“Search Engines are websites that help you search for and find just about anything available on the internet.” - That’s the simplest definition I could figure out, since search engines are now capable of searching and getting you any solution that’s available on the web space.

Every Search Engine uses proprietary algorithm to spider websites and to index them. Spiders are the programs that actually crawl the web looking out for websites.

Current search engines have evolved out of the years and are now capable of handling searches for files and web links of various formats and sizes. The first search engine 'Archie' was created to search and retrieve web files.

Now let’s see what the advanced search engines of the new age do for you:

Google - http://www.google.com

Google is considered to be the top search engine based on the market share that they enjoy in the search engine industry. In fact the world has even started using the word 'Google' to mean 'search'. Google was successful in adding more and more new features into their backpack and get more user acceptance with their quality service.

Biggest advantage of Google is that the website is clean with no third party ads on it, fastest search performance than any other search engine of its caliber.

Yahoo - http://www.yahoo.com

Launched in 1994, yahoo was widely popular and topped the market until Google was introduced. Even then Yahoo with its email services and global tie-ups is able to maintain a strong market presence.

Yahoo provides good search results powered by their own search engine database, and crawlers.

MSN - http://www.msn.com/

MSN Search is a crawler-based engine built by Microsoft and incorporating proprietary Microsoft technology in its search services.

Being part of Microsoft family MSN is liked by most MS windows users worldwide.

Open Directory - http://dmoz.org/

DMOZ is referred to as the "largest human-edited directory of the web".

Hard to believe, but it's already been 11 years since DMOZ launched back on June 5, 1998. In that time, it has grown to become the largest human-edited directory on the web.

This Open Directory Project is supported by tens of thousands of dedicated volunteer editors who have collected, sorted and organized millions of websites into categories on topics ranging from Aerospace to Zoology. The directory includes more than a half-million categories and content in more than 80 languages.