Search engines are websites that index web content and provide links to relevant sites based on user search inputs. Using a search engine can be the fastest and easiest means to find information online. Unfortunately, a large portion of web content known as the "deep web" is not indexed by search engines, and therefor is not acessed by them. These websites often contain information that is accessed only by a user query, sometimes requiring a password. More information regarding the "deep web" can be found at the following link: The following are links to search engines ordered roughly by recent usage data: Meta search engines are websites that superficially function similarly to the common search engine. A user still enters data into a query box and a list of links to relevant websites is provided. However, meta search engines function internally by querying several different search engines and then sorting the results. A decade ago when a larger number of search engines vied for users and the web was not as well indexed, meta search engines provided web coverage that was greater than any of the individual search engines. Today, this advantage is less apparent given Google's dominance. The following is an example of a meta search engine that compiles the results of several different search engines: The relevance and and number of results obtained by a web search can depend on how the user queries the search engine. The following link provides a helpful database of common search Boolean operators: These Boolean operators can be used to narrow down a search or to exclude irrelevant information. In the example case of the "apple" search, where a search for information regarding the fruit is swamped by results concerning Apple, the corporation, the Boolean "-" can be used to exclude the words "ipod" and "computer" from the search. The full search query becomes "apple -ipod -computer" and gives more useful results. The following links provide further information regarding web searches:
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