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About is at http://www.aesop.com/about.htm
Add URL is at http://www.aesop.com/cgi-bin/sub/submiturl.cgi
Read about the AESOP META tag at http://www.aesop.com/metatag.htmSearch engine that has the novel approach of inventing it's own META tag to help characterise your page. When you submit a URL they take you through a dialog asking about your site and then tell you the META tags to add. It's not clear if only pages that add this tag will be added. If so, this site is npt long for this world. At present the database is quite small, although I have seen them spidering sites.
Help (requires Flash) is at http://www.ilor.com/ILSFlash.htm, About is at http://www.ilor.com/ILSAbout.htm
FAQ at http://www.ilor.com/ILSFAQ.htm
Advanced search at http://www.ilor.com/searchilor.lor?&start=0&pg=aq&as_q=
No add URLA "Research" search engine that adds value to Google (itself a vary valuable engine). Each result gets links to a cached version, similar pages, and pages that link to the results page. A menu hovers over each result, which offers options like opening the result in another window, or to go to the result page and pop up a small window to take you back to the original results page. Another option opens a new window and adds links that you select to a list. The list can then be emailed to you, or added to your favourites.
The engine can be personalized (you can even choose your own skins). All in all an interesting experiment in using the hidden "features" in Google and modern browsers to extend the traditional search engine interface and the way users use and interact with results.
Help is at http://www.loopimprovements.com/help.asp
About is at http://www.loopimprovements.com/about.asp
No advanced search
No Add URLA search engine that takes the pages of the ODP project as its starting point. It claims to search for the "Invisible web" by looking for web pages that contain forms, and then building those forms into a searchable database. The idea is that you can enter search terms and have returned forms that will allow you to then search the "invisible" content on the sites the forms were taken from. This only works if the form itself has suggestive prompts of partially matches your search term. Since most will simply say "search term", I'm not sure how successful this approach can be.
The results page includes bullseye icons indicating a "search engine" at that site. Click on this to have your search executed on the selected sites search form.
This site also allows you to "speak your search", although I don't have the technology to test this myself, it's another innovative idea.
A new "Inference engine" that claims to be a bit smarter in working out what's relevant. Groups results by the type of page (commercial etc)
Uniquely (at the time of first writing this) you can specify how many seconds you're prepared to wait for the results.
One to watch!
Advanced search at http://www.iwon.com/home/search/search_advanced/0,11749,0,00.html
No add URL that I could see.
No Help page, but read more about the sweepstake at
http://www.iwon.com/home/winning/howitworks_overview/1,11933,,00.htmlPowered by Inktomi, this is easily the most bizarre portal/search engine around. Each part of the web page has a little orange mark next to it with a number. If you register with the site then these numbers add up to give you chances in a daily sweepstake! This would appear to be worth $10,000 daily until 31 March 2000.
The numbers are quite distracting and seduce you away from the results you were originally seeking.
Search tips at http://www.oingo.com/find.dll?s=&r=y&m=&x=25&y=17#
Add URL at http://www.oingo.com/addsite.html, although really you can only add
by entering your site into the Open Directory project at http://dmoz.org/Help is at http://www.oingo.com/help.html
Oingo are demonstrating their "Meaning based search" products. Searches are preformed against web pages and a "meaning based search" is performed against the sites listed in the Open Directory Project (ODP). The results from the ODP seem to be high quality (but then the ODP is a fairly high-quality set of sites to start with).
About at http://www.searchhippo.com/about.php
Add free keyword listing at http://www.searchhippo.com/addlink.php
Help is at http://www.searchhippo.com/searchhelp.phpA one-man project to spider the "important" sites on the web. This smaller index is created by spidering from directories such as the Open Directory Project. You can submit URLs for prioritized listing against keywords. The result is an engine that gives quality results without threatening to overwhelm you with numbers.
Add URL at http://www.slider.com/addurl.htm
Help at http://www.slider.com/help.htm (though there's not much there)
No Advanced search.
Encyclopedia is at http://www.slider.com/index/indexaa.htmA clean looking site that styles itself as a "Free Encyclopedia and Search Engine". In addition to the more traditional search results, backed up by ODP listings you can search through the alphabetical index of the encyclopedia. The Add URL link lists a number of submission tools they accept listing from, but bizarrely doesn't allow manual submission.
Add a page at http://www.subjex.com/addapage.html
Read about it at http://www.subjex.com/about.html
No help (which is a shame)An interesting search engine that is "dialogue based" and which attempts to be conversational (for example I got greeted with a "My! you're up late!" when I tested it). Frustratingly limited to 5 results a page (more can be viewed), but this is presumably because the engine is aimed at tailoring your search for the right page through dialogue
You get best results if you enter short answers. Enter a long question and you'll get 5 results, enter short questions and you're more likely to be directed to what you want.
You need to reset the dialogue each time you start a new search, although this would appear to be the same as typing "reset" in the query box. Equally adding the word "find" to the start of the first query can shorten the initial dialogue. Same with "find program" if you're looking for software
Here's a sample dialogue
Winzip
> Would you like me to search for winzip?
(the above isn't asked if you start with "find winzip" or "find program winzip")
Yes
> Here are some results. Should I look for 2000 or Winzip computing
> or something else.
Something else
> What specific information about Winzip do you require?
Download sitesIn fact most of the links before this point would have done fine. The whole experience is a little Eliza-like, and I couldn't resist trying the following.
"Open the pod bay doors, Hal"
and it found me 5 pages, 4 of which had this as their title, so no complaints there.
An interesting technology that may play well with the less experienced web searcher.
Help is at http://static.wc.teoma.com/docs/teoma/about/searchwithauthority.html
Search tips at http://static.wc.teoma.com/docs/teoma/about/searchtips.html
Add URL (for Ask Jeeves) at http://ask.ineedhits.com/Just entering beta in June 2001, this is another stripped down search engine. The results come in three parts, web pages, web pages grouped by topic, and "expert links". The same groups and expert links are shown on subsequent pages of results.
In recent times Teoma has come to be seen as a rival to Google, and has been bought out by "Ask Jeeves"
Customized search available.
Help available.
FAQ at http://vivisimo.com/vivisimo-1.1/html/FAQ.htmlInteresting meta that describes itself as a "clustering engine" and which shows results in a set of frames, with listings on the right and a tree of related search terms and results on the left. Due for launch in Feb 2001 according to the FAQ.
Note the Help and "Customize" links work within the FRAMES setup of the site and as such I can't really quote them here.
No advanced search.
Help and more about WebBrain at http://www.webbrain.com/about_frame.html
Add URL is the ODP page http://dmoz.org/add.htmlAn innovative site (when viewed in IE) as the results pages are interpreted with eye-catching animated graphics, which group the results together.
The results (currently) seem to limited to the contents of the Open Directory Project.
No advanced search
No submit URL
About at http://direct.webhelp.com/direct/html/aboutDirect.html
FAQ at http://www.webhelp.com/webhelp/faq/faq_company.htmlAnother interesting site that appears to be extending the Ask Jeeves approach to a pay-as-you-ask system, based on questions asked of human experts who will reply with a URL that can help, rather than a direct answer.
With the free service you ask natural text questions, and the results are a mixture of responses to previously asked questions, matches from some pay-per-click engines and the ODP.
If you sign up for $9.99 you can ask questions for a month of the human experts (whose answers are the ones searched above), or ask 10 questions over an extended period.
WiseSearch at http://www.wisenut.com/WISEsearch.html
About is at http://www.wisenut.com/company.html
No Add URL as yet.New search engine as of May 2001. A simple site design like Google, and a database claimed to be larger than Google shows what they're aiming at. The site boasts new technology, and offers a WiseGuide, which categorises some of the results, allowing you to browse the results as if they were a directory.
FAQ and help http://www.wordpond.com/intro.asp
This site executes a sample search whenever you connect to it. According to WordPond
_"WordPond is designed to maximize the number of search results available on a single page. WordPond delivers a sample search to give the new visitor an idea of the utility of hundreds of results delivered as single line records in a graphic free format."_
Certainly, very little is displayed apart from results, and WordPond can be customized to deliver up to a thousand records per page in an ad free format.
Webmasters pay a one off $5 and can then register as many sites as they wish, allocating each keyword combination "word pennies" which weight the sites ranking against search terms.