Existing in a variety of types, all search engines procure
information but organize it in a variety of unique ways, which is why there are
so many different search engines. At a basic level, a search engine is one of
two things: a Robot or a Directory. Though some search engines combine features
of both, most are predominantly either Robots or Directories.
A Robot uses a
software program to search, catalog, and then organize information on the
Internet. Organization of data can be completed in a number of ways—including through
a harvester, robot, spider, wanderer, and worm—and employing diverse ways of
searching Websites to gather data.
Directory search engines do not search on the Internet for information but rather
obtain it from individuals who enter it into the search engineÂ’s database.
Because each Directory has its own means to categorize information, multitudes
of them exist.
In March 2005, Google, Inc., a popular search engine,
released its first official version of its free software for finding
information stored on computer hard drives. The software scours hard drives for
information contained in Adobe AcrobatÂ’s portable document format (known as
PDF), and it scours music, video files, and email content.
On Saturday, May 7, 2005, the Google, Inc. search engine went
down from 6:45 p.m. until 7:00 pm. Eastern Time. Google spokesman David Krane
said that the problem was not a crack attack, as many people thought, but a
problem related to the DNS or Domain Name System. He did not
elaborate.
See Also: Bot
or Robot; Domain Name System (DNS); Internet.
Churilla, K. Secrets of Searching the Web & Promoting Your Website.
[Online, 2004.] Gocee Company Website. http://www.gocee.com/eureka/e_sedef.htm;
Google Admin. Google Down? Getting 404! Google Hacked? [Online, May 9, 2005.]
Search Engine Forums Website.
http://www.submitexpress.com/bbs/post-1601.html&highlight=&sid=
cdfcb4b3aa56cdca7df35ed920dd8079; In Brief. GoogleÂ’s Official Desktop Search
Software Released. The Globe and Mail,
March 10, 2005, p. B10.
