The very best (google.com)

Member Name: Pamsy

Product:	google.com
Date:	26/07/01 (41 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast, Efficient, Relevant results

Disadvantages: None

This has to be the fastest and most efficient search engine I have used to date. The reason for its speed is that it has no adverts, or at least, no adverts with pictures, just a maximum of one link per search, a link relevant to your search too.

Searches are always relevant and the page loads up instantly. Even with my 56K modem connection all my searches are within a second, usually within half a second. It even tells you how long your search took to the nearest hundredth of a second, though I can't think of any practical use for this. The site loads up very quickly because it has very little to load; a simplistic interface consisting of a box to enter your search, and a few links for advance search and the like.

There are two buttons alongside the search field, these are Google Search, and I'm Feeling Lucky. The latter simply takes you to the site that would have been your first search result.

Some little additions to the site increase your efficiency at performing searches. By placing speech marks around two or more words you then search for those words in that formation. By placing a hyfen symbol in front of a word you are looking for a site which doesn't contain this word. Another useful function is the use of the word OR in your search. If your search is very specific and you're not finding any results, but you do not know which search term to delete, you may enter the most important search terms, than ask it to include any of the following. To do this you enter the search terms, then type OR and leave a space and enter a word, then OR and your next word and so on.

If you spell a word wrongly google will put at the top 'did you mean' and then what you may have meant. This has been useful for me on quite a few occasions.

Alongside earch search result is a 'cached' button. THis can be very useful when searching through a site with a tiny scroll bar and masses of text when all you want
is a paragraph of information. You click on this and it takes you to the site, but highlights the words you're looking for in different colours.

Google also does searches in numerous languages too.

The main problem I find with sites such as Yahoo and MSN and Altavista is that to perform your search you must wait for it to load the thousand other links and News headlines and features it has. Google has none of this, it's dedicated solely to earching, and this is what I believe puts it ahead of all the rest. At the bottom is a link to the other major search engines, click on them and it not only takes you there, but also gives you their search results too.

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