Search Engine Wars. Which one is right for you?
There are so many search engines to choose from, ranging from All-Purpose and All-in-One Search Engines, to specialised search engines for areas including legal, accounting, country, real estate and medical.
But which search engine is right for you? Only you can make that decision based on your user experience, but here are a few points about three of the major all-purpose search engines to get you started:
Google is the world’s most popular search engine, handling over three billions searches on a daily basis. Google is fast, user-friendly and has the largest ‘single catalogue’ of webpages on the internet. Searching by images, maps and/or news are popular features/services, which are great for new and advanced users; I know I use them regularly.
Google web search also embraces many “cool” features. For example, there is a button labelled “I’m Feeling Lucky”. Upon the click, users will be directed to a perfectly matched page without users going through a whole list of search results. Moreover, besides the main search function based upon text input, Google also provides users with “trigger” words searching. Specifically, users can simply type in a “trigger” word – weather, along with a city or postcode to obtain the weather conditions, humidity, and wind of the city. There are more “Trigger” words reserved by google, including time, timer, maps, airports, area code, meaning, translator etc.
Yahoo
Yahoo is considered to be one of the most popular search engines on the internet. Yahoo is not just a search engine though, it includes a travel directory, horoscopes, games, shopping and news, and it does not end there. It is user friendly, even for new internet users, and provides users with numerous options all in the one place. Yahoo search engine supports searching in over 30 languages, which greatly satisfies the needs of people with difference language background.
Moreover, with Yahoo search you can specify a particular key word for a search. For instance, when you type in “[forerunner computer]” and hit search, those pages where forerunner goes prior to computer are displayed at the top.
Bing
Bing was created by Microsoft and has become quite popular. Bing includes a column for suggestions that is useful to some users, and also includes ‘visual search’ and ‘wiki’ suggestions which new users may find interesting and helpful.
Furthermore, Bing search tends to give users better results/suggestion on local information (e.g. restaurants, hotels, hospitals etc.) due to the accomplishment of integration with Facebook. As when seeking for local information, the results might come with reviews of your Facebook’s friends in order to accelerate your decision making process.
Other popular search engines include Yippy, Webopedia, Ask, and Duck Duck Go. The list goes on. No single user needs 50+ search engines, but try a few to find which one, or a few, work well for you.
The key is to find a search engine that provides you with relevant search results that are of interest to you, easy to read layout, and advanced options that assist you in finding exactly what you are looking for. There is no right or wrong search engine to use, it depends on what you are searching for and what features and layout you prefer. It is a personal choice.
