1.3 Search engines

Use search engines if you cannot find what you want from the gateways. These give you lists of a large number of sites. However these sites have not been checked for quality as search engines index the Web automatically. Even if a site is high up in the list of search results it may not answer your question.

Choice of a search engine depends on personal taste and which is currently considered the best.

• Google (http://www.google.co.uk) [Opens new browser window]
  
  
• AllTheWeb (http://www.alltheweb.com) [Opens new browser window]
  
  
• Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com) [Opens new browser window]
  Yahoo also includes a directory where human editors have organised Web sites under sections, including ‘Health’.
  
  
• MedHunt (http://www.hon.ch/MedHunt) [Opens new browser window]
  MedHunt is a medical search engine provided by the Health On the Net Foundation (HON), a not-for-profit International Swiss Organisation.
  
  
• Mirago (http://www.mirago.co.uk)  [Opens new browser window]
  Mirago is a search engine that focuses on UK sites and enables you to find information in your local area. You can restrict your search to the health sector.

If you want to find out about individual search engines and what they do go to Search Engine Watch (http://searchenginewatch.com/) [Opens new browser window].

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© Copyright for this site is held by Contact a Family and the Information Society Research and Consultancy Group, School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences, Northumbria University. Site published February 2003. Last updated October 2006. Review date October 2007.