How are the search results ranked and displayed?
Some engines, like Excite, use concept-based searching, returning results not only for the specified terms, but also for related concepts. Other engines, HotBot for example, return results based on the number of times the search term occurs on a page. Some search engines list only the hyperlinks of the ranked results. Others present brief abstracts or annotations, page size, related links, date of indexing, reviews or author information. Although a common command language appears to be developing, many variations still exist. For more control over the query and results, searchers should take advantage of the “power” or “advanced” searching capabilities of the various engines. Three web sites which provide excellent comparisons of the major search engines are the Web Matrix prepared by Matt Slot ({http://janus.ambrosiasw.com/~fprefect/matrix/}); the Search Engine Watch Web site (http://searchenginewatch.com/) and C|Net’s Search Engines: Where to Find Anything on the Net by Andrew J. Leo
