Search Engines

The first search engine I found out about was Dogpile, which is actually a Meta search engine. A Meta search engine uses several regular search engines, like Google and Yahoo, to make a search. For quite a while Dogpile was pretty much the only search engine I used. My favorite now is Yahoo. Search engines are very useful when you are trying to find stuff on the web. You can find pretty much anything with a search engine, and there are many to choose from. Some of the most common on the web are Google, Yahoo, Dogpile, Lycos, About, Ask, and MSN. Usually a search engine will let you specify just what you’re looking for with tabs like Web, Images, and Video. Just type the name of whatever you what to find in the search box at the top of the page. If you were looking for cats, type cats press the Search button, and you will get a list of results that were found. If you want to find pictures of cats, click on the Images tab above the search box, type cats, and press the Search button again. You will get a page full of cat pictures that were found.
Search engines don’t always work perfectly. Sometimes you get results that are completely different than what you were looking for. You can also easily come across very offensive material. But at least some search engines, like Yahoo, filter your results. You can adjust the filter to your tastes.
There’s more to search engines than merely searching though. Usually they have categories of different topics on pages accessible through the main search engine page. For example, you can find information about movies on the movie page. You can find and play games, look up maps, find cars, read news, look at personals, or even shop online. Some search engines, such as Yahoo and Google, also have e-mail services.
I use search engines every day. I like to use the Images tab to find pictures of everything between roses to Tori Amos. I use the Local tab to find phone numbers to places in town, like a pizza parlor or Target. Sometimes I use Ask.com to find the answers to general questions I have. Search engines are like the Index to the web.