases, and search engines useful for uncovering content that the general search engines fail to disclose.
Topix: Search Engines News - News on the search engine industry continually updated from thousands of sources around the Net.
The Ultimate Search Engine Links Page - A directory of search engines: general, metasearch, pay-per-click, children's, subject, country and people search. All are described and can be rated.

Search Directories

Big Guide Web Directory - Searchable directory featuring more than 600 categories with all submissions individually reviewed.
Chiff - A directory of sites selected for good content, design, navigation, and absence of pop-up ads.
Earth Station Nine - Categorized sites, newsgroups and webrings covering general and specialized topics.
E-lynks - A directory of links organised into categories sorted alphabetically.
eWebPages Web Directory - Searchable index of Internet resources, categorized for browsing.
Gimpsy - Sites classified by the activity the user is aiming at, providing a natural language search interface.
GoGuides Directory - Directory started by former go.com editors and maintained and operated by contributors who pay a membership fee. Includes an image search and updated news.
GoRexxie Web Directory - General human edited web directory organized by category.
Hoppa - A web directory classified by both location and subject.
Intel Seek - Searchable web directory organized in a comprehensive category structure.
Linkopedia - Over 300 categories including news, weather, financial information, online games, and travel deals.
LoadzaLinks - Searchable categorized directory of websites with thumbnails, accepts submissions.
Massivelinks - Strongly commercial directory which allows users to review sites.
A Perfect Search - A selection of links with descriptions in some popular home user search categories, together with a metasearch option.
Re-Quest dot Net - Online library of internet and reference resources.
SearchMonster - Paid inclusion directory that offers human edited entries within 48 hours.
Seven Seek - Offers a professionally edited Internet directory, organized by subject.
Site Sift Web Directory - General web directory with selected site listings sorted by category.
Some Random Directory - Provides resources on hundreds of topics, relevant links and weblog entries.
Somuch - Links on various topics, mostly focused on computers and Internet.
Uncover the Net - Search directory, lyrics, news and image search and how-to articles on varied topics.
VisioBrand - Directory of brand names. Lists only official sites, including those of business brands and celebrities.
Web World Directory - A searchable web directory of sites categorized by topic, offering free and paid listings.

Search Engines

Amfibi - General search engine with an uncluttered interface in a choice of Catalan, English, French, and Spanish. Also has a web directory using the Open Directory.
ChaCha - This search engine is a fusion of computer technology and human intelligence. Live human guides are available to provide additional assistance in finding relevant results.
Entireweb - The English-language version of a Swedish search engine with a clean interface and large database.
FactBites.com - A cross between a search engine and an encyclopedia. The results return complete, informative sentences about the search topic. Related topics are suggested.
Gigablast - A search engine with a clean interface, advanced search options including sorting by date, and a real time url submission feature. Includes PDF documents in its index.
Lexxe - Processes natural language queries and delivers results in clusters by topic. Queries can be keywords, phrases or short questions.
Live Search - Offers general web search and various verticals, including images, news, classifieds, maps and local. By Microsoft.
Mojeek - Search engine with a simple interface and no advertising. Offers the ability to create a customized topical or personal search index.
Mozdex - Uses open source search technologies and an index seeded from the Open Directory.
Ms. Dewey - Search engine with a touch of humor that plays prerecorded movie clips of a female actress to entertain you while searches are being performed.
Objects Search - An uncluttered interface offers options to search the web, news and blogs, includes cached pages and 'anchors', which are titles and descriptions from the Open Directory.
Scrub The Web - Search engine with sponsored links at the top of results. Also offering a meta tag builder and analyzer.
Search 2.0 - Blog dedicated to coverage of the next generation of search engines and new technologies from the original players with tips, tricks, and tutorials on how to search more effectively.
SearchHippo - Indexes sites listed in the major internet directories. Offers free web services, including a search toolbar, and code for webmasters to provide search boxes on their sites.
Searchles, Inc - Offers social search features (allowing others' opinions to influence your results) and allows users to tag, group and save links.
ThreeMice - Natural-language answer engine, which queries the internet in real time, and will serve up full text from selected sites.
Ulysseek - A straightforward search engine with a simple interface.
Wikipedia: Search Engine - Article in the online collaborative encyclopedia, describing the history and mechanisms of Web search engines.
Wotbox - Search engine with country specific searching. Options to display country flags, and include preview and translation features. Sponsored links appear in panels separate from the main results.
ACM Queue: Why Writing Your Own Search Engine is Hard - Anna Patterson explains the problems of search engine design in practical terms in this lengthy article. (April, 2004)
NPR : The Search Engine Wars - In a five-part series, NPR's Rick Karr takes a look at the business of search engines. (April, 2004)
Search Engines and Editorial Integrity - Article from the USC Online Journalism Review examines the issue of major search engines adopting deceptive, misleading advertising practices at the expense of editorial integrity and their users. (April 2, 2002)
Commercial Alert Files Complaint Against Search Engines for Deceptive Ads - A complaint filed with the United States Federal Trade Commission by Ralph Nader's Commercial Alert service, which charges the major search engines of inserting advertisements in search engine results without clear disclosure that the ads are ads. (July 16, 2001)
The Evolution of Web Searching - David Green's paper from Online Information Review explores the development of search engine technologies. (March, 2000)