Navigating the Invisible Web - Search Englines for the Invisible Web
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There are hundreds of search engines that target the Invisible Web. Some of them have a directory service as well, which allows to browse by topic; sometimes the distinction between a search engine and a search directory for the Invisible Web is not so clear. Although it is true that searching the Invisible Web is not as convenient as firing Google and getting search results in a fraction of a second, often the results are worth the effort.
Among the most popular search engines for the Invisible Web are Direct Search (http://www.freepint.com/gary/direct.htm), The Invisible Web Directory (http://www.invisible-web.net/), The Invisible Web (http://www.invisibleweb.com/), CompletePlanet (http://www.completeplanet.com/), etc. The list is too long to be included entirely here.
For the topics of interest to you, consider also topical search engines, which provide selected links, thus saving you time. There are search engines that vary from topics like cooking to space ships.
An important tool to consider when navigating the Invisible Web are metasearch engines. Before Google they were a very popular way to find information because they aggregated the results from a predefined number of other search results, thus delivering Web-wide results. Now metasearch engines like Metacrawler (http://www.metacrawler.com), Dogpile (http://www.dogpile.com/), Copernic (http://www.copernic.com/) and SurfWax (http://www.surfwax.com/) are regaining popularity.
Invisible Web Databases and Virtual Reference Libraries Perhaps you have already searched the directories and the Invisible Web search engines, and you still have not found what you are looking for. Or perhaps on the contrary, you are finding nothing when looking for very special stuff that is organized in a searcheable portal (like the topical medical databases on PubMed - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi, or FindArticles - http://www.findarticles.com/ where there are over 5 million articles, which cannot be found on the search engines). You can also check some of the specialized databases or virtual reference libraries. Unlike directories and search engines, specialized databases generally contain the stuff itself, not only links to it. A good source for virtual reference is The Internet Public Library (http://www.ipl.org/).
I would like to repeat once again, that the links and sites quoted here are just a small portion of the resources to navigate the Invisible Web. Once one finds his or her tools, discovering the Invisible content can be so much fun! On the other hand, for Web marketers, these resources are also valuable places because they are additional ideas where to submit one's site in order to make it reachable for more people.
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