The Best Search Engines on the Web

Do you have a general search question that can be asked with a few key words?: Google is always a safe bet for most search queries, and most of the time your search will be successful on the very first page of search results. Yahoo is also a great choice, and finds a lot of stuff that Google does not necessarily pick up.

Do you need an answer quickly and don't want to search for it?: There are some search engines out there that are able to answer factual questions, among these are Answers.com, BrainBoost, Factbites, and Ask Jeeves. You can also learn more about searching the Web more efficiently with my free email class, Web Search 101 - Search More of the Web.
Would you like to search with more than one search engine at once?: Search engines that combine results from multiple search engines are called metasearch engines. Good examples of metasearch engines are SurfWax, Ixquick, Search.com, and Mamma. For even more metasearch search engines, read more...
Do you need help in narrowing or broadening your search?: There are quite a few search engines that will help you do this with clustered results or search suggestions. Some of these include Clusty, WiseNut, AOL Search, and Teoma, in addition to Gigablast, AllTheWeb, and SurfWax.
Would you like to see a screenshot preview of search results? : This is always a fun (and convenient) option; it's nice to see a quick thumbnail of your search results before you actually go there. Some search engines that provide screenshot previews include Exalead, TalkDigger, Kartoo, ZapMeta, and Search.com.
Do you need academic or research oriented results?: There are lots of great search engines that deal primarily in academic and research oriented results. Included among there are Scirus, Yahoo Reference, National Geographic Map Machine, MagPortal, CompletePlanet, FirstGov, and EducationWorld.
Do you need to find images, photos, clipart?: Images on the Web are easy to find, especially with targeted image search engines such as Picsearch, Ditto, and of course, Google has some fantastic image search capabilities. You can also check out my list of Image Search Engines-Directories-Collections, or Clip Art-Buttons-Graphics- Icons-Images on the Web.
Are you looking for multimedia? Sounds, movies, music?: There's so much multimedia on the Web that your main problem will be finding enough time to look at it all. Here are a few places you can use to search for sounds, movies, and music on the Web: Loomia, Torrent Typhoon, The Internet Movie Database, SingingFish, and Podscope. For even more multimedia search engines and sites, read more...
Do you need to find a blog? How about an online community?: Finding someone with similar interests on the Web via a blog or online community is simple. Use LjSeek, Technorati, and Daypop to search for blogs; find people with ZoomInfo, Pretrieve, or Zabasearch, and search for discussion groups and message boards with BoardTracker. Read more about Blog Search Engines, and more ways that you can find people online.
The Best Search Engines on the Web - What Are They?:

There are a LOT of great search engines out there, and you're sure to find at least one (or two, or three) that will fit your unique search needs. Here are a few more resources that can help you in your search for the best search engine:

    * Top 10 Ways to Find Multimedia on the Web: Use these search engines to find some great audio files, BitTorrent files, free movie downloads, movie trailers, and all kinds of multimedia.
    * 100 Search Engines in 100 Days: One hundred of the best search engines out there today.
    * Top Ten Book Search Engines: Whether you're looking for a rare book, a used book, an audio book, or a comic book, chances are you can find it on the Web using one of these excellent book search engines.
    * Search Engines for Kids: If you have children, or are a child yourself, then this list of search engines and other sites just for kids is for you.
    * Google Cheat Sheet: You'll find that using these Google Search Shortcuts will greatly cut down on your Google search time, as well as make your Google searches more effective and more efficient.