What are Search Engines and Directories?

Searching for information on the World Wide Web has become an easier task in recent years thanks to web sites specialize in gathering, sorting and cataloging through the growing multitude of web sites available. Search sites, such as Yahoo and Alta Vista, have the ability to list web sites within a broad range of topics or take you to a specific site. A search engine or a search directory may look similar to the casual Internet user, but they work in distinctly different ways. They offer the user an easy-to-use, efficiently organized catalog of web resources, though accessed through different means. The term "search engine" is a more universally used term, than "search directories". To most web users they are the same thing. As to how they work, there is a difference.