Nearly 99% of all the content on the Web is "hidden" from the major search engines; the information is stored in databases which can't be indexed or spidered by the search engines.

To really reach the best cross-section of information on the Web, you should search both the "surface" Web, contained in Google, Yahoo and other standard search engines, as well as the hidden web resources. Most people can do basic searches on the major search engines, but when it comes to finding the storehouse located within the Hidden Web, very few people know how to reach that data.

But what benefit might it have to reach that little-known information? The fact is, there is an incredible wealth of resources for business owners, website designers, researchers, readers, or just curious surfers, located within the Hidden Web. Best of all, it's almost totally free, and it is available to the public! The catch? You have to know how to find it!

Armed with some basic tools and sites to access, nearly anyone can dig deeper to find many more resources for their needs. Since this is the fastest growing segment of the Web, it is important for anyone who uses information in their business or academic life to know more about The Hidden Web, and how to access information within it.

Here are just a few of the many benefits to learning how to mine for gold in the deep web:

• Researchers can reduce their research time. Many of the resources found here are of very high quality: professional corporate or government studies, academic research papers and so on. Finding these document quickly on the Web means less time physically getting them.

• Web site owners can find unlimited quantities of content for their sites, whether it's news, research, or public domain materials. This information can be used to generate ideas for page content, blog posts, newsletters, feeds, ebooks, and other information for sites.

• Businesses can find competitive research and market research. By accessing more detailed information, a clearer picture can be built of what a competitor is doing, or not doing, that can impact your business.

• Product developers can access an incredible variety of idea-generating information, such as studies, topical reports, forums and discussion groups, news reports and much, much more to provide ideas for new books, electronic products, software, and other information or physical products.

As you can see, once you know how to uncover the vast resources that make up the Hidden Web, you will have a massive amount of high quality, relevant, noise-free content available for your use.