search engine Last modified: Thursday, October 23, 2008
A program that searches documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found. Although search engine is really a general class of programs, the term is often used to specifically describe systems like Google,  Alta Vista and Excite that enable users to search for documents on the World Wide Web and USENET newsgroups. Typically, a search engine works by sending out a spider to fetch as many documents as possible. Another program, called an indexer, then reads these documents and creates an index based on the words contained in each document. Each search engine uses a proprietary algorithm to create its indices such that, ideally, only meaningful results are returned for each query. See How Web Search Engines Work in the Did You Know...? section of Webopedia. Also see "Web Search Engines & Directories" in the Quick Reference section of Webopedia.
•E-mail this definition to a colleague• For internet.com pages about search engine . Also check out the following links! Choose the Best Search Engine  This table helps you select the best search tool to satisfy your information need, by posing potential questions and recommending specific resources that are the best matches. Intro to Search Engine Optimization  This article from Search Engine Watch describes the basics of how search engines work and how to increase search engine optimization. Making Your Pages Easy for Search Engines to Index  Achieving high rankings for Web sites on search engines has become a black art. An article from the Web Developer's Virtual Library. Power Search site  The Power Search site hosts a collection of over 250 search engines and a list of Web site starting points. A great place to begin surfing the Web. Search Engine Watch  Features a webmaster's guide to search engines, along with search engine facts, status reports, reviews, tutorials, and related resources. Webopedia's "Did You Know...?" Section  Use this Webopedia knowledge section for an in-depth overview of specific technologies and occurrences in the areas of Computer Science, The Internet, and Computer Hardware and Software. Invite Search Engine Spiders Into Your Dynamic Web Site Increase the traffic to your dynamic site by making your valuable content visible to search engine spiders. Robots.txt Information Information about the ROBOTS.TXT file. The ROBOTS.TXT file is used to prevent Web robots from indexing some or all of a Web site. This is useful to exclude anything which is felt does not need to be included in search engines. Search Engine Optimization Code of Ethics Most SEO practitioners understand these ethics, yet not all practitioners practice safe-SEO. Search Engine Optimization Promotion Tools This page suggests ways to optimize and improve search engine results with ranking and promotion advice, hints, tips, and clues to improve your search engine keywords relative to existing leaders. Search Engine Showdown An up-to-date collection of summaries, reviews, statistics, and comparisons about the top Internet search engines. Search engines - article This article explores the popular search engine services from both the "how to find" and "how to be found" perspectives. Practical search examples are given along with performance comparisons and tips for selecting which search engine to use. What are Meta-Tags? A description of Meta-tags and why they are useful when creating web sites. If you want to be properly listed in search engines you must use Meta-Tags.	Search Engines Alta Vista Archie cloaking dynamic URL Excite HotBot ICMP Infoseek Jughead link farming Lycos meta tag Open Text pagejacking paid inclusion precision query string return search engine SEO SERP spider Veronica Yahoo! Give Us Your Feedback Shopping search engine Products Compare Products,Prices and Stores Shop by Category: Books 42 Model Matches Software 18 Store Offers Movies 1 Model Matches