Michelle E. Colquitt September 17, 2015Search Tools Comparison The same search terms plugged in to differing types of search engines can yield vastly different results. For this assignment, our class was tasked with searching various types of search engines to assess the quality and quantity of search results yielded. This assignment covered seven different types of search tools: Directories, Search Engines, MetaSearch Engines, Pathfinders/Gateways, Kids Search Tools, Teachers Search Tools, and Invisible Web Tools. For purposes of this assignment, I am omitting searches using Teachers Search Tools and the Invisible Web Tools. All information in this discussion is adapted from the World Wide Web Handout within GoView.Directories are search tools that are maintained by humans and can be very specialized or general in nature. For this assignment, I utilized the Joe Ant directory search tool. This is the best search tool that I have never heard of before. Search engines, in contrast to directories, return a great deal of results which are not evaluated or ranked by humans. These results are aggregated based upon various computer logarithms and return full text search results. For this search, I utilized the go-to Search Engine: Google. A MetaSearch Engine searches within the databases of other search engines, usually omitting Google simply due to its vast size. The MetaSearch Engine that I chose to search was Dogpile.A Pathfinder/Gateway is a search tool that is highly specialized. This is curated by an expert who approves which sites will be listed within each subject territory. For the Pathfinder search, I utilized ipl2: Information You Can Trust. A Kids Search Tool is one that is obviously geared toward results that children can process and understand. These results have possibly been filtered in order to provide non-offensive results. For this search, I utilized Ask.com in order to complete the search utilizing a Kids Search Tool.Teachers Search Tools and Invisible Web Tools were omitted from searches for this assignment. Teachers Search Tools are those that will provide results that are more educational (rather than commercial or entertaining). Invisible Web Tools are those that generally charge a fee for access. GALILEO is a perfect example of an Invisible Web Tool that can access restricted information for educational purposes. These results are not included in any of the previously mentioned searches. 1. What were your search term(s)? What search tool did you use?I searched for the topic genealogy in the Joe Ant search tool. As a directory, this search tool was best to provide general results that were curated by an individual rather than a robot. Within the Google search, I searched for the generic term genealogy. This search provided multiple millions of results that would need to be assessed for accuracy. I searched for the topic genealogy in the Dogpile MetaSearch Engine. This search provided multiple results that were not clearly numbered. Within the ipl2: Information You Can Trust site, I searched for the topic genealogy. The search resulted in a very small number of results that were very narrowly focused. Within the Ask.com site, I searched for the topic genealogy. These search results were presented in the manner of the Dogpile search previously discussed. 2. How many hits did you get from each search tool? a. From Joe Ant, I received 235 results. b. From Google, I received 79,200,000 results.c. From Dogpile, the results were not numbered, but there were multiple pages of results. These results were not well organized and presented ads about the topic.d. From ipl2: Information You Can Trust, I received 236 results.e. From Ask.com, the results were not numbered, but there were multiple pages of results. These results were not well organized and presented ads about the topic.3. List the top five sites from each search tool. a. From Joe Ant, the top five sites received are: 1. Baltimore County Public Library2. Mid-Continent Public Library3. Prince William Library System4. Allen County Public Library5. Vampire: The Masqueradeb. From Google, the top five sites received are: 1. Family Search2. Genealogy.com3. Wikipedia Genealogy Article4. Genealogy at the National Archives5. Genealogy.orgc. From Dogpile, the top five sites received are: 1. Family Search2. UsGenWeb3. Genealogy.com4. RootsWeb5. Wikipedia Genealogy Articled. From ipl2: Information You Can Trust, the top five sites received are:1. About.com Genealogy Article2. The Genealogy Home Page3. IPL Genealogy Pathfinder4. Olive Tree Genealogy5. Genealogy.com: Genealogy Learning Center e. From Ask.com, the top five sites received are: 1. Genealogy.com2. My Heritage3. Free Genealogy Search @ Archives.com4. 23 and Me5. Wikipedia Genealogy Article 4. Are they the same sites? While there is some overlap, these are not all the same sites. There are several sites that are returned in multiple searches, there is not one site returned in all five searches (the closest being Genealogy.com, which is returned in four searches). Within Joe Ant directory search, the most baffling result, the RPG rules for Vampire the Masquerade, was presented in a search for genealogy. It was very surprising to see that Ancestry.com was treated as a sponsored ad in the great majority of these searches.5. Are they in the same order? These search results were not presented in the same order. Witness that Genealogy.com was presented: not at all in the first search, in the second, third, fifth, and first places in searches two through five. 6. What do you attribute these findings to? I believe that the rating of either the curator or bot aggregator is why that each website is within the position that it is in. Further, placement in a search could possibly be a matter of economics (i.e. paying to be higher in a search) or a matter of politics (i.e. relationship of the website owner/author with the search tool author).