From Wendy Boswell,
Your Guide to Web Search.
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What is AlltheWeb?

Like Alta Vista, AllTheWeb also has its results powered by Yahoo.

AlltheWeb offers the standard search tools: images, news, directory, people, etc. In addition, users have the capability to search for both audio and video files, as well as the opportunity to search in 36 different languages if they so desire. Their advanced search filters are easy to use and return pretty good results. One other thing: AllTheWeb is Opera compliant; a nice characteristic for webmasters trying to overcome accessibility issues.

AlltheWeb Search Home Page

AllTheWeb's home page is nicely streamlined. The main search query bar is smack dab in the middle, with tabbed search options to the top including Web, News, Pictures, Audio and Video. You can opt to have your search results returned in any language or just English with the pair of radio buttons right under the search bar, and the options for Advanced Search and Customized Settings are right under the "Search" button.

AlltheWeb Search

Searching with AlltheWeb is pretty easy. You just type in a query and go. Remember, AlltheWeb's results are powered by Yahoo, so whatever results you get at AlltheWeb, you would also receive at Yahoo. This brings up the question of why search at AlltheWeb when you can just search at Yahoo? Well, I think it's just a matter of personal preference. AlltheWeb is very streamlined, offering absolutely nothing but search, and it's a nice alternative to Yahoo's somewhat busy main search page. Really, it's just a matter of personal preference.

AlltheWeb Search Example

I searched for golden retriever, and my results came back quickly with the standard search results page. On the top of the search results, you are offered many other search terms related to your particular search query, all with plus or minus signs next to them. You can refine your search by clicking "+" or "-" to include or exclude terms, and then click the "SEARCH" button again to get your new search results. This works VERY well, and is an easy way to narrow down your search results quickly.

AlltheWeb Advanced Search

This is where I think that AlltheWeb has a nice advantage over other search engines. Their Advanced Search filters are really very good, but it gets even better: AlltheWeb offers separate Advanced Search options for each of the Web search realms it covers (news, audio, video, images, Web). Let's go over these one by one.

AlltheWeb Advanced Web Search

AlltheWeb Advanced Search gives you quite a few options to narrow your search, including basic Boolean, word filters, domain filters, filetype formats, date, etc.

AlltheWeb Advanced News Search

AlltheWeb Advanced News Search gives searchers the power to search for words in the text, headline, or URL of a specific news article, limit news searches to specific countries or news sources,filter results from specific domains, sort by date, relevance, etc.

AlltheWeb Advanced Pictures Search

AlltheWeb Advanced Pictures Search gives users the option to limit their searches to specific file formats (.jpeg, .gif, .bmp), image type, background, and it also offers searchers the ability to edit out offensive content.

AlltheWeb Advanced Video Search

AlltheWeb Advanced Video Search offers searchers the option to search for specific video format (AVI,AVI/DivX,MPEG,Real,QuickTime), downloads or streams or both, and again, AlltheWeb gives searchers the ability to filter offensive content.

AlltheWeb Advanced Audio Search

Surprisingly there are NO Advanced options for AlltheWeb Advanced Audio Search, which kind of made me wonder why they even bothered putting it up there. Perhaps this is coming in the near future (one would hope, anyway).

Why Should I Use AlltheWeb?

AlltheWeb offers the beginning Web searcher ease of use and clear, simple ways to narrow down searches quickly (the + and - signs next to search suggestions). More advanced searchers should appreciate the varied Advanced Search options that AlltheWeb offers for every search realm or topic it covers.