Top 100 Alternative Search Engines, February 2007
Written by Charles S. Knight, SEO and edited by Richard MacManus. The original version of the Top 100 Alternative Search Engines List appeared here on Read/WriteWeb on January 29, 2007. Every month, we'll be updating the list and selecting a "Search Engine of the Month". At the end of the year, we'll also select an Alternative Search Engine of the Year.
In February's edition of the Top 100 Alternative Search Engines list, there are 32 new search engines (and of course 32 dropped out to accommodate them). You'll find the updated list, in HTML and Excel formats, at the bottom of this article. A lot can happen in a month in the ever-changing world of Search, so accompanying the list is my commentary on the changes during February.
Criteria for inclusion in Top 100
Firstly, let's explain how we developed the list. When we say "The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines," we are referring to alternatives to Google. Many readers wrote in to ask what the criteria was for inclusion on the List, such as: is it the percentage of market share, or some other statistical measure? It is not. The criteria is twofold:
1) the Search Engine should exhibit superiority to Google - not as a whole, but in just one particular area. People have been talking about Wikipedia's search engine Wikiasari or even digg as potential "Google killers". That's fine, but we are not arguing that any one of the 100 list members is a "Google killer". Rather, that they should be matched against the appropriate corresponding part of Google. For example, TheFind is a shopping search engine and therefore should be compared to Google's shopping search engine, Froogle. blinkx, a video search engine, should be matched against Google's video search feature, and so forth. (See article #1 for a fuller explanation of these categories.)
2) Secondly, what ultimately gets a particular search engine into the Top 100 (as opposed to the hundreds and hundreds of "also rans") is my evaluation. It is a subjective, personal judgment from an SEO - not an independent, statistical measure. I liken it to a movie critic, who must be ready to defend his/her ratings, but the reader is by no means obligated to agree with them after having seen the movie.
Finally, there is no ranking within the Top 100, which is why it is displayed alphabetically from A-Z. However, starting this month, one of the 100 will be picked and featured as the "Search Engine of the Month."
Search Engine of the Month
It's time then to announce the first "Search Engine of the Month" for 2007. This award means that the Site will be the first of the Top 10 for 2007 - a permanent honor - and one of only 10 eligible for the #1 position at the end of the year.
May I have the envelope
please...and the winner is...GoshMe! In my opinion,
GoshMe is nothing short of amazing. When you go to Google and type in, for example,
"coffee," you get 197,000,000 results. When you go to one of the Metasearch engines on
the List (Dogpile, mamma, gnosh, PlanetSearch, et al) you still get millions of web
Pages, but they are collated from a number of different search engines. GoshMe searches
across a variety of specialized search engines and databases, and for the above "coffee"
example it returned about 1,200 search engine options - each one of which might have 197,000,000 results! GoshMe results are categorized and have the option to be
filtered further.
GoshMe is not a metasearch engine, but I like to think of it as a Meta-Meta-Search Engine - an entire magnitude of searching above what searchers are used to. If you are prompted to register for the Beta version, go right ahead - it's no big deal. Try a few searches to get the feel of the results. Then, click on the About Us link for a three page summary of how GoshMe works. Here is the brief version:
"Once the user sends us his/her query, we will check all Search Engines possibilities for him/her, and present it in the most comprehensive way, providing a list of all Search Engines and Databases appropriate to his/her query, ranked by relevance, divided by categories and sub-categories, and with a brief description about each Search Engine."
Note that CrossEngine, formerly mrSAPO, also searches across a wide variety of search engines individually - but I prefer the usability and the reach of GoshMe.
Finally, for the serious students of Search reading this article, scroll all the way down the About Us page and get a copy of the GoshMe white paper (21 .pdf pages) to really get to know what it's all about.
Goshme, our Search Engine of the Month
Tightened definition of 'search engine'
Now back to the rest of the Top 100. Without a doubt, the most persistent comment about the original Top 100 list was that too many of the choices were not bona fide search engines. And while my definition of a search engine may be slightly looser than some, it was in hindsight a bit too loose. Of the 32 sites that were dropped, many were in response to that feedback: e.g. del.icio.us, digg, digg labs swarm, Feeds 2.0, last.fm, and Rollyo. The Updated list comes much closer to meeting the goal of 100 true web search engines; but I'll watch the feedback just in case!
Also some engines, like Singing Fish (which was bought by AOL), just don't exist any more. And there are name changes - mrSAPO (www.mrsapo.com) is now known as CrossEngine - and one accidental omission, Dogpile, which has been restored (thank goodness, because there are a LOT of Dogpile fans out there!).
32 new entrants to the list
On the flip side, many of the 32 names that are new to the list presented features that are clever or fantastic, which merited their inclusion, and the Top 100 cannot be expanded. When a new search engine is added, one must be deleted - it's survival of the fittest, I'm afraid.
Here's an example: last month Ms. Dewey was in the Top 100 due to its unique User Interface, which demonstrated so well how far we have progressed from Google's white screen. This month, there is a new entrant, ASK VOX, which also has a talking female interface (screenshot below). I wanted both of them to stay, so another one had to be dropped.
Ask Vox, one of the new entrants to the list
New or growing categories: Mobile, Alerts, post-stealth mode search engines
Last month's list had no Mobile search engines, but after my second article on R/WW, The 55 Piece Mobile Search Tool Kit, it was clear that the Top 100 needed some Mobile search engines. So Ask Mobile, Yahoo! Mobile, and Windows Live Mobile were added to this version of the List. Look for greater competition within this category over the rest of the year (and ongoing!).
Another new category is "the search engine that keeps on searching." These engines should be compared to Google Alerts. For example, I have a Google Alert for "Alternative Search Engines", which daily sends any matching results to my Inbox, saving me the trouble of performing a search of my own every day. Now we have some alternatives to Google in this area - please check out Allth.at, Swamii and Searchbots.
Of the search engines that are not "live" yet - such as Dipsie, Mobot, Megaglobe, or Powerset - Hakia was one that went live recently and so was ready to be listed. Each month we will no doubt add more "stealth mode" search engines to the List, as they enter their Beta testing phase.
What's New and Impressive?
Several new search engines just plain impressed me, and I wanted you to see them. You should explore Find Forward, a new metasearch engine; and Pipl, a "search for people" site.
I also tossed in a couple that I would like you to explore with us: WASAlive and Twerq. Tell us what you think of these.
Plus check out these 'fun' search engines:
- Searchbots, mentioned above, is almost cartoonish;
- Gruuve is a "groovy" music recommendation site;
- Fybersearch is the "parent" site for some interesting variations (be sure to click around);
- I also tossed in a kids search engine, Quintura for kids, for those readers with children (there are several other similar kids search engines).
Summary
Since many search engines are still evolving, it is certainly possible for an "also ran" to move up into the List. Sproose is a good example of a search engine that is constantly adding new features.
And it's important to note that 68 of the original 100 search engines are still firmly in the top 100, either because they have continued to improve (see Zuula), or because they have yet to be challenged (amongst the "Answers" search engines, only ChaCha uses paid guides, not volunteers or "community members"). This block of 68 search engines forms a sort of "core" representation of the new breed of alternative search engines.
The Top 100 Alternative Search Engine List for February 2007
This list is also available in Excel format.
| AllTha.at | www.allth.at | The search engine that keeps on looking. |
| Ask Mobile | www.m.ask.com | Mobile search engine from Ask.com |
| ASK VOX | www.askvox.com | A second talking female user interface. |
| AnswerBus | www.answerbus.com | Ask in English, French, Spanish, German or Italian. |
| Blabline | www.blabline.com | Podcast / videocast search engine |
| blinkx | www.blinkx.com | Video Search |
| boing | www.boing.mobi | Search the Mobile web |
| bookmach.com | www.bookmach.com | Searches for posts related to your keywords. |
| ChaCha | www.chacha.com | Human Guides are available to aid in your search. |
| ClipBlast! | www.clipblast.com | Video Search |
| Clusty | www.clusty.com | Clustering search engine |
| collarity | www.collarity.com | Behavioral personalized search / Collarity Compass |
| CONGOO | www.congoo.com | Searches for Premium Content |
| crossEngine | www.crossengine.com | Searches Search Engines; formerly mrSAPO |
| d e c i p h o | www.decipho.com | Behavioral personalized search / Social Meter |
| Ditto | www.ditto.com | Visual search engine |
| Dogpile | www.dogpile.com | MetaSearch Engine |
| dumbfind | www.dumbfind.com | Featuring the Two-Box search method. |
| exalead | www.exalead.com/search | Web / Image search with a European flavor |
| factbites | www.factbites.com | Search Result snippets are complete sentences. |
| fazzle | www.fazzle.com | Search engine that emphasizes Boolean Search |
| filangy | www.filangy.com | Personalized Search Engine |
| FIND FORWARD | www.findforward.com | Multi-featured search engine; check this one out! |
| FindSounds | www.findsounds.com | Search for sound effects and musical samples. |
| FyberSearch | www.fybersearch.com | Parent site for some interesting new search engines. |
| GIGABLAST | www.gigablast.com | A multi-featured search engine. |
| girafa | www.girafa.com | Visual search engine - results are thumbnails |
| gnod | www.gnod.net | Oustanding recommendation search engines |
| gnosh | www.gnosh.org | Metasearch engine |
| GoLexa | www.golexa.com | "COMPLETE page analysis for each result." |
| goshme Beta 3.0 | www.goshme.com | A search engine for search engines. Top 10 pick. |
| GoYams | www.goyams.com | Metasearch engine where you select the mix. |
| grokker | www.grokker.com | A multi-featured meta-search engine. |
| GRUUVE | www.gruuve.com | Groovy music recommendation search engine. |
| hakia | www.hakia.com | "Meaning based" search engine |
| ICEROCKET | www.icerocket.com | Blog search engine |
| ixquick | www.ixquick.com | Metasearch engine |
| KartOO | www.kartoo.com | Visually appealling clustering search engine |
| Lexxe | www.lexxe.com | Natural language processing (NLP) search engine |
| like | www.like.com | Visual shopping engine; see also riya |
| liveplasma | www.liveplasma.com | Attractive music / movies clustering / recommendation engine |
| Local.com | www.local.com | Search for local businesses, products, and services |
| lurpo | www.lurpo.com | Searches for custom Google search engines |
| mamma | www.mamma.com | metasearch engine |
| MetaGlossary | www.metaglossary.com | Searches for definitions, phrases and acronyms. |
| mnemomap | www.mnemo.org | Clustering search engine |
| Mojeek | www.mojeek.com | Customize your own personal search engine. |
| Mooter | www.mooter.com | Clustering search engine |
| mrquery | www.mrquery.com | Metasearch engine / metasearch providers |
| MS. DEWEY | www.msdewey.com | Unique user interface - enough said. |
| Omgili | www.omgili.com | Social community search engine |
| onkosh | www.onkosh.com | Arabic / English Search Engine |
| Pagebull | www.pagebull.com | Visual results search engine |
| pipl | http://pipl.com | People search engine |
| PlanetSearch | www.planetsearch.com | Metasearch engine |
| PolyMeta | www.polymeta.com | Metasearch and clustering search engine |
| pronto.com | www.pronto.com | Metasearch engine |
| qksearch | www.qksearch.com | Multi-featured "3-in-1" multi-search engine |
| Quintura | www.quintura.com | Clustering search engine with a new interface |
| Quintura for kids | http://kids.quintura.com/ | Search engine for kids by Quintura |
| RedZee | www.redzee.com | Search Engine with nice preview results |
| retrievr | http://labs.systemone.at/retrievr/ | Visual search engine |
| riya | www.riya.com | Visual search engine; see also Like |
| scirus | http://scirus.com | Scientific information only search engine |
| searchbots | www.searchbots.net | Have a little fun, create your own searchbot. |
| SearchTheWeb2 | www.searchtheweb2.com | Search The Popular Head and The Long Tail |
| sidekiq | www.sidekiq.com | Multi-category search engine. Very nice. |
| Slideshow | http://slideshow.zmpgroup.com/ | Displays search results as a moving slideshow. |
| Slifter | www.slifter.com | A mobile shopping search engine. |
| soople | www.soople.com | A simplified version of Google's search options. |
| Speegle | www.speegle.com | The speeglebot talks to you. |
| Sphere | www.sphere.com | A blog search engine. |
| Sproose | www.sproose.com | Social search engine |
| S R C H R | www.srchr.com | Metasearch engine |
| SurfWax | www.surfwax.com | Meaning-based search engine |
| Swamii | www.swamii.com | Search engine that keeps on searching for you. |
| Swoogle | http://swoogle.umbc.edu | Semantic Web search engine |
| thefind.com | www.thefind.com | Shopping search engine |
| Trexy | www.trexy.com | Follow "trails" and "trailblazers" with Trexy. |
| turboscout | www.turboscout.com | Metasearch engine |
| TWERQ | www.twerq.com | Multi-category search engine with tabbed results. |
| UJIKO | www.ujiko.com | A fun interface where you can vote on the results. |
| url.com | www.url.com | "Search with many" community metasearch engine. |
| VMGO.com | www.vmgo.com | Vote on the search results with emoticons. |
| WASALive | www.wasalive.com | A new member of the list. |
| Web 2.0 | www.web20searchengine.com | Web 2.0 search engines |
| WEBBRAIN | www.webbrain.com | Clustering "see the web" search engine. |
| whonu? | www.whonu.com | Deluxe metasearch engine. |
| WIKIO | www.wikio.com | "Live information from 33981 media and blogs" |
| Windows Live Mobile | www.wls.live.com | Windows Live Mobile search engine |
| WiseNut | www.wisenut.com | Clustering search engine |
| Yahoo! Mobile | http://m.yahoo.com | Yahoo! Mobile search engine |
| Yahoo! MINDSET | www.mindset.research.yahoo.com | Intention-driven search; commercial versus research |
| yoono | www.yoono.com | People-rated community web search |
| yoople | www.yoople.net | Yoople! = Yahoo! + Google + People |
| yubnub | www.yubnub.org | Use command lines to search the web. |
| ZABASEARCH | www.zabasearch.com | People and Public Information Search Engine. |
| zapmeta | www.zapmeta.com | Metasearch engine |
| Zippy | www.zippy.co.uk | Search engine for webmasters |
| ZUULA | www.zuula.com | Multi-category, multi-search engine, with good tabs. |
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Great works. Very good to have this list.
Anyway, any search engine submission program linking to these engine? if yes, I would like to submit my website into it.
Great idea, commenter #1, we will work on an 'alt search engine submission form' for the list.
We at Quintura just launched a new user interface with an interactive tag cloud and other unique features.
Charles & Richard--
I'm stunned that you didn't include Snap.com, the biggest, fastest-growing Web 2.0 search engine (higher Alexa than anyone except Dogpile). Certainly, we pass your "better-than-Google" test with our unique visual interface that lets users preview websites, bypass the spammy ones, and get to the right page faster. We're also a viable business with that processes millions of searches, has thousands of paying advertisers and a committed user base, and distributes Snap Preview Anywhere, the most popular and innovative new website enhancement on the Net.
Paul D. Angles
Marketing Director
Snap.com
Great job! This is a fun list to watch and I like where you're going with it. This is turning out to be an impressive resource. I have a few humble suggestions:
1) Easy - A little "new" icon to indicate the engines that have been added since the last list. Perhaps also a second list to indicate those that were removed.
2) Medium - I like the descriptions next to each engine, but how about going back to the categories? Categories are difficult since you don't want to pigeonhole anyone, but broad things like vertical, social, recommendation, visualization, etc. Perhaps a table since some might fall into multiple categories.
3) Hard - Enable a comment blog for each engine so people can hash it out. By the way, I like Snap. Any Bill Gross engine should be included by default.
Keep up the good work!
Take it easy there Paul, snap aint that good
I have to say that a few of the metasearch engines you've included in your list aren't as impressive as a metasearch engine I've known for quite sometime - Gokita.com.
I have to say that Gokita is a very comprehensive metasearch engine (previewable results, clustered results, and well ranked results) and the fact that it's 100% ad-free makes it even better. I can be rest assured that when I click a link in my search results that it's not going to be an affiliate link or sponsored link. That's very assuring to day as many search engines are trying many ways to earn from their users.
How come Gokita wasn't mentioned in this list? Probably it would be mentioned in the near future!
I'd also like to suggest the TRIP Database (www.tripdatabase.com) which is a meta-search engine for clinicians, focussed on evidence-based medicine - so quality not quantity!
I'm disappointed not to see Bessed on this list. We're new and fairly small, but we're the only engine trying to create results completely discovered, ranked and described by human editors. No offense to any other site on here, but how many metasearch engines do you need? Bessed is a different animal that we feel deserves a look.
Snap.com is excellent.
Since you're planning on a monthly and annual award, may I suggest removing some of the subjectivity by creating a list of search queries to run against each engine and if necessary a list for each "type" of engine. As an SEO, I imagine Charles knows which search terms are most common, most difficult for engines to "get right", and which most accurately reflect the business opportunity for any of these companies. (it might be impressive to be the best at finding queries for "pink nudibranchs," but is there a business in it?) As subjective as that list of queries might be, it would provide everyone with some common ground when discussing the merits and weaknesses of the list. Another suggestion would be to list the pool of sites reviewed in the process, so that we might learn about more and decide for ourselves. In the true spirit of the R/WW, we the users would be invited to rank those we found most useful.
Anyone else notice the #1 hit for "coffee" on the GoshMe screenshot? VacationHomes.com. Nice.
Nice list. I'm not sure what qualifies as a "web search engine," since some on your list are specialized search engines (blogs, video, etc.) that only index a particular type of content. Since you haven't included any article search engines, I'll recommend MagPortal.com, which indexes online magazine articles. Each article is categorized into a set of topics by human editors, so you can restrict your search to a particular topic if you want to. For example, you can click into the "health" section, enter "green tea" and select "this category" to find articles on the health effects of green tea. You can also search on a particular publication, or order search results by date instead of relevance.
I am bit disappointed that wabbadabba is not there. It has such a different business model that its worth noting IMHO - http://www.wabbadabba.com
Very interesting! Thanks for posting.
FFS People stfu with the, "I'm disapointed that isn't on this list" If its not on the list it obviously hasn't made the list YET, bugging Richard will not get you on the list!
Wow! I didn't realize there were so many. I'll have to try some of these. Thanks for putting that up!
I'm writing a book, and doing research, and so this list will be a big help.
Good job.
PookNSaav
Sam, I hope I am not buggin Richard when I write a comment. I just enjoy reading his blog. I just think search and win concept is different and I think some readers will find it interesting. I think everyone can express their opinion and does not deserve STFU.
wow, I actually use http://boing.mobi on my phone!
Sorry
Our Server is being Updated ...
We'll be back in a few minutes
digg a search
so many new and unique search engines, but they'll ultimately fail because people want instant results not animated avatars and google's stranglehold on search ensures no innovation prevails, unless it's owned by Google.
Just to note that Charles and I appreciate all the "hey why isn't [insert your startup] on the list" comments :-)
Also all the suggestions for improvement are being noted - first on our To Do list is to introduce categories into the March edition. Also ways to submit search engines and (in time) maybe even enable readers to vote on them.
Ron, #12 -- nice catch! I hadn't noticed that. I guess it is a sponsored listing.
Well, thats nice list, but i think most of this resources useless, google rules for sure!
shokolada.com is exactly the website for those who want to escape search engines.
oihoi.com anyone?
http://www.2x3.cu/
The big question is will most of these be here for next year's poll.
Chacha.com is an interesting search engine where humans help you find useful search results for free. You can also join chacha and get paid $5-$10 an hour. I wrote a post about in in my blog if your intersted in checking it out: http://thenewweb20.blogspot.com/2007/02/chachacom-search-engine-with.html
you guys should absoutely try this:
www.answers.com. This is my 1st search engine, it's based on google, but much much better
Are the list entries confined to the US only ?
Wonderful Info....
Why ask jeeves is not in the list ???
Great list.
Technorati? Also a blog searchengine.
Thanks for all of the comments!(1-34) I have printed them all out and will try to address them by the end of the day.
Hey,
We have developed a new type of meta search service(agent55 . com), and your article really helped us find new and exciting engines!
Thanks a bunch!
I've been using GoshMe for specific scientific research and it has always come up with extensive lists of relevant results. When I want to find an URL or the coffee place closer to home, I just use Google, but when we're talking about real deep search, GoshMe is unbeatable...
Hi think mrquery is the best, because it enables you to search many search providers without changing their interface or using annoying iframes...
It’s interesting to watch where this search innovation is and isn’t happening. None of the entries this month came from India or China which I think would surprise some people. That’s not to say there aren’t some exotic destinations! Here’s a breakdown of countries where the top 100 search engines originate.
My apologies to YubNub! their correct URL is http://yubnub.org please take a minute to check them out!
Apologies for double posting but the link I included for where the top 100 search engines originate appears broken. Try below:
http://www.libraryhouse.net/blog/2007/03/02/search-engines-emerge-from-googles-shadow/?=r
Three key benefits of these comments:
1) They give me names of new sites like MagPortal.com
2) They point out typos like YubNub (http://yubnub.org)
3) They suggest improvements like categories or submissions.
Thank you for your comments!
#4, #5, #6, #10 re: Snap (www.snap.com) When there are multiple posts about one search engine, it tells me that I should go back and take a second look, so I will for Snap.
#11 The picks in my Top 100 list are a result of my subjective evaluations, just like the movie critic example. There is nothing wrong with an objective list, but you would have to go to another list like this one: http://searchtheweb2.blogspot.com/2007/02/rankings-top-100-alternative-search.html
#22 and #25 Be patient. Google will fall. I have forseen it. Never underestimate the power of a startup. As for GoshMe - the Force is strong in this one...
#32 Q: Are the list entries confined to the US only?
A:By no means. See onkosh the Arabic/English search enine on the list, or Quintura, which is Russion based. Exalead is part French...
#33 Ask Jeeves is not on the list because the butler retired a year ago. Ask Jeeves is now just Ask.com.
Re: My comment #46 a)I meant "search engine", not enine!
b) I should have pointed you to the excellent post #39.
It is rare for me to mention a new site inbetween Updates, but I am trying to find out more information about shokolada (www.shokolada.com). It has been mentioned that the List has too many metasearch engines, so this one has the potential to bump off more than one!
Charles, Richard: I'm the founder of CrossEngine.com
(former MrSapo). I wanted to share with you a couple thoughts regarding your article's note about CrossEngine in contrast with goshme.
1. I understand your preference for goshme in terms of reach, but usability? IMHO, opening different browser windows for search results and having to make 3 or 4 clicks before you see actual results is not the best scenario in terms of usability and user experience.
2. There's no question about goshme's larger depth in terms of number of search providers, which leads me to wonder how will they keep up with the relevance, availability and quality of 2700+ search engines (and growing). Are they willing to guarantee an acceptable level of search quality with that overwhelming number of third party applications?
3. Our approach is different. They (goshme) provide a ranking of search engine results based (I guess) on user's search terms, filters set and (I'm guessing here) an algorithm. Our approach is more straightforward: we let the users choose the search provider (from those available) and instantly they get the original results, just one click involved, compared to three or more clicks (and opening windows) in goshme.
4. We are currently in the neighborhood of 300 search providers at CrossEngine.com
, and we plan to maintain it under 500. Our focus is not the quantity of search tools but their quality, availability and relevance. We think the search world is not just Google but not 3000+ engines neither. That's why your list is only about the first 100 engines, not 3000, isn't it?
Above all, congrats and thanks for your great job putting together this valuable (and becoming very popular) monthly list, look forward to keep hearing from you.
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