Web Search Engines: Good Alternatives to Google, Yahoo, MSN

Since 1998, web search has been dominated by a single term: Google. It has become almost synonymous. We now 'Google' everything: websites, recipes, weather, any question we have. Almost as if it were some kind of oracle.

But has Google become too good? Are we missing something in the cast iron integrity of their results?

The answer is: it is very possible. As any average web searcher knows, there are times Google's results are very repetitive in terms of what the linked pages say. Though relevant and high quality, they can bury less popular content - even if it's unique. And that's not even mentioning censorship - a critical subject whenever dealing with a single source.

So how do we find these 'gems in the rough? Despite a market eclipse by the 'big 3' (Google, Yahoo, MSN), there are definitely a few very good alternatives left.

Cha Cha

Ask Cha Cha any question and a trained human guide will provide you with a high quality answer (it's better than most tech support)! You can also search through pre-existing questions for quick results. This is an excellent choice for newbies and experts alike.

Website: http://www.chacha.com/

Cuil

Cuil is a relative newcomer to web search, claiming to now have the largest index in the world (over 120 billion pages). Theirs is a unique search engine, attempting to 'analyze' the results and reduce repetitive content. This is most noticeable in their Internet encyclopedia - cpedia. Definitely good for 'alternative' search results that you might not find elsewhere.

Website: http://www.cuil.com

EntireWeb

Having undergone several major revisions, EntireWeb is now a serious competitor in the search engine market. Theirs is a mid-size index (over 100 million documents) that prides itself on scouting the best pages and keeping them current. They also offer a visual 'glimpse' of the websites in the results.

Website: http://www.entireweb.com

Gigablast

Gigablast is an advanced search engine that was very popular a few years ago. Today they remain a leader in relevant search results. They are also the leading 'clean energy search engine' - running almost entirely on wind power. As such, their search technology is designed to be as fast and efficient as possible. Definitely try them when looking for an alternative to your usual search results.

Website: http://www.gigablast.com

IxQuick

Ixquick is a highly advanced 'meta' search engine known as IxQuick. They pride themselves on privacy - as they do not record your IP address. They also rate every result - one star for every search engine that chooses it for the first page. Thus, if a result is found on the first page of Google, Yahoo, MSN, and 7 others, it gets a 10 star rating - a sort of 'concensus' between major engines.

Next to Google, this is my personal favorite, and a tremendous alternative for the privacy-conscious among us (if there are any? feel free to comment!)

Website: http://www.ixquick.com

See a list of all current search engines...