Search engines are commercial enterprises that collect and index Web pages or Web page titles. You can use them to help you sift through all the Web pages out there so that you can find the information you need. Some of these enterprises review the sites they collect, and others provide site information unfiltered and unedited. Some search engines (like Yahoo! at www.yahoo.com) are hierarchical indexes and use subject listings that are similar to the card catalog in a library. Often, you can search hierarchical indexes by keyword (a word that sums up or describes the item or concept that you’re seeking) and by topic. Knowing how to use a search engine is a basic Internet skill. Currently, more than 600 different search engines exist on the Net. These Internet tools can be divided into two categories: metasearch engines and search engines.

Metasearch engines enable you to enter a single search term to query many individual search engines. This kind of all-in-one shopping is used to match your inquiry to the millions of Web pages on the Internet. Metasearch engines often have different approaches to presenting your results. Some metasearch engines just query a wide variety of search engines and report your results without you having to go to several search engines. Other metasearch engines bypass existing search engines and query multiple online sources for your search results. Here are some examples of metasearch engines:

Dogpile (www.dogpile.com) searches the Web, Usenet newsgroups, FTP sites (sites for downloading software and data via FTP — the file transfer protocol), weather information, stock quotes, business news, and other news wires. (For more information about Usenet newsgroups, see the section “Understanding How Newsgroups Can Help You,” later in this article.) This site also includes a Web catalog.

Momma (www.momma.com) simultaneously queries a series of search engines and properly formats the words and syntax for each source being probed. The search results are then organized into a uniform format and presented by relevance and source.

Metacrawler (www.metacrawler.com/index.html) works like Dogpile but doesn’t search Usenet newsgroups and FTP (file transfer protocol) sites. Search results aren’t annotated.

SurfWax (www.surfwax.com) allows users to put together search sets. For example, an “Investor” SearchSet can include The Wall Street Journal, CNNfn, The New York Times, and so on.

You can also use tools for exploring search results. For example, SiteSnaps allows you to quickly view page content, and ContextZooming allows you to search highlighted terms. FocusWords offers suggestions about how you can narrow or broaden your search. Finally, you can use an InfoCubby to save your search results for later retrieval. SurfWax offers three levels of service (free, silver, and gold). With your free registration, you receive the free level of service that includes three SearchSets of up to 15 sources each. Silver and Gold subscribers pay $24 and $60 per year, respectively. Each registered level has access to all of SurfWax’s capabilities; the difference is the extent of permitted uses. (Firm pricing is available on a custom basis.)

Profusion (www.profusion.com) allows you to search one, some, or all of the listings from AltaVista, About, AOL, Lycos, Raging Search, WiseNut, Metacrawler, MSN, Adobe PDF, LookSmart, Netscape, Teoma, and AllTheWeb. You can fine-tune your search by selecting your search type, the number of results per page, the number of results per source, and when you want the search to timeout. You can narrow your search by looking into vertical search groups, such as Business or Finance.

Vivisimo (www.vivisimo.com) technology was developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. Vivisimo doesn’t index the Web; it simultaneously searches several major search engines and directories (such as Fast, MSN, Yahoo!, AltaVista, Lycos, Open Directory, Excite, and WebCrawler). The Vivisimo technology then groups results into clusters of titled folders that best fit the query.

Popular search engines are trustworthy Internet programs that match the words in your query to words on the Internet. Each search engine is a competitive, commercial enterprise with different databases, search programs, and features. Everyone has a favorite search engine. The search engine that is best is the one that works the best for you. Search engines employ spiders or crawlers (robot programs) that constantly seek new information on the Internet. These robot programs index and categorize their findings and then let you probe their lists with keywords. The engine shows your search results with short descriptions and hyperlinks. Just click the hyperlink to go to the Web page you seek. Here are a few of the more popular search engines on the Net:

Excite (www.excite.com) enables you to browse many subject categories, such as investing. It uses a combination of concept (a general idea) and keyword (a specific word in the Web page) searches, so the results are usually pretty good. If you’re unsatisfied with your findings, click the Excite Metasearch link at the bottom of the page for more results.

Google (www.google.com) is currently ranked as the number-one search engine. It has the largest amount of the Internet indexed. Google offers the Google Toolbar, a quick-and-easy-to-install toolbar that automatically appears along with the Internet Explorer toolbar to increase your ability to speedily find information on the Net.

MSN (search.msn.com) enables you to set preferences to automatically correct spelling errors, select the number of results per page, and determine whether search responses should include summaries. Additionally, you can search from any one of MSN’s international Web sites. If you’re unfamiliar with search engines, click Help to get the advice you need. Additionally, MSN has a new beta that is supposed to be a “Google beater,” a search engine, index, and crawler. For more information see beta.search.msn.com/default.aspx?FORM=HPRE.

Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) is a popular starting point. This directory search engine includes a vast array of subject directories, categories, and special services, such as People Search, Weekly Picks, What’s New This Week, Yahoo! Loan Center, Finance Yahoo!, and Real Estate Yahoo!

Selecting the best search engine With more than two billion Web pages on the Internet, finding the one page you need to complete your investor research can be difficult. Using search engines is often like a crapshoot. Sometimes you win (and you find the Web page you want), and sometimes you lose (you find no relevant Web pages in your search results). If you lose, you have to go to another search engine and spend more time researching.

Not all search engines are equal. Some have indexed a large portion of the Internet. Others are just starting or are slow in keeping up with the thousands of new Web pages that are added each day. To be competitive, search engines are always adding new features. Some search engine databases include Usenet, mailing lists, news sources, indexes, directories, Web sites, company profiles, and other information. Other search engines include only a portion of this data. When you evaluate search engines, see how they match up to the following criteria:

Subject directory: Does the search engine enable you to limit searches to specific subject areas? Searches are quicker if the search engine offers a subject directory because it searches only in the topic area that you specify.

Results ranking: Does the search engine rate your search results so that you know how likely you are to find what you’re looking for? (For example, listings with relevancy ratings of less than 90 percent are usually worthless.) _ Web: Does the search engine look through the World Wide Web for your results?

URL (Uniform Resource Locator): Does the search engine provide the Internet addresses for your search results? Getting the address can be very helpful; you can save or print the results of your search and then later you can backtrack and get to those difficult-to-find Web sites.

Summary: Does the search engine provide a short text description of the search results?

Boolean searches: Does the search engine allow you to conduct more targeted searches? Portal is another name for search engine. Portals are designed to be the Internet user’s first window on the Web. Often, you can personalize portals to get financial news, current portfolio data, and interest rate information before moving on to other Web sites. Examples of portals include CBS MarketWatch (www.cbsmarketwatch.com), Microsoft Network (www.msn.com), and MSNBC (www.msnbc.msn.com).