Search engines are traditionally automated, robot-driven constructions that mechanically build an index against which you are permitted to match keywords. Responding to user frustration at the bad results this impersonal method produces, search companies have hired editorial staffs to find, evaluate, review, and highlight good sites in highly specific keyword categories. The results are diverse. Infoseek delivers a mix of relevant sites with a page about O.J. Simpson and another about the cancer risk of oral contraceptives. Infoseek also displays a hyperlinked chart of related subtopics for narrowing the search.
Flagrant commercialization is a growing problem with search engines.
Lycos provides a good example of undermined objectivity. I strongly encourage everyone to avoid clicking any link that masquerades as a search result, if you recognize it as such. On-screen advertising is fine, but camouflaging an ad as a search result violates the online information ethic. Unfortunately, commercialized search results are becoming less recognizable as companies pay for premium placement in search engine indices. Enter the stand-alone search programs, like cavalry on the horizon.