A Different Search Little-Known Search Engines May Revolutionize Your Online Research

Research is such a large part of my business life, you would think I pay a lot of attention to search engines. Not so. I just automatically use the same ways to search every day. A recent article in Entrepreneur Magazine, New Ways to Search, caused me to see what I may have been missing on the search front. Before looking at other ways to search, I decided to review my routine.

Google has been my primary search engine for many years. The simple design of the home page is really easy to use—if you want any of the other features just click the proper link which is always displayed prominently but, at the same time, very much unobtrusive and out-of-the-way.

Yahoo! has never been a favorite because it has such clutter on all its pages I get lost and confused and just can’t find anything easily. The answers to questions on Yahoo! are mostly unsatisfactory because they rely on users rather than just the facts.

About.com has a lot of good information, with access from a clean, uncluttered home page. Since becoming part of The New York Times Company, this search engine has become much easier to use. I will begin working with it for some of my research.

Microsoft also has a search engine which I have used accidentally a few times. It is also not a favorite, perhaps because I know very little about it. I already have Google’s desktop search installed and like what it does. Consequently, there is no interest in Microsoft for me right now.

For personal information like telephone numbers and e-mail addresses, I use Superpages.com or Wink People Search. All of these Websites have links to criminal and other background information for a fee; I have never used any of these, but this is a very good idea if you have employees or need to investigate serious relationships.

Let’s talk about the new search sites discussed in the Entrepreneur article.

123people

This is a search site that shows all public information about anyone. Information constantly updates making whatever you find the latest available. Results include many bits of information about people with similar names who live in the general area of your subject. You may have to work through a lot of extra information you don’t need to find what you want to know. There is a wealth of information available, and it includes items you might not find elsewhere.
The 123 home page is really clean, with the search box right there in your face. This box has some useful features with the drop down lists that contain just about any city there is; this helps narrow your search to exclude items you don’t need. All the little goodies available are spread across the top and bottom of the page inconspicuously. At the top right of the page you can install your very own 123 toolbar on your desktop. I don’t use these, but if it helps you, you can get it. Next, at the right top, is the sign up page so you can receive the latest information about new features.

Something that sets 123people apart from most other search sites is the ability of users to insert information not currently available on the Web. This feature increases the usefulness of your search. Near the bottom of the page there is a tab for you to access a user’s guide, in this case a list of FAQs; most of your questions are answered here.

Your search results are displayed in a row near the page top. Click the icon by the information you want and immediately go to those pieces of information. If you want to see all the data, just scroll down and there it is. You may have to scroll through several pages for each subject. This site shows the promise of information not easily found elsewhere; see if it can help you.

Cuil

Cuil is a search engine that analyzes all the text within any page containing your keyword. This site returns searching tips, categories for you to explore, plus definitions of terms. They claim to search three times as many Web pages as Google. None of your personal information is used in a search, only available Web information. Cuil’s mission is to learn how to index the entire Internet and how to sort pages to get the information that relates to your keywords. They have developed an entirely different approach from most other search engines.
Home page is ultra-clean, the search block is in your face with almost nothing else on it. The black screen is supposed to reduce the amount of energy used; maybe so, but it is very hard to read. When data is returned, you may drill down using the “Explore by Category” panel on the right for even more information. You can use tabs to narrow your search for exactly what you want. Sometimes you get navigation suggestions, often containing icons taking you directly to specific Websites. Navigate to more pages with search sources in the extreme bottom right of the page.

My search for information on a new article about present micro lenders in the US turned up 167 references. I also searched Google and About.com, both of which returned many more initial entries than Cuil. However, Cuil quality, as it applies to what I specifically want to find, appears to be much better, with less reading on my part. You should at least give it a chance for your searches.
Having said all that, Cuil is possibly a very useful site. However, some information turned up mentioning the financial possibly the site will either fail or be taken apart by sales to others. Check how this is going before becoming too dependent on it, but do see how it works.

EcoSmartSearch.com

EcoSmartSearch huses energy-efficient black screens to make a statement about conservation. There is a toolbar you can place on your desktop.

The black background is supposed to be energy saving—the whole point of this site owned by a 14 year old. It is powered by Google and the information is the same, but the owner hopes people will establish this site as their home page and it will remind them constantly to think of ways to save energy. The green print on black is awfully hard to read. If you are deep into the environment, give this a try. It’s a very hard to read replica of Google.

LeapFish

This search engine displays results constantly as you type. The answers you get here are from Google, Yahoo!, or MSN, the only difference being you don’t have to click to get your references. The way data is displayed while you type could be distracting, but the results do seem to display quicker than on other search sites. It may be just what you need to help with your research.

RushmoreDrive

RushmoreDrive produces normal search data as well as research directed specifically at the black community. This results in a very targeted audience. They also have a toolbar you can install on your desktop.

RushmoreDrive has a job community which facilitates networking to locate work opportunities. Though this Website says that it is oriented toward the Black community, the job listings appear to be mostly available to anyone. The job listings home page groups jobs by popularity regarding jobs wanted, locations, and types of skills needed. As for other services available, news is constantly being updated. Everything on the site is targeted toward a specifically black audience. If you wish to sell in this market, this site could be a source for you. As a search engine, one of my article searches turned up several references not shown on other search sites. RushmoreDrive could be a source of hard to find information; I suggest you try it a few times.

Spock

Spock is a people search engine that returns people-related data from all across the web. Like all search engines, they offer a toolbar you can install.

This site is advertised as an excellent way to find out about people. I did several searches for myself and my family members—the results do not measure up to what I get on Google. The site is being Beta tested at present and it may be expected to improve significantly before its final release. For now, other search engines are better for getting free information about people.

After examining the new search engines in the Entrepreneur article, I decided to look deeper to see if there are other little-known search engines out there. It turns out there are, the best of which are listed in The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines.

One of my Websites is dedicated to ideas of unconventional wisdom and doing things using different methods than those usually incorporated in a traditional worldview. All these unknown search engines are unconventional ideas counter to the existing worldview of most Internet searchers. Finding all these useful, but little known, Websites is just like throwing Bre’r Rabbit (me) into the brier patch. I’m happy as a clam to be able to bring some of them to you.

According to the 100 Alternate Search Engines author, market research shows that people actually use four main search engines for 99.99% of their searches: Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask.com. That’s exactly how I use the search engines—amazing. In that remaining .01%, however, there lies a multitude of the most innovative and creative search engines YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN. The author found so many he limited his discussion to only 100.

Be aware many of the sites listed in the group of 100 are no longer available for whatever reason. The rest are full of surprises and deserve a search from as many as you have time to do. This discussion includes only a few of the most interesting ones, but others could be just as useful or more useful than those we discuss.

A9

The first one on the list is A9 (http://www.a9.com/), a site affiliated with Amazon. A9 started in 2003 and, for a short while, I used them extensively because they were the first search engine I found where you could accumulate results and return later to review—they were even linked from one of my Websites to show my articles. They later changed and now they operate a first-class product search site as well as an information accumulation search engine. The product search feature is much easier to use than Google’s and I plan to use it in the future.

Del.icio.us

This is a site where you search bookmarks entered my many other users; these indicate the most popular resources for any subject you are researching. This site can save you a lot of time by allowing you to save and collect bookmarks for your favorite sites in a place you can access from anywhere, because it is always available on the Internet. I’ve never used this site before, but it appears to be a place with more information relevant to my searches than anywhere else. You may want to try this in place of others. Sorry I did not find it before. The value of this Website is not necessarily the first answers you get—each one has several other links for you to check and this is where the good stuff is.

Local.com

If you want to save a lot of time by showing local restaurants, lawyers, contractors and other businesses everyone needs, this is a great site. You may even wish to advertise your own business here; your traffic should increase markedly. This is not your standard kind of information search engine.

Whonu.com

You’ll turn up a lot of unexpected answers at this site. You start off with a question or keyword search which returns information from Google or Yahoo! That’s not the important part—you need to click the links on each line below the search term line each time answers come back. There will be a series of links in very small letters just below the search line; click on any of these and you will get many useful returns. There are also a lot of advanced searches available in the middle of the page with videos, images, and other information vehicles. This is an interesting site with many surprises. My search about writing a home-based business plan revealed many opportunities connected to events as they are happening, like global warming small business and several MLM opportunities. Give this one a try once in a while for unexpected results.

Zuula

Zuula addresses the fact that search engines often return very different results for the same terms, so checking multiple search engines will give you the best results. Zuula makes it easy. Currently, Zuula offers Web, Image, Video, News, Blog, and Job searches.

Zuula provides the results from your favorite search engine unaltered, so you can check those first and then get results from other search engines simply by clicking on their tabs. If you want to switch back and forth between search engines, Zuula remembers where you were.

I searched for home-based business plans on Zuula and followed the Google results with a number of other search sites listed across the top of the results. All this requires is a click on the desired tab and the new results immediately show; most are quite different from the original Google references. This is yet another little-known search engine that is capable of yielding important results.
There are a lot more on the list of 100, and you should look at any of them that seem interesting to you. If you really want to get into it, use some of these unconventional sites to look for additional search engines. There are thousands out there, and, judging by the results of the 100 list, some of them could be diamonds in the rough.

Something to remember about all this unusual stuff is that one reason for being unique is a lack of popularity in the general market. Google got out there first and they have capitalized on their reputation and on advertising to maintain a commanding position. Yahoo! is stumbling a bit, while About.com, since The New York Times got it, is likely to continue its march to popularity.

The point is, many of these smaller sites are going to fade away because they have no financing or their developers lose interest or go into the next world. All of these are good reasons to see how long the search engines have been in business; before you become too dependent on one, you may want to also check its financial condition.