This easy-to-use, time-saving guide describes, evaluates, and explains how to locate information with popular search tools that use automatic indexing software to efficiently and effectively discover, harvest, and index Web pages. Here are some of the features of this unique manual:
-- an introduction to search engines and chapters offering individual looks at the most widely known and used, such as WebCrawler, Lycos, Infoseek, OpenText, Altavista, Excite, and HotBot
-- a general explanation of how all Web search tools create and search their indexes and databases
-- a discussion of the interface (the medium that allows the user to enter a query, and then translates the query for the search engine)
-- an explanation of how robots discover resources on the Web and their limitations, as well as depth-first vs. breadth-first searching
-- handy charts that help you compare search engine features

Each description of a search engine contains information about who created it, the size of its database, the spiderbot or harvester it uses to retrieve information, how often it is updated, what is indexed, how this is determined, and the step-by-step methods to find information with each. Additional chapters offer a comparison of the various search engines, a look at the economics of search engines, an annotated listing of meta-engines, and a glossary.