Internet search, alternatives to Google

OK, raise your hands - how many out there use Google for Internet search? Wow, I'll bet that's 55% of you using the big dog search engine! Google is big because it's good. But, there are very good alternatives for certain search needs and to suit a researchers style better.

Add in MSN and Yahoo, and the big three get 90% of the searches. So who gets the other 10%? There are dozens of search alternatives carving up the left over piece of pie, and those 10% of users are very happy with an alternative search engine. Why? Because, for them, there are better choices out there.

Let's look at a few of those alternative search engines. Click the link and the engine will open in a new window, so you can work your way through the list. For a test search you can use your name or some key words from your best HubPage or other web page. Try each out with the same search words, and see for yourself how they work and how they can help your research.

Surfs up!

This engine provides side by side results for all three of the big guys: Yahoo, Google and MSN. This is a great way to checkout your web page results in one easy step. Click here (http://www.yahoogooglemsn.com/), Enter your test search words and search.

You can select or deselect any of the three engines to get different comparisons. The window gets a little cramped, so be prepared to scroll

Ask.com was formerly Ask Jeeves, but the butler was retired in favor of the simpler name and interface. Ask.com is a refreshingly clean page, that seems to put more useful stuff in front of you on searches. Instead of scrolling down the page for hits that might help, and dodging ads, you scan the quadrants of the Ask results page. The left panel offers suggestions to imrove your search by narrowing or broadening options. Images and term definition might appear on the right. The center is for the ordered hits. Ask.com claim to use an "expert" approach that gives you "smarter" answers.

See for yourself by clicking here (http://www.ask.com/).

This is another side by side search, but with a social engineering twist. Aftervote shows you hits that occur on one or more of the sites and gives the page position. So you can see, for example, that a search word produced a certain result in 1st position on Yahoo, 3rd position on Google, and missed on MSN. Then you can vote the hit up or down, for other users to see. There are also buttons for Digg, del.icio.us and other social site goodies. This might be a good way to test your site and add to the social bookmarks at the same time.

Click here (http://www.aftervote.com/), Enter your test search words and search.

Aftervote is my new favorite way to search for images. In the the search result it shows a large thumbnail, the pixels, and the file size. Click on the thumbnail and instead of sending you to a page with the image (other engines), it takes you directly to the image.

Technorati watches blogs, and so should you. Technorati is like a blog post clearing house. Content ranges from the relevant to the ridiculous. Depending on your search topic, you can often find lots of pertinent content in blogs. Technorati can be more timely as blog content can reach Technorati faster than it might be crawled by the other search engines.

Check out your topic search on Technorati here (http://technorati.com/ ).

A Swicki is a customized search engine that is focused on a single general topic. The creator of a Swicki picks the general topic (for example "old time radio") and then "trains" the engine by creating an informed buzz cloud of useful specific searches (for example "jack benny") in the general topic area. When user's search their search terms can also get included in the buzz cloud, so the user community shapes it's own search tool. The author can also customize the look and feel. Then you add the resulting code to your web page and you can offer a unique search engine. The Swicki code can be picked up and placed on other users web pages for added exposure.

Click here to see a Swicki focused on homeowner's associations.

Click here to see a Swicki focused on old time radio.

Click here (http://www.eurekster.com/) for the Swicki home page.