Search engines are a boon for people seeking information on the Net. Especially people who would like to get some materials for teaching or writing or conducting research, these search engines come in very useful. So also for people from other fields like business and so on. Every search engine works on the basis of keywords. When specific keywords are typed into the given space, the search engine displays an entire list of websites for your perusal. The choice of search engine may vary. Most claim Google to be their favorite, a few go for AOL or Netscape. But the trend is now moving towards Yahoo as a better search engine. The reasons for this change are not far to find.



The results pages come up as a result of the plain search, on a search engine. What is a plain search? Type in the keyword or keywords, and anything and everything related to that particular keyword is displayed for your benefit. Do you have the patience to go through website after website, seeking what you want? Forget it! Not only is the hunting exercise too much of a time-waster, but you cannot even guarantee that the information you get is truly credible! And what if you are in a hurry for some quick results? Not possible!

While other search engines are only concerned with keyword specifications, Yahoo goes a step further. It also asks you for the theme or category that you are hunting for. When they are specified along with the keyword or keywords, Yahoo displays all the relevant articles connected with theme. Again, unlike other search engines which are just plain searches, Yahoo opts for the Boolean approach. In this case, the search engine provides only those pages that have some real value. Every page containing the keyword (whether meaningful or meaningless) is not displayed. Thus, Yahoo is more concerned with relevance than with numbers.

Now, another benefit of Yahoo is that the search engine is part of the main portal itself. So additional benefits of searching are also there. Whatever results you may get, they can be compared with other themes or across other themes. The results can lead to related information comparable to the results already displayed. Also, you can seek for more intensive knowledge about the displayed results themselves. The information can be sifted through, allowing you to collect only what is needed. To illustrate with an example, if you wish to search for Los Angeles. What will Google and other search engines do? Every website on the world Web that has the words "Los Angeles" in it will be displayed--hundreds and hundreds of them! Yahoo pinpoints the place Los Angeles exactly. There is also a map of the place available. Additionally, there is the latest news update about Los Angeles and classifieds related to the place! Which search engine would you opt for now?

Now if I were doing a write-up on a city called Los Angeles, I would get all pertinent information that I needed, plus a very comprehensive viewpoint to impress all kinds of readers. This is possible because this search engine permits categorization of information. So give me Yahoo every time!