Comparison between search engines and subject directories

Search engines Vs. Subject directories

Should you use a subject directory or a search engine? Often the answer is both.

If you are just beginning to research a subject, use a subject directory to find search words, phrases, and keywords that you can submit to other search tools.
If you are trying to find the most current information on a "familiar" subject, try a search engine. Since computers update them, search engines tend to be more current than subject directories, which are updated by hand. Specialized directories are the exception, which we usually assume are updated regularly.
When you do not know exactly what you are looking for, but you would recognize it if you saw it, a subject directory is the preferable tool.
The broader the subject, the better a subject directory is to start with. It will help you narrow what you are looking for because you can look around a subject area and find a variety of topics that might be useful to your research, or eliminate non-essential information.

As a rule, the more specific you are, the less likely you will be to find what you are looking for in a subject directory. Some subject directories do not have search capabilities. In those cases, your only choice is to browse through the categories and subcategories. With search engines, the approach is reversed: use keywords that are as unusual as possible since some tools perform the search by order of the words submitted.

While many novices will reach for a search engine first, veteran searchers will start with a subject directory to obtain the right phrases and keywords. Use a subject directory to make lists of words that you think may help you narrow your query in a search engine. Remember that search engines tend to be more effective than subject directories for searches with unusual keywords, for combining keywords, for using advanced features like field searching, and for finding pages buried inside a website.

Portals and hybrid search tools

To differentiate themselves - and make more money - many search engine and search directory companies have enhanced their offerings by adding other services, moving them from being simple search sites to broader "gateway" sites. Their intention is to ultimately direct you somewhere else, but hope that they offer enough information - news, sports, weather, reminders, latest stocks, TV listings, search tools, key links, bulletin boards, chat groups, discussion groups, and links to other sites, or whatever that you come back often to their home page. Like a Swiss army knife, you select the tools you want to use. AOL, Lycos, MSN, Netscape, and Yahoo! are good examples of this portal phenomenon. Portals usually have three components:

They offer a variety of generally useful tools, like news, weather, stocks, etc.
You can usually personalize them to your tastes and likings; and
They are often useful as the start page for your online experience.

They also tend to make money from advertisers who pay according to user "ratings," which are tallied each time you click on a linked web site. Most of "the ten most-looked-at Internet sites" (including Yahoo!, America Online, MSN) are portals. Almost of these portals also try to be both search engines and subject directories. They offer the ability to search for subjects of interest to you and also offer recommended sites on commonly-researched subjects. What makes portals so useful is they usually offer good collections of news, links, email, and detailed information, allowing for good day-to-day access to information you care about.

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