The best search Website:

First, our favorite search engine by far -- very comprehensive in its coverage of the number of Web pages (and more) that it indexes:

• Google, an amazing site -- and current favorite -- which uses sophisticated next-generation technology to produce the right results fast with every query. Currently has billions of Web pages, images, maps, and more in its index! Plus email, and much more! Web address: http://www.google.com/

Other good search engines -- in alphabetical order:

• All the Web, which has a goal of cataloging the entire Web, and expects to continue to grow with the Web to 2 billion documents and beyond. Web address: http://www.alltheweb.com/
• Alta Vista, which claims to be the first full-text search service in the world dedicated to setting the standard for search technology and how people find information. Web address: http://www.altavista.com/
• Ask.com, which was formerly known as AskJeeves. Strong search capabilities of the Web, images, and more. Web address: http://www.ask.com/
• Excite, which searches more than 50 million Web sites and two weeks of Usenet News. Web address: http://www.excite.com/
• Gigablast, which is an up-and-coming search engine in the Google image, now with about 10 billion pages indexed. Web address: http://gigablast.com/
• iWon, which is both a directory and a search engine (and gives away lots of prizes!), has an index of more than 500 million documents updated constantly to ensure more precise search results. Search now powered by Google. Web address: http://www.iwon.com/
• Jayde.com, a search engine directory with 1 million plus site listings, and offering visitor control over how search results are displayed. Web address: http://www.jayde.com/
• Live Search, from Microsoft, a fast search engine that searches the Web, images, maps, and more. Web address: http://www.live.com/
• LookSmart, a tool for finding articles and other information on the Web... calling itself a vertical search site engine, it offers essential search results with the ability to find, save, and share articles and other web content.
• L3xicon.com, a web thesaurus and lexicon listing quintcareers.com under careers, jobs and job-search. The lexicon is generated using statistical analysis on internet and combined with a traditional dictionary. Web address: http://www.l3xicon.com/
• Lycos, which displays the most-visited sites at the top of the list rather than by displaying results by relevancy (the frequency with which your search word appears on a Web page). Web address: http://www.lycos.com/
• Scrub the Web, which ranks Websites in its search results by the relevancy of the search term to the number of times it finds the search term in the sites. Web address: http://www.scrubtheweb.com/
• SPLAT, maintains a large and spam free-index to make searching easier and more complete for our users. They search the web sites splattered all over the Net to find exactly what you need, so you don't have to. Web address: http://www.splatsearch.com/
• WiseNut, a rapidly rising relative newcomer, which searches/indexes more than 1.5 billion Web pages. Wow... Developing the fastest and most comprehensive search engine on the Web. Web address: http://www.wisenut.com/
• Yahoo, a popular favorite, which is a fairly comprehensive subject index. More of a directory than search engine; however, have partnered with Google.com to provide excellent searching in addition to its directory. Web address: http://www.yahoo.com/

Metasearch sites that search several databases at one time:

• Dogpile, a metasearch service that integrates several medium and large Web searches and guides into a single service. Web address: http://www.dogpile.com/
• Findelio, which fetches results from Yahoo, MSN, Ask, Looksmart, AltaVista, and Entireweb simultaneously. Additionally they offer 10 country specific versions and the possibility to save interesting search results temporarily. Web address: http://www.findelio.com/
• Ixquick, a highly-ranked and powerful metasearch engine that rapidly searches 12 search engines simultaneously. Available in multiple languages. Excellent results page. Web address: http://www.ixquick.com/
• MetaCrawler, another metasearch service from the Go2Net Network that collates results, eliminates duplication, scores the results and provides the user with a comprehensive list of relevant sites. Web address: http://www.metacrawler.com/
• WebCrawler, which uses a metasearch technology that automatically returns the top combined results from the Web's leading search engines, including Google, Yahoo!, and Ask. Web address: http://webcrawler.com/
• ZapMeta.com, a metasearch engine that searches up to 12 different direcotries (including Alta Vista, Yahoo!, Open Directory, AOL, MSN, and more). Advanced search allows users total control over search. Web address: http://www.zapmeta.com/

Web Directories:

• Add Links Web Directory.
• DirectoryVault, a network that currently consists of six directories -- five general and one niche directory.
• domaining.in, a free Web directory.
• GetListedRightNow Web Directory, a categorized directory of quality web sites, listing sites under 511 different categories and sub-categories.
• Haabaa Free Website Directory, a human edited search engine friendly web directory for the U.S., UK, and European sites. Web address: http://www.haabaa.com/
• ODP -- Open Directory Project, which is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors.Many search engines use the ODP data. Users can search the database or use the directory hierarchy. Web address: http://dmoz.org/
• Somuch.com, an interesting directory of the Web that gets included here for many reasons, including the fact that it's located about 20 minutes away in nearby Daytona Beach, FL.
• Visit A Link Directory, which lists quality Websites from around the world
• The Web's Most Popular Sites, where you can quickly locate the most interesting, unique, and informative sites on the Web. Only the best of the best are listed in this directory -- about 15,000 sites. Web address: http://www.mostpopularweb.com/
• Premium SEO Friendly Directory - Domaining.in

And here's a cool reference site:

• Ask Scott, the virtual reference librarian who will provide you with the best reference tools for your search. Web address: http://www.askscott.com/

Here's a directory just for kids/teens:

• Kids.net.au, an Australian directory and search engine for children -- that includes the best sites from around the world. The site contains more than 20,000 child safe sites in more than 4,000 categories. Web address: http://www.kids.net.au/