Search Engine Watch

Search engines are like cigarettes: they both cause cancer.

No, wait — brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is high in both cases. Just about everyone I know who is on the Net has an opinion on which search engine is superior. Different engines say different things about their users — currently Google seems to the hit with the kids, while the plebes will insist on Yahoo. Amusingly enough, Yahoo has a stake in Google now, and Google supplies Yahoo with some search results when Yahoo's database fails it. Where did I find that amazing piece of info out? Read on, fat boy.

So what separates search engines? Enter Search Engine Watch. After crossing its digital threshhold, you will be stunned at the range of resources available to you regarding this topic. After cruising around the site awhile, you will begin to appreciate the importance and difficulty of the task of providing road maps to the internet.

Using a nice combination of raw, chart-based info and informative blurbs, you will really feel up to speed quickly. The site gives information on many, many search engines, but with detailed info regarding each engine being reserved for the subscribed users. One caveat is the price of subscribing to their innner sanctum of hardcore knowledge — $80 for a year is a lot of money. But hey, find a way for your workplace to pay. Doing without the extra info is also acceptable — a lot of good stuff is free here. And if you can't find it here, you can, of course, always use a search engine.

Search Engine Watch does an excellent job of separating information into what it feels are the two relevant groups of viewers: the Webmasters who need to make their site findable, and the Web-browsing folks who need to find them. You will get information on how to maximize your meta tags effectiveness — did you know that Lycos doesn't even cull meta tags? Now you do. You will find information on the specific techniques that different search engines use to sift their data into the most effective lists. You will find pictures of puppies.

Search engines are incredibly important tools. Knowing how they work can only help you as a developer, or even as a casual user. And this seems to be a pretty definitive resource for all the search info you'll need.

— Dan Norton)