Quick: what do you think of when I say the words "search engine"? Chances are, you probably think of Google, arguably the most popular search engine on the Web today.

But is Google always the best choice for your search needs? Can it find what you're looking for every single time? Of course not. Every search engine is different, and every search engine serves a very different need and audience. Consider the following:

• Scientific information can be found a lot easier with specific science search engines, such as Scirus.
• You can find a job a lot quicker with job search engines like Indeed.
• Need to find someone? Sure, you can do it with Google, but there are a lot of very specific people search engines that make your task even easier.
• Do you need an answer quickly? Try a search directory, such as Answers.com, Mahalo, or Yahoo.
• Movies? You'll never get tired of the Internet Movie Database.
• Travelocity or Expedia are travel search engines that can help you plan that next fabulous vacation.
• You'll find a ton of government information not easily accessible in Google at USA.gov.
• Need to find a good blog? Try Technorati, a blog search engine.

See what I mean? Google is just not the only game in town. Experiment a little bit, try some other search engines and search tools, and make your searches more efficient.

Image via Wikipedia

Web MD is one of the most popular health resources on the Web for a few simple reasons, and here they are (in no particular order).

The Symptom Checker is an interesting (and frankly addicting) way to check any symptoms you might be experiencing. Whether you're a man, woman, or child, you can find answers to pretty much any symptom here. Of course, this doesn't substitute for a real live doctor, but it's certainly a good way to get some initial information. The best way to use the Web MD symptom checker is to make sure you have some pretty specific symptoms in mind - you'll get better results this way. Make sure you see a doctor if you come up with anything that needs medical attention.

Web MD's interactive tools are an easy way to figure out more about your health - and they're organized from A to Z by category for easy access. These little quizzes and fun interactive tools make it easy to evaluate various health concerns, from weight to environment and everything in between.

Web MD has a fantastic array of free videos, organized alphabetically. This section of Web MD is probably my favorite.

More medical information on the Web

• Medical Information on the Invisible Web: The Invisible Web has a goldmine of medical databases and specialiazed medical sites that just don't show up on a cursory search in the search engines. Best of all, this information is free.
• Healthline, a Medical Search Engine: Healthline is a medical information search engine. Healthline is solely dedicated to finding medical information online, and it offers medically filtered results developed by trained medical personnel.
• Top Five Medical Search Engines: There are a lot more than these five medical search engines out there; however, I've found these ones to be some of the most useful medical search engines that I've come across. Use these medical search engines to find answers to your medical questions, get more information about various health topics, or just to learn about something new.

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