Ask is a general purpose search engine designed to respond to questions posed in everyday language as well as to single word or phrase searches.

Microsoft introduced its Bing general search engine in 2009. Searches may be restricted to the UK, and there are over 40 language options.

DuckDuckGo is a general search engine which doesn’t track users or tailor its search results to a user’s search history.

Google’s quick and simple search engine is the most widely used in the western world. Select “Advanced search” from the results page for a template-based expert search including over 40 language options and the option of restricting the search to web sites from a particular country or region. Many other Google services are accessible from the head of any page, including Google Maps and Google Scholar.

The UK and Ireland version of Yahoo! Search defaults to a search of the whole web, with the option in results pages to narrow down to local sites only. Other search options include images and news.