The right search engine
You've read the title of this article, and I know what you're thinking. The last thing the world needs is another search engine. After all, Google is clearly the king of the heap. Standbys like Northern Light (www.northernlight.com) are either getting bought by the big guys, or are simply melting into the ether.
But maybe things aren't so cut and dried. Think about it. The Web is becoming larger by the hour. We are turning to cyberspace more often than ever to shop, find information and communicate, and when it comes to Web searching, e-organizations know that it's location, location, location. They want their Web sites to show up on the first two pages of your search. Anything less, and the chances of you visiting their site are lower than a snake's belly in a Humvee's tire track. The bubble may have burst, but the search engine business is bigger and more competitive than ever.
The Relevancy Race
In the Great Search Engine Race, the goal is clear. First place goes to the engine presenting the most relevant results to the user. Second place is a long way back, as demonstrated by Google's dominance of search engine space. In the early days, search engines trawled the Web indexing and ranking sites based on keywords, metatags and page contents.
As years passed, these methods and algorithms have become complex. Most commercial search engine methods and relevancy formulas are closely held trade secrets. Although details are locked away, we do know that Google's PageRank method assigns relevancy values based on how many other sites link to a particular Web destination. Yahoo!, on the other hand, relies on human beings to analyze Web sites. We may have been lulled by Google's dominance, but the smoke signals are clear. Web search technology is moving forward, and there are plenty of upstarts moving to unseat the likes of Google. Some use new search methods, some offer users more options, while some make searching easier. Whatever their methods, these whippersnappers are certainly worth a look-see.
The Other Search Engines
Drum roll, please. Presenting the Other Search Engines-sites devoted to winning you over and delivering a knockout punch to Google. Give them a try.
alltheweb
www.alltheweb.com
alltheweb debuted in 1999 by boldly announcing more indexed Web pages than Google. More marketing ploy than anything, alltheweb's strength lies in its search-and-find technology developed by Fast Search and Transfer (www.fastsearch.com). Fast recently overhauled the user interface, getting rid of banner ads, adding advanced Boolean search capabilities, and generally spiffing up the site's color scheme and font capabilities.
Try the easy-to-use indexes of Web sites, news URLs, videos, audio files and FTP sites. Here's a well hidden alltheweb secret: Type a URL in the search string, and alltheweb returns the site's vital signs, including external sites linking to the target, the site's owner, and recent changes.
At this writing, Google had moved ahead in the number of indexed Web sites race. No matter. alltheweb may just be the Google killer the world
has been waiting for.
Teoma
www.teoma.com
When it comes to Web searching,
big is not always better. Teoma has
been winning praise for relevancy
rankings since the engine's introduction
in 2002. Teoma's brainchild is
something called "subject-specific
popularity." This approach drills into
the Web's "naturally occurring communities"
to hone relevancy ranks.
Teoma offers some impressive
goodies after the search is complete.
The Refine section offers links that
may narrow the search. A Resources
section offers links to the most relevant
sites in Web communities that
are closely related to the search terms.
Walhello
www.walhello.com
It isn't too pretty. It's not too big
(only 300 million indexed Web sites;
Google has 3 billion). Options are
few, but coming. Now for the good
stuff. Walhello is lightening fast, and
the relevancy ranking engine is very
impressive. Although it's starting
small, Walhello is well worth a visit.
Mamma.com
www.mamma.com
Despite the bursting Web bubble,
Mamma.com has continued to grow.
Mamma got her start as a computer
science master's thesis in 1996, and
"meta" search engines. This means
that Mamma searches other engines'
databases at the same time by submitting
correctly formatted search
arguments and syntax to each target.
Mamma supports typical advanced
Boolean searches, and offers indexes
of Web, News, Images, Audio, and
Kids. The site's up-front advertising
is tastefully done and does not
overwhelm.
Gigablast
www.gigablast.com
Gigablast showed up in July 2002,
and is the new kid on the search
engine block. Its database is small,
and Boolean search options may
leave you a little flat. Caching pages
may be Gigablast's strongest point.
The site not only stores the URLs
pointing to search results, but also
caches site content. This means
fewer "dead links" if the original site
has been updated since being trawled
by Gigablast's spiders.
WiseNut
www.wisenut.com
WiseNut, a site developed by the LookSmart organization, hit the streets with a large index of Web sites -more than 1 billion. When it comes to searching, WiseNut's search and rank methods go above and beyond other engines by organizing results in relevant folders. A bit of advice for Google-keep an eye on this bad boy.
The Open Directory Project
www.dmoz.com
Up to now, we've been talking about search engines that use spiders and bots (intelligent software agents) Directory Project is different. Here you will encounter a completely unique indexing agent-the human being. Open Directory utilizes volunteers from around the globe to analyze, then index, Web sites. "Editors" log their results on the Project's Web site, and their results are categorized and filed in a series of major indexes. Visit the Project's Web site, and you'll see a list of major categories that help refine and speed your search. This method is so successful that many of the most successful search engines out there use the Project's catalogs.
Now, a bit of Open Project trivia:
The name "dmoz" refers to the Mozilla Directory. Mozilla is Netscape's open-source browser initiative.
Overture
www.overture.com
Overture gets high marks as one of the top pay-per-click (PPC) sites on the Web today. Here's how PPC works. If you're a Web site owner, you may "bid" for search terms. If you own a bait shop and are the number-one bidder for the term "catfish bait," your site gets the numberone listing anytime a user searches on "catfish bait." If you're the number-two bidder, you get slot number two, and so on. This may sound like the unadulterated commercialization of Web searching, but the results could surprise you.
* * *
The world does not live by Google alone. New search engines are giving old standbys a run for their money. Try them. If you're surprised, don't be surprised. .
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If changing your e-mail
address and loosing your address book are the biggest problems
keeping you from changing ISPs, there's a new technology that make
it easier - Esaya's TrueSwitch. The free application automates the process of migrating a new subscriber's address book, calendar and saved e-mail
messages from AOL to MSN, AT&T, GBROnline (Great Barrier
Reef), or iVillageAccess.
Many smaller ISPs give you a username, password and access phone
number and that's it - no additional software to install. (You use
the tools that are built into the Windows Operating System) The
ISP, you, or someone like myself will set the service up for you.
I also install a "pop-up stopper" (like the one Panicware
offers) that allows you to surf the net pop-up free.
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Personally, I feel it's important to support the
local economy (when it makes sense), and I like doing business
with smaller companies (if the value is there). Here's three
reputable companies here in Colorado Springs area:
- PCI
Systems $19.95 per
month
- Code:Net
$17.95 per month
- DataWest
$16.95 per month
If you click on their link, it won't take you to
their home page, it takes you to a findanisp.com
link, a website that does a great job of comparing ISPs.
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And while the companies listed above are great,
there are other (non-local that have a local dial-up number) ISPs
that can do it even cheaper:
- 1ConnecToNet
$9.95 per month
- Joi
Internet $6.95 per
month
- AllVantage
$5.95 per month
Still looking for a really great, FREE ISP? You're about
three years too late. When the Internet stock bubble burst, the concept of a free ISP account
no longer made sense.
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Before choosing an ISP, take some time to consider how you plan to use the
Internet and your e-mail. Findanisp.com
has a great checklist
that will help you make a wise decision when choosing or changing
ISPs.
If you're fed up with your current service,
feel overwhelmed with all the ISP options, and would feel more
comfortable having someone else setup and configure your dial-up
service, contact me and I will help you
make a decision that works for you.
