Top 10 Search Engines

The world uses Google every day.  With all of their tools, maps, directions, Earth, docs, and oh yeah, the search engine, Google is the most visited website on the internet.  But, there are other search engines out there that may be useful to you as well.  Here I will highlight 10 that are seen in the industry as the best.  Everything is compared to Google, if for no other reason, is the hands-down dominant player:

10 ) DMOZ.org – This directory is only 1% of Google’s, but the search inquiries are filtered by humans, not robots, algorithms, and formulas so you will not get any irrelevant search results.  The only problem is that you may not get search results, but it is very useful when you are searching for a specific site.

9 ) Alltheweb.com – This search engine has the look and feel of Google, but without being Google.  It is fast, and clean, but is ultimately a knock off.  I recommend this search engine for searching news and pictures.

8 ) Snap.com – A very cool web 2.0 look.  When searching, it has the same feel as Google, sponsored links and all, yet more it is clean and organized.  The layout is easy on the eyes as the colors are nice.  There is a great design aspect to this search engine.

7 ) Netscape.com – Also known as AOL.com.  This is great if you like news and gossip mixed with your search page results.  It’s not really my style, but I can see how it can be convenient and people like the extra information in their search.  Since Netscape is part of AOL, it is also Google, thus the search being similar, if not by the same standards.

6 ) Gigablast.com – I put this here at 6 due to its originality.  The way it lists the search queries is different, yet the layout and results are still effective, so Kudos to them for being original.

5 ) Ask.com – Like Google, they too have implemented local and personalized search.  Ask is one of the big boys in the search engine industry.  Not all of the queries have sponsored links, but they are all relevant, fast, and useful.  Plus, since the last time I used it, they have a great layout that is easy to navigate.

4 ) Altavista.com – I like how you can search via worldwide, or in your own country.  This option is very useful.  This search engine is more like Google with the layout of the sponsored links, and they too are great for searching though news and images.

3 ) MSN.com – Like Netscape/AOL, MSN’s search engine is good if you like a variety of different information thrown at you before you start your search.  If you’re like me and have ADD, you can get sidetracked by all of the news, tips, gossip, weather, and stories that they provide.  When I do use this search engine, I often come across some pretty interesting content, so it’s pretty cool.

2 ) About.com – I like their topics, channels, and according to them they have 750 experts in all different fields there to help you with your search results.  They also have personalized search, and their search algorithms are different than Google’s, but still effective.

1) Yahoo.com – Yahoo is still a very high volume search engine.  They also have a lot of tools to compete with Google; however Google doesn’t really see them as a big threat.  Yahoo is still very useful to many people, even though I haven’t used Yahoo search since I converted to Google, but that’s a whole different story.

The reason why I didn’t include Google in this list is because we all know Google is number 1.  Why not shed some light on some other search engines that don’t get as much of the publicity, even Google had to start somewhere.  For more information on how to get these search engines to work best for you, contact us, and we would be glad to assist you.