Search and you shall find TECHNOFILE Although there are now plenty of other services sheltering
under the umbrella of Google, the internet giant remains singularly recognised as the search engine of choice. But is it worth taking a wider look when searching for answers, asks Tim Stackpool
Although Googlehas left other search operators in its wake, a click into the realm of the competitors might yield some alternative and worthwhile results. All search engines use algorithms to determine what results are relevant to the searcher. Algorithms are merely the rules used by the search engine to return the results it thinks you want, and Google’s algorithms (which are constantly being refined) are what set it apart from other engines all those years ago. Today, similar (but dif- ferent) philosophies are now being applied by other engines in order to claw back a piece of the search results pie. The major competitor to Google
search is Microsoft’s Bing. A first impres- sion will be the lack of minimalism in design when compared to the Big G. It’s pretty colourful. And you will find it returns different results, even for regular searches. Surprisingly, some experts believe that Bing’s image search outdoes the Google version, but unsurprisingly, Microsoft is using its muscle to build Bing into their web browsers and mobile phone software as the default search software, so expect to see greater accept- ance of this alternative going forward.
The human touch
Ask.com gives you search results based on a question. While still using algo- rithms to return the answers, there is a human question-and-answer section, where you can submit a problem requir- ing a solution. Real humans submit the answer, which is then considered by Ask for any future searches related to a sim- ilar subject. If the answer is straightfor- ward, the solution is provided directly at the top of the results, rather than being contained in a separate clickable link. Never heard of
DuckDuckGo.com?
Unlike other engines that track your searches and use that info to return ‘rel- evant’ results, DDG uses no profiling, so
20 MAY/JUNE 2012 |
WWW.EXECUTIVEPA.COM
the results are completely clear of assump- tions and filtering based on who you are. The results you receive for the search are exactly the same as what everybody else receives. Additionally, most of the results are also accompanied with a short sum- mary, so you can more easily identify whether the result is good for you, before having to click-through. The privacy of the user is also a hallmark of DDG’s philos- ophy. They do not record visiting IP addresses or log user information. It’s clean and somewhat spartan when com- pared to others, but is the service to use when you want to be the one who makes the decision as to what’s relevant.
Searching and beyond A final mention has to go to
Mahalo.com. Touted as an ‘information handler’, it is a great place to go when you need to learn
about ‘stuff’. It is a human-powered search site, employing contributors to manually sort and differentiate thousands of pieces of information. You’ll receive fewer results for a search in Mahalo, but if your subject has been considered, the results will be of a high calibre and more relevant... in so far as a human editor can judge. Wondering where Yahoo! lies on this
list? Yahoo has now transformed into a portal for anything you need on the ‘net... so it thinks. It is beyond being a mere search engine, graduating into a place that accumulates news, general info, answers, photos, advice, technology, TV guide and more, although its search- ability remains in prime position at the top of the page. Yahoo represents the ulti- mate evolution of the humble search engine. It hopes that you’ll find everything you need right there. E
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52