IndustrySearch Engine Results Chart: May 2003

Search Engine Results Chart: May 2003

Chart shows how major search engines get their results from crawlers, human directories or via payments, for May 2003.

Major search engines generally provide listings from a variety of sources, which they may get from third-party search providers or through their own efforts. The chart below shows where each search engine gets the main results it displays.

The key for the chart is shown fir

st, then the chart itself comes further below, so there’s enough width to display it properly. Clicking on a search engine’s name in the first column of the chart provides a description of that search engine and a link to it, via Search Engine Watch’s Major Search Engines page. Information is for users visiting the US/global version of the search engines listed, unless otherwise noted.

Interested in being listed in the results at one of the search engines shown below? Just click on the other links in the chart. They bring up submission help from Search Engine Watch’s Search Engine Submission Tips section.

Search Engine Watch members can see relationship charts
going back to March 1996. They also have access to pages
about many of the individual search engines listed,
explaining in depth how they work and get listings.
Click here to learn more about becoming a member

Chart Key

To jump straight to the chart, click here.

Type Of Main Results

While search engines display results from many different sources, usually the results from one particular source will be most dominant. These are considered to be the “main” results for that search engine. For example, in a search at Google, the main results are typically editorial listings that come from Google having crawled the web.

Here is more information about the “type” of main results that are listed on the chart:

  • Crawler: the main results are compiled by having crawled the web.
  • Human: the main results come from listings compiled by human editors.
  • Paid: the main results come from paid listings.

Provider Of Main Results

Some search engines gather their own listings for the main results they display. For example, Google crawls the web itself for the main results it shows. Other search engines use third-party search providers for their results. For instance, the main search results at AOL come from Google’s crawler-based listings, rather than from work inside AOL. This column shows who provides the listings for main results, be it internal work or a third party.

The Who Powers Whom? search engine alliances page shows third-party partnerships in a different way. On that page, you can more easily see who the significant search providers are and the search engines they power.

For help in getting listed with a particular search provider, read the Essentials Of Search Engine Submission guide, for a step-by-step process to the basics of submitting to key players. Or, click on any of the chart links for submission help about a specific search provider. Also consider becoming a Search Engine Watch member, to gain access to detailed information about how these search engines work.

Paid Results

Every major search engine has paid listings that are also presented alongside its editorial results. This column shows who provides those paid listings. For example, Overture provides paid listings to many different partners. Also see the Buying Your Way In page for detailed information about paid listing partnerships.

Directory, Backup & Other Results

Most search engines where the main results come from crawling the web will also provide human-powered “directory” results in some way. For example, in a search at Google, “category” links that lead to human-compiled information often appear at the very top of the search results page. This column shows where directory information comes from, from the crawlers that provide this human directory information in some way.

For search engines where the main results come from human work, it’s common for them to have a “backup” or “fallthrough” partnership with a crawler-based search engine. For example, if a search at MSN Search fails to find a match in information from LookSmart, then matches from Yahoo-owned Inktomi provide answers. This provides backup against having no matches at all. This column shows where the backup results come from, for search engines where this is in operation. For Overture, it shows what happens on the Overture site itself, when there are no paid results.

Search Engine Results Chart

Search
Engine

Type Of
Main Results
Provider Of
Main Results
Paid
Results
Directory &/or
Backup Results
AllTheWeb Crawler AllTheWeb
(Overture-owned)
Overture n/a

AltaVista

Crawler AltaVista
(Overture-owned)
Overture LookSmart

AOL Search

Crawler Google Google Open
Directory
Ask Jeeves Crawler Teoma
(Ask-owned)
Google Open
Directory
Google Crawler Google Google Open
Directory

HotBot

Crawler Inktomi
(Yahoo-owned)
Overture Also available:
AllTheWeb, Google, Teoma

LookSmart

Human LookSmart/Zeal LookSmart Backup from Inktomi

Lycos

Crawler AllTheWeb
(Overture-owned)
Overture Open
Directory
MSN Search Human LookSmart/Zeal Overture Backup from Inktomi
Netscape Crawler Google Google Open
Directory
Overture Paid Overture Overture Backup from Inktomi
Open
Directory
Human Open
Directory
n/a n/a
Teoma Crawler Teoma Google n/a

Yahoo

Crawler Google Overture Yahoo

Other Relationship Charts

Several other sites chart the relationships between search engines. Below are some links you may wish to try. Also see the Country-Specific Search Engines page for some country-specific relationship charts.

Bruce Clay’s Search Engine Relationship Chart
Long-standing graphical look at relationships between different search engines. This is in PDF format, so be sure to have a viewer before clicking on the link. Selecting any search engine “node” takes you to a web page within Bruce Clay’s site with more information about that search engine.

Brett Tabke’s Search Engine Relationship Chart
Compiled by WebmasterWorld.com’s Brett Tabke, this table provides a comprehensive review of who powers whom for major US-based search engines and some European sites.

Integrated Resource Management’s Search Engine Tips Chart
Details about various major search engines, such as who powers whom, submission links and other information, all in table format.

PA WebSearch Top 15 Search Engines & Directories Charts
Offers three graphical charts in PDF format showing editorial relationships, indexing fees and paid listings partnerships.

Search Engine Watch members can see relationship charts
going back to March 1996. They also have access to pages
about many of the individual search engines listed,
explaining in depth how they work and get listings.
Click here to learn more about becoming a member

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