Over the past few years, search engines continue to grow in popularity as more of them keep popping up. Not all search engines are created equal, and with all the choices it's hard to decide which one to use. To help you out, here's my list of the top 10 search engines.

No. 10: A tie between Go (www.go.com) and NBCi (www.nbci.com). It's a growing trend for other industries to create search engines, and these search engines are both owned by television networks. NBC owns NBCi and ABC owns Go. Both search engines have simple layouts and are good for beginners.

Neither of these search engines have any defining characteristics that set them apart from others, but they are good to use after you have given up on results elsewhere. Just be cautious — these search engines may display results of their advertisers higher than other results.

No. 9: iWon (www.iwon.com). The only reason this search engine, owned by CBS, placed higher than the other two is because of its concept. Every time you perform a search on iWon, you will automatically be entered into a contest to win money. Hence the name.

Don't be fooled by the cheesy contest; iWon is a legitimate search engine. For each search you perform, it will display the link to the official site if there is one for what you are searching for.

Still, don't use this search engine just in the hopes of winning money. The odds are against you. A friend of mine has been using iWon to perform at least one search a day every day since last August. He hasn't received a check yet.

No. 8: Ask Jeeves (www.ask.com). The British butler Jeeves has answers to all your questions. Just remember to phrase your search in the form of a question. Some people like this method of searching while others find it annoying. Regardless, it's innovative and worth mentioning.

The problem with this search engine? After you perform your search and click on the link, you never actually leave the Ask Jeeves Web site. Even when you are visiting the Web site you searched for, an Ask Jeeves toolbar still takes up a large portion of your screen. You are still on Ask Jeeves.

No. 7: A tie between Lycos (www.lycos.com) and Excite (www.excite.com). For years, I have relied on these two as secondary search engines. In other words, I would start by searching on another site, and would switch over to either Excite or Lycos if I was unable to find what I was looking for.

Both search engines offer a plethora of other services including Web pages on the topics of music, autos and sports. Both allow you to customize the search engine to display local weather, sports scores and favorite topics. To use these features, click on "My Lycos" on the top right of the Lycos page or "Sign Up" on the top right of the Excite page. Included in these signups are free e-mail services in case you want an e-mail account to direct junk mail to.

In the world of "what have you done for me lately?" these two search engines come up a little short. The other services are great, but they can be burdening and even annoying if all you want to do is a simple search. Plus, although other services on the search engines have improved, the main engines themselves have not. These search engines are still inefficient and only search a small part of the Internet.

No. 6: Mamma (www.mamma.com). I chose to highlight this search engine because the picture of the jovial, wide-mouthed, jogging mamma made me feel like I was home again. In all seriousness, however, this is a decent search engine.

If you click on "Power Search," Mamma will display a checklist of different search engines. Check on the ones you wish to use to perform your search. This is a handy timesaver, since Mamma uses a number of good search engines and displays the best results from each one.

No. 5: AltaVista (www.altavista.com). This search engine is as sophisticated as its name. It is very advanced and was revolutionary in its time. It offers great international capability. One of my all-time favorites is its Web site translator. Just click on "Translate" under "Tools." You can type in text to be translated, or even visit a translated version of your favorite Web site. Although the translations are a bit choppy and grammatically incorrect, they are understandable.

Another of my favorite AltaVista features is its advanced search. For example, if you want to find a fan Web site for the Penn State basketball team, type in "Penn State AND basketball." Other phrases to use in the advanced search include OR, AND NOT, and NEAR. For more information, take the advanced search tutorial. It's worth it. You'll get faster and more accurate results afterwards.

No. 4: A tie between MetaCrawler (www.metacrawler.com) and Dogpile (www.dogpile.com). These engines fall into the category of what I consider to be the next big thing in Internet searching: a combination of many different search engines. You can customize which search engines to use in MetaCrawler by clicking the "Customize" tab. If you do not customize which search engines to use, MetaCrawler will draw results from different engines each time.

Besides searching for Web sites, you can search for MP3 files, streaming media files, images, actions or newsgroups on these two search sites. Although Dogpile uses lesser-known search engines than MetaCrawler, it still supplies "All results, no mess."

No. 3: Search.com (www.search.com). This, like the No. 4 choice, searches by finding the best results in other search engines.

A name like Search.com isn't that hard to remember.

Plus, it provides a clean and accurate search.

The site lets you search for headlines. This is a great feature, since most search engines provide slightly older and out-of-date material when you are looking for news. Also, Search.com will tell you which search engines it used to find each individual result.

No. 2: Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com). There is about a 95 percent chance you are fairly familiar with this search engine. Yahoo! has been around for a while and offers pretty much any feature under the sun. Just start exploring and eventually you'll find what you're looking for, whether it be Internet games, auto classifieds or horoscopes.

The reason Yahoo! is a good search engine is its categorization system. When you search for an item, Yahoo! will display categories including different Web sites containing that item.

And the No. 1 choice is. . .Google (www.google.com). This site, which is used by Yahoo! when the user wants search results after the categories, is a great search engine because of both its simplicity and the method by which it searches.

Visit the Google Web site and you probably won't be impressed. You won't find a million links or advertisements. What you will find, however, is a fast and accurate search engine.

I consider Google to be the best search engine around. Unlike other search engines, it finds results based on links to different Web sites. Best of all, it doesn't weigh some results more than others if advertisers pay money for those results to be displayed.

Try using Google and you'll be surprised. You'll most likely find what you are looking for without much hassle.

If not, try using any of the other search engines on the list. They are all worth a look, anyway. Try them out and decide which one you like best. Once you find a good search engine and a good searching method, stick with it. You are more likely to find the results you want when you become a better searcher. So happy searching!