Search Engine Comparison

Features of Search Engines

Making good use of syntax and the special features of search engines should be at the heart of one's search strategy. Comparison charts help us pick the search engines that have the features we need, whether it is query by example, fielded search, or search within a search. These two comparison charts of the five leading search engines will be handy cheat sheets. Search engines are always being overhauled for a new look and sometimes function. It is still wise to check their help pages.

• Comparison Chart 1: Ask, Exalead
• Comparison Chart 2: Google, Bing, Yahoo

Other Comparisons of Search Engines

There are some other courageous souls who have created summaries.

InfoPeople Project:
California State Library maintains a Search Tools Chart. The site also has good how-to guides.

Search Engine Showdown:
Greg Notess's SearchEngineShowdown site summarizes the features and attributes of search engines and some other search tools. There is a large comparison chart for the main search engines (Alas, the last update was October 2007).

Choose the Best Search for Your Information Need:
Produced by NoodleTools, this guide uses a question and answer format to direct readers to the "best" tool for the job. It's not a comparison chart, but it is an excellent guide to tool selection. (Last updated December 2009.)

Where to Next?

WSG also has reference guides you can refer to while using a search engine. Try them now.