Yahoo! Vs. Lycos Essay, Research Paper

Yahoo! Vs. Lycos

When searching on the Internet, one may find it difficult sometimes to know where to start. With the seemingly limitless amount of information, one should use the resource suitable for the searcher’s needs and tastes. Comparing different factors like databases, directory types, strengths and weaknesses of two search engines, such as Yahoo! and Lycos, can provide an advantage to someone looking for a starting block.

To start with, one of the oldest search engines on the web, Lycos continues to thrive mainly by providing a mix of features. As the trend with the other major search tools, Lycos consists of a conglomeration of databases, online services, and other Internet properties.

In terms of general searching, Lycos search engine displays the new advanced search with FAST, which means searching one of the largest Web page databases. Within the last year, Lycos made its main directory a version of the Open Directory Project. With a goal of this directory reaching the status of the most comprehensive directory of the web, and with over 1.8 million listings in 283,798 categories, it includes more pages than Yahoo!. Similar to Yahoo!, Lycos has searchable listings by category and the sites are reviewed and categorized by editors. Humans perform better at making these kinds of decisions than computers, so results will often eclipse with the other search engines.

While Yahoo! can take months to take submissions of new Web sites, sites usually start in the Open Directory Project within weeks. Most searchers like the easy to understand hierarchical organization of Yahoo! and selective listings, and the Open Directory Project quickly develops a somewhat comparable data base that benefits from a marginal amount of quality control.

Basically, the only limitations of Lycos as a truly great search engine include the slow refresh rate of its database, the lack of direct Boolean searching, and its need to provide relevant results and eliminate redundant pages.

On the other hand, Yahoo! continues by far as the most popular way to find information on the web of any of the search engines and directories. With one of the smallest databases, Yahoo! gets more traffic than Lycos and AltaVista put together.

Yahoo! enjoys success because its quality control is high, providing users with high quality links without all the redundant listings that plague so many of the search engines, such as Lycos. Yahoo! constitutes more of a directory, not a search engine, making it possible to look up information within categories. In many of the search engines, a search responds to the whims of the particular algorithm used by the engine and depends on how well the pages match the search engines criteria, regardless of the actual real life relevancy of the page and site content. In contrast, Yahoo! uses people instead of a computer algorithm to ensure that sites displayed appropriately, only lists valid sites, and generally only the home page of a site.

While some consider Yahoo! one of the best ways to find information on the net, it does have a number of limitations. To find relevant information can take many steps through a morass of categories. The only information in the database, for the most part, constitutes homepage data. Also, more and more of Yahoo!’s listings are out-of-date and link to sites that no longer exist.

But despite its limitations, Yahoo’s category index, search options and dozens of additional features still merit a high rating. If a searcher prefers to search for a specific topic rather than browse through subjects, or search within a particular category, better results will show if he/she uses Yahoo’s Search Options page, rather than its home page search engine. Here, one can choose to search Yahoo, Usenet, and Email addresses, and to search through Yahoo Categories, Web Sites, Today’s News and Net Events.

In conclusion, comparing various factors such as databases directory types, strengths and weaknesses of Yahoo! and Lycos, can provide a place to begin when attempting to search for information on the web.

Works Cited Page

Notess, Greg. Search Engine Showdown: The Users Guide to Web Searching. 8

Sept. 2000. .

Sullivan, Danny. Search Engine Watch. internet.com. 8 Sept. 2000.

Westera, Gillian. Comparison of Search Engine User Interface Capabilities. 2

May 2000. Curtin University of Technology. 8 Sept. 2000.

http://www.curtin.edu.au/curtin/library/

staffpages/gwpersonal/senginestudy/compare.htm>