SEARCHING THE SEARCH ENGINES

By: Charles Bowen Search Engine Watch Covers the New Ones


Day in and day out, search engines are fundamental to what we do
on the Web. And so far, brand loyalty is not much of an issue. To
search cyberspace, we all first used Yahoo! and Lycos. Then we
were high on AltaVista and HotBot, but of course, that was before
we got all gah-gah over Google.

Now that the Web is approaching its 10th anniversary, we're
seeing the search engine market fragment and specialize. Anyone
needing to use the Web for serious research -- including most
writers and editors -- has to have a way to quickly find out
about various new search tools online. And for me, that means
putting a new electronic associate on the case.

SearchDay is a free daily electronic newsletter from a site
called Search Engine Watch, which covers Web search news,
reviews, tools, tips, and search engine headlines from across the
Web. Edited by Chris Sherman, a veteran Web journalist who
specializes in tools for searching the Internet, SearchDay takes
what is often the online world's first look at interesting new
search-related sites, services, and tools.

While you'll want to consider adding many of these services to
your own search toolkit, others are just for fun and may be good
fodder for feature stories and Web-oriented columns in your
paper. And many of the search facilities reported in SearchDay
seem custom-designed for the working press. For instance, one
recent issue of SearchDay included information about a site
called NameBase (http://www.namebase.org), an index of more than
100,000 people influential in politics, the military,
intelligence, crime, business, and the media since World War II.
Other issues have covered super searchers for Wall Street
information, for fine arts information, and for science and
technology.

To sign up and receive the SearchDay newsletter for free online,
visit the site at http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday,
where you can enter your e-mail address to be added to the list.

Or if you would like to view a sample issue of the publication
before signing up, scroll the introductory page and find links to
the current issue and previous issues, by date. Click either link
to read back issues. On the same page, you also can get details
of other e-mailed journals:

The Search Engine Report, a free, monthly newsletter about
search tools. It provides a recap of major stories as well as an
in-depth look at tools.
The Search Engine Update, a bimonthly publication available to
those with paid Search Engine Watch memberships. The newsletter
provides more details than the free publications, as well as
reports on optimizing search engines.

Other considerations for using the site in your editing and
reporting:

You also can search the SearchDay site itself. Scroll to the
bottom of the introductory page, where you'll find a data entry
box. Enter a word or phrase and click the Search button to see if
an issue in the SearchDay archives addresses your chosen topic.

The site also has a nice selection of supporting material
about search engines in general. At the bottom of the main
screen, see the drop-down menu on the box labeled "Choose Another
Page." From this list, select a topic and click the "Go" button.
Of particular interest are "Searching Tips," "Search Engine
Listings," "Ratings, Reviews and Tests," and "Search Engine
Resources."

If you're thinking about writing about the service in your
news columns, be sure to mention the main Search Engine Watch
home page (http://searchenginewatch.com). It provides an easy,
one-screen introduction to all the site's assorted features. The
main site is operated by Danny Sullivan, an Internet consultant
and journalist who has been covering Web search engines since
1995.

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Bowen writes columns, articles and books from West Virginia, and is host of the daily Internet News syndicated radio show (http://www.netnewstoday.com).
charlesbowen@compuserve.com


Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher