ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Beyond the Top 10 Search Engines: New Ways to Search the Web

Updated on September 20, 2009

The Top 10 Search Engines receive about 94% of the total visits from people searching the Internet. Let's go beyond the Top 10 and check out some of the boutique sites that also provide search capabilities.

Here, Fido

Our first stop is DogPile.com, which is an aggregator. Searching with DogPile is akin to searching with Google, Yahoo, Ask, and Microsoft Live all at the same time. The pooches at DogPile call this a metasearch. A simple search on the phrase "Manny Ramirez" (quotes included) brings up a set of 20 results. The first 3 results are sponsored ads from Ads by Google. Sponsored ads are normal fare these days, but what is interesting is the way the sponsored links are presented; they appear exactly the same as the non-sponsored links that follow them. The only way to differentiate is to read past the link title and look for a "Sponsored by" message lurking on the third line of the listing. A little more digging reveals 9 of the 20 links to be sponsored ads from Google and Yahoo. Woof Woof.

Not Yo Mamma's Search Engine

Next on our tour is a site that bills itself as The Mother of all Search Engines, mamma.com. Another search for "Manny Ramirez" (quotes included) brings up a set of 20 results with the first 3 being sponsored ads that look almost exactly like the non-sponsored links. It's the same strategy that we saw at DogPile. When we scroll down to the bottom of the set, we see a summary line telling us that we are looking at 20 of 34 results. By comparison, search for "Manny Ramirez" on Google and you will be presented with "Results 1 - 10 of about 1,660,000". Google won't let you see much more than the first 1000 links, but the difference in the sizes of the two results sets is striking. By the way, 10 of the 20 links in the results served by Momma are sponsored ads.

Clusty Bread

Clusty.com offers a unique clustering technology in their search results. Searching for "Manny Ramirez" yields 10 non-sponsored (hurrah!) results presented in the format that we see on the major search engines. However, also on the results page is a set of broad categories. Each broad category represents multiple hits on our search phrase and can be expanded into more detailed categories (sub-clusters?), allowing searchers to drill down into the results set. It's powerful. Although Clusty is another aggregator site, it does offer a tool that sets it apart from the big boys. Clusty is worth a look.

Screen shot from Clusty.com
Screen shot from Clusty.com

Pages for Everyone

GigaBlast.com does its' own indexing, without relying on the other search engines to provide content. They claim to be capable of indexing 200 billion pages. Searching for "Manny Ramirez" calls up 10 results in a no-nonsense format. None of the links appear to be sponsored. The entire site appears devoid of ads. Similar to Clusty, they provide a set of broader categories that all include multiple hits on the search phrase. There's no drill-down capability, however. Each broad category is simply a link that calls up more hits.
At the bottom of the results page is a link to the Next 10 results. Interestingly enough, there's no easy way to navigate beyond the next 10; if you desire the 100th result, you'll have to click through the Next 10 link 9 more times.
A little quick math: according to the CIA Factbook we share the world with close to 7 billion other people. About 1.5 billion of us use the Internet.

What Do You Think?

All of these sites present results in a traditional text-based format. The aggregator sites don't generate content, rather they obtain results from other search engines. In our next installment we'll look at search engines that present use Web 2.0 technologies to create result sets that are more engaging and perhaps more intuitive.

Search Engine Poll

What search engine do you prefer?

See results

How do you feel about sponsored links on the results page?

See results
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)