European search engines and directories
There are many non-English language websites available on the web catering for the various European markets.
Many of the top US search tools have developed foreign-language versions or portals offering localised information, while each European country has also developed its own range of search tools, with France and Germany being the most active markets.
As with some of the UK specific search tools, many of these foreign-language search tools restrict listings to websites using the country-specific domain name, whereas others will still add sites if they are relevant to the market. Listed below are the main tools serving each country.
European versions of the main US search engines and directories
- AltaVista - Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
- Ask Jeeves - France, Germany and Spain.
- Google - offers a choice of foreign-language interfaces to its service as well as some regional versions that allow users to search by country-specific domain: UK, France and Germany.
- HotBot - France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain.
- Lycos - Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
Both Lycos and HotBot automatically redirect web users from the main US (.com) site to their local country version, based on IP address. - MSN Search - offers search in many European countries.
- Yahoo - Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden.
French search engines and directories
- Caloga - search engine using the Google database.
- Francite - one of a group of directories listed French-speaking websites
- Indexa - a directory listing websites of companies or organisations based in France
- Nomade - is a directory plus a search engine using Inktomi. Owned by Tiscali, it acquired the Ecila and Lokace search tools during 2001.
- Voila - the biggest French search engine, owned by France Télécom. It did offer US/UK versions of its service until these were removed at the end of 2000.
- Other sites of note include: Abondance provides a guide to using and submitting to search tools, while Enfin and Indicateur provide links to French-language search tools, portals and directories.
German search engines and directories
- Abacho - this German search engine absorbed sites such a Spider.de and Aladin.de and now offers a service spanning 6 European countries
- Acoon - a search engine of German language and international sites, plus directory results from ODP
- Allesklar - a German language directory
- Dino-Online - provides directory listings plus search engine results from Inktomi
- Fireball - the most popular German search engine, it uses its own German-language index plus the AltaVista database
- Rex - a directory of German language websites
- Sharelook - a significant Europe-wide directory service
- Speedfind - a powerful search engine of German sites with some interesting search options
- Web - a German directory service that also provides search engine results from Alta Vista.
Italian search engines and directories
- Arianna - part of Italia Online, this is one of the most popular Italian search engines. It also offers a directory plus international searching using Ask Jeeves
- IlTravatore - a leading search portal to Italian sites, plus it offers an international metasearch service
- Shinyseek - an Italian language search engine and directory
- Super Eva - one of the leading Italian portals, it also includes international search results from Google and Open Directory
- Virgilio - a directory of Italian sites.
Spanish search engines and directories
- BIWE - Spanish language directory
- Elcano - directory service for Spanish sites
- Terra - one of the top Spanish portals and directory sites (used to be called Ole.es).
To find out more about how your website can achieve a top ranking on these European search tools please contact us for more information or to request a FREE website assessment.
