How to find something that Google won't even look for. Search engines without restrictions: three little-known search engines in comparison
At first glance, it may seem that only Yandex can be better than Google, and even that is not a fact. These companies invest huge amounts of money in innovation and development. Does anyone really have a chance not only to compete with the leaders, but also to win? Lifehacker's answer: “Yes!” There are several search engines that have succeeded. Let's look at our heroes.
What is this
This is a fairly well-known open source search engine. Servers are located in the USA. In addition to its own robot, the search engine uses results from other sources: Yahoo! Search BOSS, Wikipedia, Wolfram|Alpha.
The better
DuckDuckGo positions itself as a search engine that provides maximum privacy and confidentiality. The system does not collect any data about the user, does not store logs (no search history), and the use of cookies is as limited as possible.
DuckDuckGo does not collect or share personal information from users. This is our privacy policy.
Gabriel Weinberg, founder of DuckDuckGo
Why do you need this
All major search engines are trying to personalize search results based on data about the person in front of the monitor. This phenomenon is called the “filter bubble”: the user sees only those results that are consistent with his preferences or that the system deems as such.
DuckDuckGo creates an objective picture that does not depend on your past behavior on the Internet, and eliminates thematic advertising from Google and Yandex based on your queries. With DuckDuckGo, it’s easy to search for information in foreign languages: Google and Yandex by default give preference to Russian-language sites, even if the query is entered in another language.
What is this
"" is a Russian metasearch system developed by Moscow State University graduates Viktor Lavrenko and Vladimir Chernyshov. It searches through the indexes of Google, Bing, Yandex and others, and also has its own search algorithm.
The better
Searching through the indexes of all major search engines allows you to generate relevant results. In addition, Nigma divides the results into several thematic groups (clusters) and invites the user to narrow the search field, discarding unnecessary ones or highlighting priority ones. Thanks to the Mathematics and Chemistry modules, you can solve mathematical problems and request the results of chemical reactions directly in the search bar.
Why do you need this
Eliminates the need to search for the same query in different search engines. The cluster system makes it easy to manipulate search results. For example, Nigma collects results from online stores into a separate cluster. If you do not intend to buy anything, then simply exclude this group. By selecting the “English-language sites” cluster, you will receive results only in English. The Mathematics and Chemistry modules will help schoolchildren.
Unfortunately, the project is not currently being developed, as the developers have transferred their activity to the Vietnamese market. Nevertheless, “Nigma” is not only not outdated yet, but in some things it still gives Google a head start. Let's hope development resumes.
What is this
not Evil is a system that searches the anonymous Tor network. To use it, you need to go to this network, for example, by launching a specialized browser with the same name. not Evil is not the only search engine of its kind. There is LOOK (the default search in the Tor browser, accessible from the regular Internet) or TORCH (one of the oldest search engines on the Tor network) and others. We settled on not Evil because of the clear allusion to Google itself (just look at the start page).
The better
It searches where Google, Yandex and other search engines are generally closed.
Why do you need this
The Tor network contains many resources that cannot be found on the law-abiding Internet. And as government control over the content of the Internet tightens, their number will grow. Tor is a kind of Network within the Network: with its own social networks, torrent trackers, media, trading platforms, blogs, libraries, and so on.
YaCy
What is this
YaCy is a decentralized search engine that works on the principle of P2P networks. Each computer on which the main software module is installed scans the Internet independently, that is, it is analogous to a search robot. The results obtained are collected into a common database that is used by all YaCy participants.
The better
It’s difficult to say whether this is better or worse, since YaCy is a completely different approach to organizing search. The absence of a single server and owner company makes the results completely independent of anyone's preferences. The autonomy of each node eliminates censorship. YaCy is capable of searching the deep web and non-indexed public networks.
Why do you need this
If you are a supporter of open source software and a free Internet, not subject to the influence of government agencies and large corporations, then YaCy is your choice. It can also be used to organize a search within a corporate or other autonomous network. And even though YaCy is not very useful in everyday life, it is a worthy alternative to Google in terms of the search process.
Pipl
What is this
Pipl is a system designed to search for information about a specific person.
The better
The authors of Pipl claim that their specialized algorithms search more efficiently than “regular” search engines. In particular, priority sources of information include social network profiles, comments, member lists, and various databases that publish information about people, such as court decisions. Pipl's leadership in this area is confirmed by assessments from Lifehacker.com, TechCrunch and other publications.
Why do you need this
If you need to find information about a person living in the US, Pipl will be much more effective than Google. The databases of Russian courts are apparently inaccessible to the search engine. Therefore, he does not cope so well with Russian citizens.
What is this
Another specialized search engine. Searches for various sounds (house, nature, cars, people, etc.) in open sources. The service does not support queries in Russian, but there is an impressive list of Russian-language tags that you can search for.
The better
The output contains only sounds and nothing extra. In the search settings you can set the desired format and sound quality. All sounds found are available for download. There is a search for sounds by pattern.
Why do you need this
If you need to quickly find the sound of a musket shot, the blows of a suckling woodpecker, or the cry of Homer Simpson, then this service is for you. And I chose this only from the available Russian-language queries. In English the spectrum is even wider. But seriously, a specialized service requires a specialized audience. But what if it comes in handy for you too?
The life of alternative search engines is often fleeting. Lifehacker asked the former general director of the Ukrainian branch of Yandex, Sergei Petrenko, about the long-term prospects of such projects.
As for the fate of alternative search engines, it is simple: to be very niche projects with a small audience, therefore without clear commercial prospects or, conversely, with complete clarity of their absence.
If you look at the examples in the article, you can see that such search engines either specialize in a narrow but popular niche, which, perhaps, has not yet grown enough to be noticeable on the radars of Google or Yandex, or they are testing an original hypothesis in ranking, which is not yet applicable in regular search.
For example, if a search on Tor suddenly turns out to be in demand, that is, results from there are needed by at least a percentage of Google’s audience, then, of course, ordinary search engines will begin to solve the problem of how to find them and show them to the user. If the behavior of the audience shows that for a significant proportion of users in a significant number of queries, results given without taking into account factors depending on the user seem more relevant, then Yandex or Google will begin to produce such results.
“Be better” in the context of this article does not mean “be better at everything.” Yes, in many aspects our heroes are far from Google and Yandex (even far from Bing). But each of these services gives the user something that the search industry giants cannot offer.
Users are becoming more and more interested. We will tell you about three no-holds-barred search engines that do not collect personal information about you, but, on the contrary, protect your privacy.
Startpage: The World's Most Discrete Search Engine
Startpage.com calls itself "the world's most discrete search engine." Since 2016, the service has been merged with the Ixquick website. As proof of the security of its search, Startpage.com bills itself as the only search engine with an EU privacy certificate.
Startpage.com promises not to store users' IP addresses and, according to the service, does not use cookies for tracking. Additionally, Startpage.com is accessible from the Tor network. The search engine's servers are located in the Netherlands. The site has a handy feature: search results can be viewed using the “Proxy” option, which encrypts the connection to the corresponding web page using a proxy server. Thus, this is a real search engine without restrictions: you can safely view what your provider blocks. Search proxies are the main feature of Startpage, which make it a search engine without censorship. If you need to search without blocking, this service is for you.
DuckDuckGo is the most widely used secure alternative to Google with over ten million searches per day. Even though the search engine's servers are located in the US, DuckDuckGo.com still offers some interesting features.
When searching through DuckDuckGo.com, your IP address will not be saved. The system also does not use cookies for tracking. DuckDuckGo uses HTTPS encryption. You can also enter a query into a search engine via the Tor network. You can also use different themes to customize the appearance of your search page.
You cannot open websites through a proxy here. But taking into account the fact that the system is outside the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation, it is not subject to, for example, the “right to be forgotten” in the sense in which it is understood in our country. The search results may not be perfect, but they are still quite useful. This service is more suitable for those who primarily value anonymity and search without tracking. Or for those who want to find information excluded from search results in the Russian Federation. However, we should warn you: in Russia, DuckDuckGo has become a partner of Yandex, so you can expect everything.
notEvil: searching the Internet that doesn't exist The notEvil search engine allows you to search the Internet using the anonymous Tor network. To do this, you do not need to install any additional software (although you will need it in order to open search results).
This search engine allows you to search on the so-called darknet - that part of the Internet that is usually inaccessible to the average user. Due to blocking, useful services are gradually moving into it, for example, for downloading content.
Anonymous search engines as a safe alternative to Google
All three search engines do not log your IP address or use cookies for tracking. Encryption using HTTPS is provided by all named providers. The DuckDuckGo search engine showed the best search results in the test, and you will receive guaranteed security when choosing an alternative search engine with the Startpage.com system. EU data protection certification confirms that the search engine stands by its promise of search anonymity. NotEvil, in turn, is useful for searching the darknet.
A search engine is a database of specific information on the Internet. Many users believe that as soon as they enter a query into a search engine, the entire Internet immediately begins to be scanned, but this is not at all true. The Internet is scanned constantly, by many programs, data about sites is entered into a database, where, according to certain criteria, all sites and all their pages are distributed into various types of lists and databases. That is, it is a kind of file cabinet of data, and the search takes place not on the Internet, but on this file cabinet.
Popular search engines
Yandex is the largest search engine in RuNet.
In addition to the search engine, the Yandex company offers 77 additional services, the most popular of which are the Yandex mail service, Yandex browser, Yandex disk, traffic and weather information, Yandex money and much more. The search engine takes your location into account when displaying search results. The search program is also constantly being modernized to produce more correct results, designed to be as informative as possible for the user.
Google is the most popular search engine in the world.
In addition to the search engine, Google offers many additional services, programs and hardware, including an email service, Google Chrome browser, the largest YouTube video library and many other projects. Google is confidently buying up many projects that bring large profits. Most of the services are not aimed at the direct user, but at making money on the Internet and are integrated with a focus on the interests of European and American users.
Mail is a search engine that is popular mainly because of its email service.
There are many additional services, the key of which is Mail, at the moment the Mail company owns the social network Odnoklassniki, its own network “My World”, the Money-mail service, many online games, three almost identical browsers with different names. All applications and services contain a lot of advertising content. The social network VKonatkte blocks direct transitions to Mail services, justifying them with a large number of viruses.
Wikipedia.
Wikipedia is a search reference system.
The non-profit search engine, which operates on private donations, therefore does not fill its pages with advertising. A multilingual project whose goal is to create a complete reference encyclopedia in all languages of the world. It has no specific authors and is completed and managed by volunteers from all over the world. Each user can both write and edit an article.
Official page - www.wikipedia.org.
Youtube is the largest library of video files.
Video hosting with elements of a social network, where each user can add a video. Since their acquisition by Google Ink, separate registration for YouTube is not required, just register in the Google email service.
Official page - youtube.com.
Yahoo! is the second most important search engine in the world.
There are additional services, the most famous of which is Yahoo mail. As part of improving the quality of the search engine, Yahoo transfers data about users and their queries to Microsoft. From this data, an idea of the interests of users is formed, and a market for advertising content is formed. The Yahoo search engine, like , is engaged in the acquisition of other companies, for example, Yahoo owns the Altavista search service and the e-commerce site Alibaba.
Official page - www.yahoo.com.
WDL is a digital library.
The library collects books that provide cultural value in digital form. The main goal is to increase the level of cultural content of the Internet. Access to the library is free.
Official page - www.wdl.org/ru/.
Bing is a search engine from Microsoft.
Official page - www.baidu.com.
Search engines in Russia
Rambler is a “pro-American” search engine.
Initially it was created as an Internet media portal. Like many other search engines, it has search services for images, video files, maps, weather forecasts, a news section and much more. Publishers also offer a free browser, Rambler-Nichrome.
Official page - www.rambler.ru.
Nigma is an intelligent search engine.
A more convenient search engine due to the presence of many filters and settings. The interface allows you to include or exclude suggested similar values in the search to obtain better results. Also, when receiving a search result, it allows you to use information from other major search engines.
Official page - www.nigma.ru.
Aport - online product catalog.
In the past, a search engine, but after development and innovation were stopped, it quickly lost ground and . Currently, Aport is a trading platform on which the products of more than 1,500 companies are presented.
Official page - www.aport.ru.
Sputnik is a national search engine and Internet portal.
Created by Rostelecom. Currently in testing stage.
Official page - www.sputnik.ru.
Metabot is a growing search engine.
Metabot's tasks are to create a search engine for all other search engines, creating results positions taking into account data from the entire list of search engines. That is, it is a search engine for search engines.
Official page - www.metabot.ru.
The search engine has been suspended.
Official page - www.turtle.ru.
KM is a multiportal.
Initially, the site was a multiportal with the subsequent introduction of a search engine. The search can be carried out both within the site and across all monitored RuNet sites.
Official page - www.km.ru.
Gogo - does not work, redirects to a search engine.
Official page - www.gogo.ru.
The Russian multiportal, not very popular, requires improvement. The search engine includes news, television, games, and a map.
Official page - www.zoneru.org.
The search engine does not work, the developers suggest using the search engine.
Official page - www.au.ru.
The best Internet search engines. Internet search engine – These are special search programs installed on a whole range of specialized machines. In simple terms, it’s the same website with a set of programs, only on a special search engine (server). It is with the help of search engines that you find all the information you need. There are a lot of search engines.
1. What is an Internet search engine
2. Popular search engines in our country
3. Popular search engines abroad
4. Unusual search engines
5. How to properly search for information on the Internet
The most best psearch systems in our country:
http://www.yandex.ru
http://www.google.com
http://www.aport.ru
http://www.rambler.ru/
http://go.mail.ru
http://www.webalta.ru/
The most unloved and intrusive search engine by all.
Popular search engines abroad
http://www.altavista.com
http://www.alltheweb.com
http://www. bing.com
http://www.google.com
http://www.excite.com
http://www.lycos.com
http://www.mamma.com
http://www.yahoo.com
http://www.dmoz.com
http://www.hotbot.com
http://www.dogpile.com
http://www.netscape.com
http://www.msn.com
http://www.webcrawler.com
http://www.jayde.com
http://www.aol.com
http://www.euroseek.com
http://www.teoma.com
http://www.about.com
http://www.ixquick.com
http://www.lookle.com
http://www.metaeureka.com
http://www.searchspot.com
http://www.slider.com
http://www.allthesites.com
http://www.clickey.com
http://www.galaxy.com
http://brainysearch.com
http://www.orura.com
Each country has its own popular search engines.
Unusual search engines
- DuckDuckGo (https://duckduckgo.com/) - a hybrid search engine with a privacy policy for the user and his search queries.
- TinEye (http://tineye.com/) is a search engine specializing in searching images on the Internet. It has recently lost its relevance after Google introduced the same function in its image search.
- Guenon (http://www.genon.ru/) is a search engine that collects and creates content on its website.
In almost every search engine, in addition to the search box, there are links to the most popular news sites, and sites of certain subjects.
How to properly search for information on the Internet
Each search engine has its own algorithms (rules) for searching for information.
In order to find some information on the Internet through a search engine, you need to enter in the search field request. If you enter one word, then this request will give you thousands of links to sites where this word is mentioned.
Therefore, it is necessary to enter as specific a query as possible, consisting of two, three or more phrases.
Let's look at an example of a search engine query Yandex.
Let's say you want to find information on buying a computer. If you write one word in the search box “ Computer", then you will get 133 million answers
You need to ask a more specific request. It is better to indicate which computer you want to buy and where (in which city).
Then the search engine will give you much fewer answers to your query.
The search engine doesn’t care at all whether you enter your query in capital or small letters.
Yandex distinguishes between nouns and adjectives, but completely ignores endings.
He is also completely indifferent to cases, plurals and the like.
To make the search more accurate, you need to put the query in quotation marks or put an exclamation point in front of the word.
Now look at the same query, but without the exclamation marks.
Do you see the difference? With exclamation marks, the number of responses is not 2 million, but 186 thousand.
If you put an exclamation point in front of a word with a capital letter, you will be given answers in which that particular word with a capital letter appears.
If the word is in the nominative case, and you need information on exactly such a word, and exactly as you wrote it, then put two exclamation marks in front of this word. For example: !!Ball .
The search will give you answers for exactly this word " Ball" the way you wrote it. Not " ball", Not " balls", and with a capital letter.
If you write a phrase with the word " on", then Yandex will ignore " on" For example: " on the shelf" The search will only be performed using the word " shelf ».
In order for him to take it into account and not ignore it, it is necessary before the word “ on» put a plus sign – « +on ».
Each search engine has its own search algorithm, so if you use a specific search engine and want to learn how to correctly compose queries, then you just need to type “ search rules inGoogle " or " search rules in Yandex ", follow the link to the response to your request and read the necessary information.
The companies Yandex and Google, which store huge amounts of user data, know almost everything about you. But there are at least four alternatives to the main Runet search engines that respect your privacy.
Lately, smart contact lenses for diabetics, giant balloons beaming wireless Internet from the stratosphere, and Google robots have been blowing up news feeds. The corporation earns money for the development of these concepts from products for searching online information - including advertising. A small search window tells Google and Yandex about everything that interests users. For example, our test account, created in May 2006, stores more than 23,000 queries that were entered into the search form over the entire life of the account. For your account, you can view them at www.google.com/history. Google and Yandex know so much about us that it becomes uneasy. Especially if we assume that intelligence agencies may also have access to this data. However, there is a way to avoid such “espionage”. We tested four alternative search engines that care about user privacy.
Like Google, the DuckDuckGo system lives comfortably on advertising, but when creating ad blocks, it takes into account not the user’s query history, but the keywords of the search query. Along with its own search index, DuckDuckGo uses Google, Yahoo, Bing and YouTube to diligently respect the privacy of user data.
Another alternative is ixquick Startpage, which uses successful Google search results to build its own search index. Startpage sends about five million searches a day to Google.
We also tested the eTools metasearch engine, which accesses a dozen and a half other search engines, including both well-known and little-known products such as Fastbot. Finally, we examined the capabilities of Yacy, which uses an open peer-to-peer network for searching and distributes the index across user computers.
Not all encryption is secure
Secure web searching begins with an encrypted transmission of the request. Using the SSL Server Test service developed by Qualis SSL Labs, we checked how encryption occurs and whether it occurs at all. This service quickly found its flaws: eTools and Yacy do not automatically create secure SSL connections. To do this, the URL in eTools must start with “https”, and in Yacy you must activate the use of the HTTPS protocol in the settings. Search engines DuckDuckGo, Startpage, and for several months now even Google itself has been doing a much better job of this task. DuckDuckGo was noted for having the most reliable encryption (RSA 4096 bit) among the tested systems. His rivals use keys half as long (however, they will be considered safe for a long time).
An even more important criterion than key length is support for SSL updates with the PFS (Perfect forward secrecy) property. PFS is protection against recording of an encrypted session by an attacker or intelligence agency. PFS provides support for all search engines up to Yacy, but eTools does not support all popular browsers.
The big difference between Google and its competitors is how it processes user data. Search history, IP address, personal data - all these alternative Google search engines discussed in the article are ignored. They save persistent cookies only if the standard settings are changed - for example, if the DuckDuckGo language or Startpage interface design is switched. None of the alternative search engines use the user ID in cookies - unlike Google, which processes the data sent from the browser with each request and stores it. And to handle dynamic IP addresses, Google uses numerous persistent ID cookies to accurately identify the user.
However, one of the search engines still made a mistake. The eTools service uses session cookies, which are necessary to authenticate the user using the provider’s data. You can still turn a blind eye to this, but transferring tracking cookies to a third party raises concerns. Thus, during testing during a regular search in eTools, we identified cookies from the marketing company TradeDoubler, which is unacceptable.
Websites usually “see” which page you came from, such as when you clicked on a link in a Google search. To avoid sharing this data, DuckDuckGo and Startpage offer an easy-to-manage proxy mode. Thus, Startpage almost always displays a “View by Ixquick Proxy” link next to regular search results. By clicking on it, you will receive information from the site anonymously - the Startpage robot will go to the page, download it and present it to you.
In a direct comparison, it quickly becomes clear why Google's service is the most popular: it offers the best search results, presented in an easy-to-use format. When you enter topical queries, this search engine displays online broadcasts and a feed of the latest news. Google Maps helps with route planning, Google responds to queries about the weather with elegant graphics, but in the interface of other search engines, getting to the treasured information takes a long time and is difficult.
CONCLUSION. All anonymous search services, with the exception of Startpage and DuckDuckGo, do not compare to Google when it comes to search quality. But the winner of the Startpage test does not save information about search queries and the user. By some criteria, DuckDuckGo is not far behind. The eTools metasearch engine ranked in the middle without much praise. The Swiss supplier does not excel in maintaining confidentiality, and the comfortable search and quality in many ways leaves much to be desired. Yacy currently only impresses with its amazing serverless technology. In practice, the search is too “flat”, slow and prone to errors.
TEST DETAILS
Anonymous web search
In the search results, Startpage displays a link “View by Ixquick Proxy”, through which you can access the site of interest while maintaining anonymity. This is achieved by hiding the IP address: the search engine robot downloads information from the site and then sends it to the user who made the request.
Tracking cookies
In the metasearch engine eTools, we picked up tracking cookies from TradeDoubler, an online marketing services provider. Concerns about privacy did not seem to interest the system.
Unique user ID
Google supplies cookies with a unique user ID. With its help, the search engine recognizes the user and can associate the received data with a specific visitor.
Low search quality
Alas, here all anonymous search engines are inferior to Google. DuckDuckGo, for example, does not display a link to the official website of the auto giant Mercedes on the first page of search results when requesting “mercedes c-class”.
GOOGLE ANONYMIZATION
Disabling Search Logging
At google.com/history you will find the history of your web searches stored by Google. Click in the top right corner of the drop-down menu next to the gear icon and select Settings. If you click on the word “completely” in the phrase “completely or partially delete saved queries and addresses of visited sites,” then all addresses of visited sites and saved search data will disappear. Then click on “Disable” so that future requests will not be logged.
If you use any Google services, then it is better to install an additional browser for searching and not enter data from your Google account into it. At the same time, it will not hurt to activate Protected View mode, which prevents the saving of cookies. For Chrome users, this will require selecting “New window in incognito mode” from the settings menu.