Does size matter? It's a question that has taxed internet search engines for some time, since they realised the web was growing too fast for them to keep track.

Figures published last month in Nature showed the top-performing search engine (the little-known Northern Light, at www.northernlight.com) covers only 16% of the web. It is becoming very difficult to know what's out there.

Some search engines appear to have given up the fight, having found bolting on extras like free email, communities and e-commerce costs less and generates more revenue than searches. They also claim most requests can be met effectively by a relatively small database.

But that view is now being challenged. Norwegian company Fast Search & Transfer ( Alltheweb.com ) this week unveiled what it claims is "the world's biggest search engine", working its way through the entire web during a year. At the same time, Excite@Home announced its latest search engine, to be launched later this month, which it claims will cover the entire web - even though it also claims to be twice as powerful as its existing search technology, which covers only 5.6% of the web.

The important question remains unanswered: will these massive new databases make it easier to ask questions and get sensible answers? Or will they continue to frustrate people with thousands of irrelevant links, leaving users no less lost than when they started?

We think not. For the voracious hype machines which surround these highly-valued companies, size does matter. Users, however, would tend to say its more what you do with it that counts.