Pakistan Search Engine Sites

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One reason why the average Pakistani surfer does not venture beyond directories like Dmoz.org and Yahoo! is because they claim they do not know of any local alternatives. One casual surfer says she tries online news and magazine sites for information pertaining to business issues or heads straight for Google. Here is our choicest selection of web directories whose search options offer relevant, if not entirely helpful, results.

Most popular search engines are backed by a web directory. In Pakistan, you might find a good directory, but finding one with a search bot that crawls the entire index is a rare case.

PakAvenue.com is one place where you can be sure what you see is what you get. This directory has recently fine-tuned its 1997 look to a properly indexed format. The subjects are clearly categorized a la Dmoz style, and each entry has a brief description underneath the URL to help you figure its relevance to your search. For instance, a random search for ' science research ' revealed just four entries, each bearing the words ' science ' and ' research ' somewhere in its description. Webmasters can modify or update their links directly from the site, while other users can either contribute to the collection of links or hit " Random Site " to see where PakAvenue takes them.

ePakistan.com not only looks fresh, it works faster too. Offering many community features such as email, chat and discussion forums, a search on ePakistan will compliment its directory of 17 categories. ePakistan works great with typical keywords like ' school ', ' travel ' , and ' health'. For instance, a search for hotels led to 11 along with a one-line description of the popular hotels in Pakistan. At the same time, we tried ' religion ' which revealed 75 general hits and punching in ' prayer times ' returned just one. One for the favorites, this one.

Pak.Org , better known as " The Official Pakistan Page ", has been around for ages, which is why they have a huge directory listing 16 categories and a search option. Running a search on Pak.Org does not fail you but bear in mind that the big number of hits compensates the engine's ability to throw back multiple entries for the same URL. One of the good features its search offers is that against each result is the date it was listed, the number of hits that site has recorded since it listed, a voting option and editing feature for the site's webmaster. This is a sign that the directory you are looking at is no half-hearted effort. Some other directories that offer these features include Pakistan Web Directory and Pakistans.com.

It is one of the most comprehensive places to look up homegrown talent in cyberspace. Other than a grand total of 2776 websites, the strongest feature of this directory are its active message boards where you can always find something fiery or musing to rant about under bulletins for religion, politics, information technology, poetry, entertainment, sports etc. Designed by WebX.net, this directory-cum-search engine has been around since 1997 and also offers free email, chat and a unique ranking system with which you can rate the sites listed in this annals.

Ajrak.com was launched last year in October as a " search engine " for Pakistan. Like a number of sites targeting the South Asian market, Ajrak too has graduated to one that offers help in locating resources for the SAARC countries. While the Ajrak web directory for Pakistan is quite extensive, it only offers URLs categorized under general themes. You can choose to run a search exclusive to each country but the pull-down menu is only available on the homepage, which is trifle annoying. While the number of results is certainly more than PakAvenue's modest returns, they are certainly not always relevant. For instance, a search on ' Pakistan India Agra Summit ' revealed 131 his including a Pakistan India Forum, news sources as well as travel and tours links. We recommend you also look up the Ajrak directory for your subject.

What users want from Pakistani directories? Easy navigation and a search option that offers updated URLs with a proper description and a popularity ranking. Notably missing are advanced search features that allow users to play with keywords and enter Boolean searches.