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Search Engines and Directories

In the world of search engines, relationships established between different search properties can become intricate and complex. To make it more involved, content can be supplied in different forms such as primary (main), paid (pay-per-click), web directory and back-up (secondary) search results. To gain a better understanding, here's a look at the relationships between the most highly used search engines, directories and sponsored search providers.

Site	Powers Primary or Secondary Results For:	Powers Directory Results For:	Powers Sponsored Results For:	Comments
Ask Jeeves	Ask.com, Teoma	N/A	N/A	Refers less than 5% of search engine traffic.
Google.com	AOL, Google, Netscape, iWon	N/A	AOL, AskJeeves, EarthLink, Google, HotBot, iWon, Lycos, Netscape, Teoma	Google-powered engines represent 60-70% of all search engine referrals.
MSN.com	MSN	N/A	N/A	Went live Jan 2005 with its own search technology.
LookSmart.com	LookSmart, Lycos	LookSmart, WiseNut	CNET, InfoSpace, LookSmart, WiseNut	Among the world's largest web indices.
Open Directory Project (dmoz.org)	ODP (dmoz.org)	AllTheWeb, AltaVista, AOL, AskJeeves, Google, HotBot, iWon, Lycos, Netscape, Teoma	N/A	Largest human-edited (by volunteers) directory on the Web. Owned by Netscape, though Netscape dedicates minimal resources to the project.
Overture.com	Overture	N/A	AllTheWeb, Altavista, MSN, Overture, Yahoo	Reaches 80% of Internet users with its paid search. Runs N0. 1 and 2 with Google AdWords.
Yahoo.com	Yahoo, AllTheWEb	Yahoo	N/A	Powers 15-25% of search engine referrals.