HOT NEWS IN THIS REPORT:

The Search Engine Issue

1. The strategic importance of Web search engines
2. A review of the major Web search engines
3. Specialized search indexes and tools
4. Conclusion

Executive Technology Briefing (ETB)
Editor/Publisher: Jordan Ayan
Contributing Editor: Chuck Frey

Please feel free to forward this issue to others who may be interested in learning about these new technology developments!

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THE STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF WEB SEARCH ENGINES

Whether you're trying to locate prospective vendors or products, conducting market research or a myriad of other key business tasks, search engines are your master key to the best information on the Web - but only if you know how to use them wisely.

In today's Digital Economy, search engines represent a critical strategic tool for your company, because knowledge really IS power. Why? Your company's ability to leverage knowledge - whether it resides inside or outside of your organization - is the key to its competitiveness. And Web search engines are a primary gateway to the news, information and knowledge you need to compete effectively in today's wired world. In the digital age, having a set of search engine strategies that rapidly get you to the information you need is a key success tool. Our hope is that this issue will help you define your personal search strategy.

As the number of Web pages continues to grow at an exponential rate, it's becoming harder to find the specific information you really need, when you need it. Most of the major Web search engines index no more than 15 percent of all pages on the Web. This means that you may have to use more than one search engine in order to find the information your are looking for.

To leverage the power of the Web, you need to know the strengths and weaknesses of each of its major search engines. That's why this issue of ETB contains the following search engine executive summary:

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--A REVIEW OF THE MAJOR WEB SEARCH ENGINES-

YAHOO
http://www.yahoo.com

Synopsis: Yahoo is, hands-down, the most popular and one of the most useful Web search engines. Its well-organized and comprehensive directory structure makes it a great place to find the key sites and resources you're looking for - whether you search use key words or browse through Yahoo's intelligently thought-out topical categories and sub-categories. In addition, Yahoo's focus is clearly global: this engine is available in 22 country-specific versions, which may be useful if you need to find an overseas company, product or Web site.

Why you should use it: Unlike the other Web search engines, Yahoo uses humans -- not software tools -- to make sure all of the Web sites in its database are categorized correctly. That means that Yahoo tends to deliver a higher percentage of relevant search results, with fewer duplicate listings from the same site. Yahoo's category structure continues to be the best on the Web, whether you're drilling down through its excellent topical directory or browsing your search results. Yahoo's simple interface also makes it one of the easiest Web search engines to use, and ideal for beginners.

Another plus for business users: you can create a personalized "MyYahoo" start page based on the site's vast portal resources, which include services such as yellow pages, maps, weather and stock quotes. If you are looking for a company, or brand name, Yahoo is usually the best place to start.

ALTAVISTA
http://www.altavista.com

Synopsis: AltaVista is one of the original "power search" tools on the Web that has steadily expanded to include new search types and options - including a multi-level topic directory like Yahoo. AltaVista's huge index of sites and extensive search options make it a favorite, especially if your search needs are very focused or you want to locate an obscure bit of information.

AltaVista supports "Boolean logic" in search queries. In plain English, that means you can key words with certain symbols and words to help focus your search. For example, you could create a search for automobiles that would read, "Ford + GM - Dodge." That means, show me all sites that mention Ford and GM, but not Dodge. This advanced search technique sounds complicated but isn't; AltaVista provides a great tutorial on how to make Boolean logic work for you.

Why you should use it: AltaVista is one of only a few Web search engines that allow you to search specifically for multimedia resources (streaming media, audio and image files). The image file search is particularly good if you are looking for a picture of a person or product.

Also, unlike most competing engines, AltaVista thoughtfully displays helpful tips and examples that "teach" you how to use its powerful search capabilities more effectively. And only AltaVista allows you to add special keywords to your search terms to further focus your searches. For example, if you do a search on "link:http://www.YOURWEBSITEADDRESS.com" (insert your Web site address), AltaVista will show you a list of all of the Web sites that are linked to your site. This feature is a must for Webmasters and online marketers!

Finally, AltaVista is the only search engine that offers "Babel Fish," an option that can translate Web sites between five different languages.

EXCITE
http://www.excite.com

Synopsis: A good all-around search engine and information portal that can be customized to meet your needs. One of Excite's primary strengths is the ability to refine an initial information search. Each one of your search results contains a hyperlink that allows you to "search for more documents like this one;" this makes it easier for you to zero in on what you're really looking for, as well as to follow other trails of information that look promising. Like Yahoo, Excite offers a number of country-specific versions of its search engine and portal, with content and indexes of Web sites specific to those countries.

Why you should use it: If you're interested in creating a personalized portal that centralizes a lot of business resources on one page, no one does it better than Excite. Not only can you choose from a big variety of news and information sources, you can even tell Excite what order in which to display them on your personalized "start page."

If you need to keep up with the latest business news, be sure to check out NewsTracker, which allows you to create a customized stream of news stories based on key words that you provide. Other portals only allow you to track publicly held companies; NewsTracker gives you more power and flexibility, especially if you want to track articles by industry or by key topics.

GOOGLE
http://www.google.com

Synopsis: This new, "next-generation" search engine uses a mathematical formula to rank Web sites based on how many sites are linked to it. Google seems to have a knack for turning up just the right sites in its search results. Like Excite, Google allows you to view a list of "related pages" for any listing in its search results, helping you to zero in on what you're looking for faster. It also features GoogleScout which lets you find searches related to the ones you are looking for. For example, search for Ford, then click on GoogleScout and it will bring up links to GM, Saturn, Toyota,etc.

Why you should use it: If you're looking for focused, relevant searches (and who isn't?), without a lot of irrelevant hits, give Google a try. While its larger competitors have morphed into comprehensive content portals

- trying to be all things to all people - Google's simplicity and its unique site ranking system are its advantages. Don't let its bare-bones search page fool you - in our opinion, Google is the hottest new search tool to appear on the Web in some time. It is also extremely fast

LYCOS
http://www.lycos.com

Synopsis: Lycos is a capable search engine that has added many useful business-oriented tools and options in recent years. Search results on Lycos now show the most popular pages that other users clicked on after performing similar searches - which could be useful if you're looking for the definitive "go-to" sites on a specialized topic.

Why you should use it: If you're searching for multimedia resources (streaming video, audio or image files), Lycos is the best search tool to use. During the last several years, Lycos has acquired over a dozen e-commerce companies, which allow it to offer a unique set of proprietary resources you won't find anywhere else, including Wired.com technology news and stock updates from Quote.com.

HOTBOT
http://www.hotbot.com

Synopsis: If you want to search the largest possible number of Web pages, Lycos-owned HotBot offers what may be the most comprehensive and up-to-date snapshots of the Web. It indexes every word, link and media file on over 110 million Web documents, and updates its entire database of documents roughly once a month. HotBot features one of the largest indexes of pages on the Web and advanced search options, plus a topical directory and a "popularity" engine (a database that compiles the most popular sites other users have visited), making it one of the best all-around Web search engines. An easy-to-use interface helps even beginners to conduct powerful searches.

Why you should use it: Check out the "advanced search" page for a combination of powerful search criteria that you won't find anywhere else. Also, HotBot offers searchable access to proprietary sources of data, including stocks, electronic commerce, news and business information. If you want the most power and reach from your Web searches, use HotBot.

NORTHERN LIGHT
http://www.northernlight.com

Synopsis: Northern Light combines a powerful Web search engine with a full-text database retrieval service which can be a real asset for specialized research projects. While nearly every Web search engine is free to use, most do not give you access to the content of specialized business and trade data. Because Northern Light is more focused on the needs of business people, it has solved this problem by creating a "Special Collections" database that contains over 5,400 journals, magazines, newswire stories and other valuable business resources. This premium content can be viewed for a cost of $1 to $4 per document.

Why you should use it: Northern Light's Special Collections provide you with valuable business and trade magazine resources you won't find anywhere else. The cost of these premium articles is nominal and, depending on what you are searching for, may be worth the investment. Northern Light also offers you business and investment search options, which can help you perform competitive intelligence and locate potential business partners.

Also unique is the way Northern Light dynamically sorts search results and places them into folders, based on subject, type of content, source and language. Unlike other Web search engines, these folders are not based on pre-set categories, but are customized for each search. This innovative feature allows you to narrow down your results list faster and can save you valuable time.

ASKJEEVES
http://www.askjeeves.com

Synopsis: AskJeeves is a Web search engine with a unique and welcome difference: you can phrase your searches in plain English questions, instead of having to provide it with key words and "search strings." AskJeeves first utilizes a "natural language engine" to analyze the words and grammar of your question to determine its meaning. Next, it displays a list of questions that are close matches with yours, drawn from its database of over 7 million questions and answers. Select the question that is the closest match to yours, and AskJeeves displays a list of relevant sites. This unique approach makes AskJeeves the easiest Web search engine to use, and also tends to deliver higher-quality, more relevant search results than other search tools. While the search engine does not answer your question, it points you to the sites most likely to contain an answer to your question.

Why you should use it: If you haven't used Web search engines before or you're frustrated with the ones you have been using, give AskJeeves a try. One of the unique advantages of AskJeeves is that its underlying knowledge base of questions and answers is continually growing. That means the quality of its search results - which are already very good - should improve even more with time. Like Google, AskJeeves is a powerful, no-nonsense power search tool that isn't trying to be a search engine and an information portal - and this singular focus is what makes it easier to use than many competing engines.

Another unique feature is that you can license AskJeeves' technology to provide plain-English searches on your corporate Web site. This cutting-edge search technology could help your company build its reputation the easiest to do business with in your industry - and that's likely to have a positive impact on your bottom line!

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--SPECIALIZED SEARCH INDEXES AND TOOLS-

As Web content continues to proliferate, specialized directories and search engines have sprung up to help users find what they need. One such site is the Search Engine Guide (http://www.searchengineguide.com), which provides a helpful, Yahoo-like index of over 3,000 of these sites - including nearly 400 recommended business sites and directories.

Another helpful fact-finding tool is refdesk.com (http://www.refdesk.com), which is an intelligently designed portal to over 300 commonly-used reference sources and information libraries.

We also like a specialized Web search tool called Copernic 2000 (http://www.copernic.com). This is a software program that queries dozens of search engines simultaneously, "de-dupes" the results, and displays them to you in a browser-like interface. It saves us hours of time, because we no longer have to visit each Web search engine and manually input our query manually. Copernic does a great job of streamlining Web searches, and we believe is a tool that should reside on everyone's desktop.

Finally, a new breed of search tools is just emerging that continually monitors the Web for you and alerts you when new content becomes available that meets your needs. Spyonit.com (http://www.spyonit.com) allows you to set up specific searches; it then monitors Web sites and notifies you when it finds something, by e-mail, pager or a "My Spies" Web page. You can already set up "spies" (queries) to track announcements from your competitors, monitor major news stories in your industry and track changes to specific Web sites. Watch for more intelligent Web "agent" applications like Spyonit.com in the near future: we predict they will revolutionize how you gather and process news and industry information.

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--CONCLUSION--

In today's Networked Economy, the rate of change continues to increase. With that comes a growing need for ad hoc, on-demand access to specific information and knowledge. Search engines are one of the catalysts that can help you to finding the key resources you need to do business effectively. Increasing your personal effectiveness at finding information on the Web will undoubtedly improve your professional reputation as a "go to" person who knows where and how to find information quickly and easily.

As with any other new technology, we encourage you to evaluate each of these search engines and tools yourself, and then develop a personal search strategy that works best for you.

One final note: if you like a particular search engine, chances are very good that you can license the underlying technology to power searches on your corporate website or Intranet.

-----THIS MONTH’S READING-----
If you want something to read between issues of ETB this month, we highly recommend “Blown To Bits,” http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/087584877X/createitincA/ by Philip Evans and Thomas Wurster. The book provides a strategic perspective on how the web and technology is changing everything.
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That's all for now! I welcome your comments and feedback on the Executive Technology Briefing, which will help me to focus it even more closely on your needs.

Jordan Ayan
President
Create-it!