Most people don't want 290 search engines, especially people who are internet beginners. Most users want a single search engine that delivers three key features:
Relevant results (results you are actually interested in)
Uncluttered, easy to read interface
Helpful options to broaden or tighten a search
With this criteria, 10 Reader Favorite Search Engines come to mind. These 10 search sites should meet 99% of the searching needs of a regular everyday user.
Below is a changing list of user favorites, compiled from reader
email suggestions. The sites below are in random order, and are updated
regularly to reflect changes and user suggestions.
Years ago, Dogpile was the fast and efficient choice before
Google. Things changed, Dogpile faded into obscurity, and Google became
king. But today, Dogpile is coming back, with a growing index and a
clean and quick presentation that is testimony to its halcyon days. If
you want to try a search tool with pleasant presentation and helpful
crosslink results, definitely try Dogpile.
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The Ask/AJ/Ask Jeeves search engine is a longtime name in the
World Wide Web. The super-clean interface rivals the other major search
engines, and the search options are as good as Google or Bing or
DuckDuckGo. The results groupings are what really make Ask.com stand
out. The presentation is arguably cleaner and easier to read than Google
or Yahoo! or Bing, and the results groups seem to be more relevant.
Decide for yourself if you agree... give Ask.com a whirl, and compare it
to the other search engines you like.
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At first, DuckDuckGo.com looks like Google. But there are many
subtleties that make this spartan search engine different. DuckDuckGo
has some slick features, like 'zero-click' information (all your answers
are found on the first results page). DuckDuckgo offers disambiguation
prompts (helps to clarify what question you are really asking). And the
ad spam is much less than Google. Give DuckDuckGo.com a try... you might
really like this clean and simple search engine.
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Google is the undisputed king of 'spartan searching'. While it
doesn't offer all the shopping center features of Yahoo!, Google is
fast, relevant, and the largest single catalogue of Web pages available
today. Make sure you try the Google 'images', 'maps' and 'news'
features... they are outstanding services for locating photos,
geographic directions, and news headlines.
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Bing is Microsoft's attempt at unseating Google. Bing used to
be MSN search until it was updated in summer of 2009. Touted as a
'decision engine', Bing tries to support your researching by offering
suggestions in the leftmost column, while also giving you various search
options across the top of the screen. Things like 'wiki' suggestions,
'visual search', and 'related searches' might be very useful to you.
Bing is not dethroning Google in the near future, no. But Bing is
definitely worth trying.
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Yippy is a Deep Web engine that searches other search engines
for you. Unlike the regular Web, which is indexed by robot spider
programs, Deep Web pages are usually harder to locate by conventional
search. That's where Yippy becomes very useful. If you are searching for
obscure hobby interest blogs, obscure government information,
tough-to-find obscure news, academic research and otherwise-obscure
content, then Yippy is your tool.
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Webopedia is one of the most useful websites on the World Wide
Web. Webopedia is an encyclopedic resource dedicated to searching
techno terminology and computer definitions. Teach yourself what 'domain
name system' is, or teach yourself what 'DDRAM' means on your computer.
Webopedia is absolutely a perfect resource for non-technical people to
make more sense of the computers around them.
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Yahoo! is several things: it is a search engine, a news
aggregator, a shopping center, an emailbox, a travel directory, a
horoscope and games center, and more. This 'web portal' breadth of
choice makes this a very helpful site for Internet beginners. Searching
the Web should also be about discovery and exploration, and Yahoo!
delivers that in wholesale quantities.
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The Internet Archive is a favorite destination for longtime
Web lovers. The Archive has been taking snapshots of the entire World
Wide Web for years now, allowing you and me to travel back in time to
see what a web page looked like in 1999, or what the news was like
around Hurricane Katrina in 2005. You won't visit the Archive daily,
like you would Google or Yahoo or Bing, but when you do have need to
travel back in time, use this search site.
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Mahalo is the one 'human-powered' search site in this list,
employing a committee of editors to manually sift and vet thousands of
pieces of content. This means that you'll get fewer Mahalo hit results
than you will get at Bing or Google. But it also means that most Mahalo
results have a higher quality of content and relevance (as best as human
editors can judge).
Mahalo also offers regular web searching in addition to asking
questions. Depending on which of the two search boxes you use at
Mahalo, you will either get direct content topic hits or suggested
answers to your question.
Try Mahalo. You might like it enough to even become a editor there.
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