The most famous search engines on the Internet are in Russian. 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 of 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 influenced by 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, then 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.
The search engine is one of the key layers of the Internet, along with content and the browser. Yandex search engine or similar systems (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and others) allow the user to search for information on the World Wide Web by formulating a query.
The job of a search engine is to find all documents, pages, videos, that is, all content, for this query (keyword or phrase).
Which search engine is the best? Are there alternative options, something other than Google and Yandex? Which Internet search engine is more suitable for scanning English-language sources or, for example, music? This is exactly what will be discussed in the article.
Rating: market leaders
If we talk about the world as a whole, then Google search engine is the most popular search engine. The corporation occupies almost 70% of the market. The second position in the ranking is occupied by Bing (share - 12.26%). The Baidu system is fighting for second place (6.48% as of September 2015). From time to time they change places.
So, for example, in 2014, the “forces” were distributed differently: the first place was occupied by Google search engine with 68.69%, the second by Baidu (17.7%), the third by Bing with a market capitalization of 6, 22%.
But global data is very generalized. Which search engine is the best?
In China, for example, a very small percentage of the population scans with Google; the majority uses the domestic Soso system. In South Korea, most residents use their own development - the Internet search engine Naver. However, in the last few months the number of requests in this system has begun to decline rapidly.
In Japan and Taiwan, users are the most likely to use Yahoo!
Rating: Russian-language systems
Which search engine is the best? In Russia, search engine rankings are not at all similar to the global ones. The market leader in the Russian-language segment of the Internet is Yandex, which is used by more than 55% of users.
In second place is Google with a result of 37.6%. According to the LiveInternet service, the coverage of Russian-language search queries on the World Wide Web was distributed as follows:
- Universal search engines: Google (37.6%), Bing (0.3%), Yahoo! (0.1%).
- English-speaking and international (AskJeeves, for example).
- Russian-language search engines: Yandex (56.2%), Mail (5.3%), Rambler (0.5%).
DuckDuckGo
A conversation about alternative search engines should start with the DuckDuckGo search engine. This is a fairly well-known and widespread open source system. DuckDuckGo servers are located in the United States of America. The search results are quite extensive, since the system uses not only its own algorithms, but also the results of some other sources, for example, Wikipedia, the Bing search engine and Yahoo!
The DuckDuckGo search engine ensures maximum security of the user's personal information, privacy and confidentiality. The system does not collect any data about users, does not store history and limits the use of cookies as much as possible.
The difference between DuckDuckGo is that this system does not personalize search results, as other systems do. In Google or Yandex, for example, the user sees only information that is consistent with his preferences. But DuckDuckGo creates a real picture and allows you to get rid of intrusive specific advertising. The search service easily searches for information in foreign languages, while Yandex and Google by default give preference to Russian-language sources, even if the query is entered in English, German or another language.
The system allows you to customize the interface: you can change colors, fonts, links and other parameters in just a few clicks.
This search engine is still far from the giant Google, but the duckling is developing, so it is quite possible that in the future DuckDuckGo will take one of the leading positions. The team has created an excellent product that provides an anonymous, fast and functional search that deserves the user's attention.
NotEvil
This is a system that searches the anonymous Tor network. The search engine is preinstalled in the browser of the same name. Why is notEvil better? It “goes” where Google or Yandex search engines cannot reach. In general, there are a lot of resources on the Tor network that cannot be visited on the “regular” (law-abiding) Internet. This is a kind of platform within the network with its own social platforms, torrent trackers, media, blogs, shopping centers, forums, libraries and so on.
By the way, notEvil is not the only search engine of its kind. There is also Look, which is available by default in the same Tor browser, and TORCH is one of the oldest search engines on the anonymous network.
YaCy
The free search engine YaCy is a completely different approach to organizing searches on the World Wide Web. The system operates on the P2P principle. This means that each computer on which the module is installed independently scans the Internet, and then all the results obtained are collected into a single database that can be used by all YaCy users.
The system is completely independent, autonomous, and ensures the anonymity of each user. YaCy is suitable for supporters of an open Internet that is not influenced by large corporations and government agencies.
The search engine is not very useful in everyday life, but in the future it is a worthy alternative to Google, even from the point of view of organizing the process of searching for information.
Pipl
Pipl is a system designed to search for information about a specific person. The developers claim that the search engine’s algorithms search for people more efficiently than Google or Yandex, which are widespread throughout the world.
Priority sources are profiles on social networks, comments, lists of participants, databases where various data about people are published, for example, databases of court decisions. But there is also a drawback. Pipl does not have access to Russian databases, so it will only be useful for searching information about US citizens.
FindSounds
Which search engine is the best? If you need to find music or sounds, then, of course, FindSounds is the best. This is a specialized search engine with a list of tags. Here you can select the desired audio file format or quality. All search results are available for download.
Wolfram|Alpha
This system does not produce pages that contain the information the user needs, but a finished result. For example, maps, graphs, tables, short answers. The service is ideal for calculating data and searching for specific facts. The search engine does not understand all queries yet, but is constantly evolving.
With Wolfram|Alpha it is convenient, for example, to compare parameters for setting up a camera, smartphone or laptop. Also calculate the level of alcohol in the blood (the system asks the user for weight and height, the amount drunk, time, and then tells how long it will take for the alcohol to be completely eliminated from the body).
The tool can convert shoe and clothing sizes, count calories, view exchange rates, or tune a musical instrument.
Dogpile
Dogpile displays results from all common search engines at once. The service uses an improved algorithm and, as the developers assure, generates the best results on the Internet. In addition, there are few advertisements. You can try using Dogpile if the information you need is not found in standard Google or Yandex.
BoardReader
This system searches for information on forums, surveys, question and answer services, and social communities, narrowing the search field to social platforms. You can set filters: language and publication date, site name, etc.
The search engine can be useful to advertising specialists who are interested in the opinion of the audience.
Finally
Often alternative search engines are fleeting. They appear as quickly as they die. Most alternative systems today specialize in a narrow niche or test an original algorithm in generating search results.
In the context of describing alternative search engines, the criterion “better” does not at all mean “better in everything.” Each of the services listed above gives a specific user something that is not available in Google or Yandex. In any case, getting acquainted with alternative options (against the backdrop of the fact that the system seems to be practically monopolized by search giants) is interesting and useful for every user.
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If you really understand something, then thoroughly. And if you subscribe to our blog, it means you probably want to become a cool specialist or want to know more about searching on the Internet. To achieve what you want, tricks and life hacks are not enough. We need to expand our horizons.
A search engine is a large and complex program designed to search for information on the Internet.
Have you ever wondered how what we use every day came to be, what types of things exist on the Internet, and why all studios only work with and? You shouldn’t put such questions on hold. Just 10 minutes and here's another topic of conversation that you can easily support.
How search engines appeared
A long time ago, when the Internet was young and green...
Users, who, it must be said, were very few, had enough of their own bookmarks. But this did not last long: soon it became difficult for a person to navigate the diversity that appeared on the Internet in a short time.
And in order to somehow streamline the chaos, Yahoo, DMOZ and other directories were invented (some still exist to this day), into which the authors added and sorted emerging sites into categories. For a while, life became easier.
But the Internet continued to expand, and soon the size of the catalogs became something mind-bogglingly gigantic. Then the developers first thought about searching inside directories, and only then about creating an automated system for indexing everything that is on the Internet in order to simplify the work for all users.
This is how the first search robots appeared.
Which search engine was the first?
The first search engine is considered Wandex (well, confused with Yandex!).This and other early services were, of course, far from perfect. When responding to a search query, they returned something completely different from what we are used to seeing now, i.e. not the most relevant pages, and everything in a row, ignoring ranking. On January 1, 2012, Wandex was relaunched.
This is how the first PS began its work.What search engines are there?on the modern Internet? Attached is the list.
What types of search engines are there: kings of the dance floor
Surprisingly, there are those who arguehow is the search engine better. I wouldn’t do this, simply because they are different and in general it all depends on the purpose and what kind of user you are.
Yandex
This is the most popular search engine in our country. LiveInternet claims that Yandex used by 50.9%, while Google accounts for 40.6% (data from June 2015).
There is such a myth that there are many times more commercial requests in Yandex than from its closest competitor. A couple of times I came across the idea that, thanks to regionalism honed over the years, the type of audience or its number may vary - this is the reason for Yandex’s primacy in commercial queries. So don't believe this. They're lying.
The Google search engine is the most popular everywhere except Russia :) It has a bunch of possibilities in different directions. In general, the undisputed world leader among search robots.
Google itself appeared around the same time as Yandex, and came to us in Russia only in 2004, when Yandex strengthened its position.
The process of searching on Google has already become a household word for many earthlings. But when I tell my mom “Google”, she still goes to look for the information she needs in Yandex :) She doesn’t know at allwhat search engines exist on the Internet.
What search engines are there: a list of little-known search engines
Most Internet users don't even knowWhat search engines are there besides Yandex?and Google. So here they are;) Meet us!
The search share of this search engine can hardly be called large, but the indicators are gradually growing. Although you should not miss the fact that these numbers directly depend on Odnoklassniki, Mail.ru mail and other things from the Mail corporation.
This is real old school. Just imagine: when this search engine appeared, some SEOs were just learning to walk. In general, Rambler had a chance to rule the show in, but this did not happen for a number of reasons. Currently, it is no longer quite a search engine, but a kind of set of services that use the Yandex engine as a search - for example, they have their own . Attendance, by the way, is quite decent: a little more than a million users visit the Rambler main page per day.
Rambler also has a version Rambler Lite (all the same, only without weather, news, advertising and other things) and XRambler , which combines 15 search engines at once.
How many names has this search engine changed! Over the course of 8 years, he managed to vilify the name MSN Search, then Windows Live Search, then shortened the previous name to Live Search, and now he has come to the name Bing. Many argue that the search quality is close to the Google standard.
Now it is difficult to call Yahoo a search engine, since according to the agreement, all sites owned by Yahoo use the Bing search engine. The latest news about the agreement can be found at Searchengines.
Webalta
Surely this so-called search engine is familiar to you. Have you had to pick it out like a tick from your browser?For a long time now, everyone has known about the dark affairs of this search engine. Alas, no one is interested in this PS. Users are only looking for articles on how to remove this crap from their computer.
Nygma
This search engine is significantly different from the rest. And if the index base of other search engines does not surprise anyone, then the ability to solve problems in chemistry and mathematics distinguishes Nigma from other search engines. Nigma also offers search for music, books, games and torrents.
The search engine, created by order of the Russian government, is considered the world's first state search engine. Offers a separate medical search (search for pharmacies, medicines and articles about diseases). A very convenient theme with “Convenient Country”, where all the recommendations that help the citizen are collected in one place. Here, for example, is the “Documents” section.
This PS is significantly different from the onewhat types of search engines are there on the Internet?. DuckDuckGo - search engine open source and an interesting policy of not using a “filter bubble”. For those who don’t know: a “filter bubble” is when a search engine shows in the search results only those search results that it (this PS) considers necessary for a specific user. At the same time, no one is interested in the opinion of the user himself. DuckDuckGo assures that using their search engine ensures that you get all the information that the search engine has.
“DuckDuckGo” is gaining momentum. Already this summer (2015), the creator of the PS reported three billion requests in annual terms.
While writing this article, I had several questions. In such cases, I don’t rely on extradition, yes, and why, if there’s a person sitting next to me who knows everything about the Internet? Mini-interview with Igor Ivanov.
Igor Ivanov
Head of SEMANTICA studio
If my site is in Google and Yandex, will my site be at the top of the search results in other, smaller search engines?
There is a very high probability that this will happen. Yandex and Google are developing their algorithms in the right direction and other search engines are following their example. There was a case when Google experts noticed that the Bing search engine not only copied their algorithms, but also their search results.
Why probability and not complete certainty? Because other search engines will not have time to adjust their ranking algorithms to the standard set by their more successful competitors.
Is it even worth promoting in Sputnik, Mail and other “our” search engines? Which search engine is better?
Most of the time a user spends on the Internet is spent searching for information that interests him. At the same time, there are many ways to obtain this data - you can look into an online encyclopedia and try to find the answer there, you can subscribe to a newsletter on a topic of interest and carefully study incoming correspondence, or you can consult with competent people on the forum by asking them a question. But the most universal way to find something on the Internet is to use one of the many search engines. Services for searching millions and millions of websites are, perhaps, the fundamental link of the World Wide Web. Without Google, Yahoo, Yandex and many other search engines familiar today, a user’s stay on the Internet would be more like a blind man walking through the forest. The importance of search engines for working on the Internet can hardly be overestimated - many users have search engine addresses as their starting pages, and it is from there that for many people an endless journey through various network resources begins. However, the effectiveness of Internet excavations is different for everyone - one person finds information instantly, another takes a lot of time, and a third may not find anything useful for himself at all. What is the reason? The answer is simple: searching on the Internet is akin to fishing - you need to know where to fish and what to fish for, i.e. where to look and how to look. In today's article we will talk about the best way to search on the Internet, and tell you what search engines exist for this, besides those that are “on everyone’s lips.”
However, we will start with those systems that you know. If a user knows the address of a search engine, this does not mean that he knows how to use it. Let's check how well you understand search query technology. How accurate the results you will get, first of all, depends on how skillfully you formed the search query. For example, if you are looking for information to write a term paper, you do not need to enter its topic verbatim, especially if the work has a narrow specialization. You will find much more valuable information if you try to select keywords, that is, those words that will definitely appear in your work. If you are looking for a lost manual for a car radio, then by entering the model number, you will probably get a huge number of sites offering to purchase it. To weed out unnecessary links, you can use the search function in the found or exclude some words from the search. In almost every search engine you will find an advanced search function. This is another good way to filter out unnecessary results. Such functions may include searching for pages that have been recently updated, searching for pages only in a certain language, or on sites located in the domain zone you specify. The time spent searching can be significantly saved if you know and use the query language syntax. Each search engine has its own characteristics. For example, when you are looking for something on Yandex, it would be a good idea to use the following techniques:
- To search for words that should appear on the page in one sentence, put the & symbol between them
- To exclude a specific word from search results, add it to your query by prefixing it with ~~
- To find pages that contain at least one of the words specified in the search query, separate them with |
- To search for a word in the specified form, put an exclamation mark in front of it
- To search for information on a specific site (and only on it), enter its address in the query field, preceded by the word site and a colon (for example, site:http://www.site)
- To search for a phrase that should appear on the page in its entirety, put it in quotation marks
- To exclude pages that contain a specific word from search results, add it to your query by placing a minus sign in front of it
FindSounds.com - searches for sounds
This resource is intended for those users who are in creative search. The resource allows you to search for sound files of different formats - wav, mp3, aiff, au. The resource database contains a wide variety of sounds - animal screams, grinding cars, ringing, knocking, sirens, buzzing insects, the roar of explosions and gunfire, splashing water, etc. Sound files can be searched by various criteria, for example, by size, the presence of two or one sound channels (stereo/mono), sampling frequency and sound bit depth. In the search results, the resource shows not only links to the found files, but also their main characteristics, and also shows a graph of the sound amplitude, which can be used to judge the nature of the sound of a given sample.The FindSounds sound effects database can be used in a variety of areas - from the development of computer games and other applications, to the creation of presentations and all kinds of clips. The search engine can be useful, for example, for those who create interactive web graphics and want to add variety to the site by accompanying the clicking of page navigation elements with different sounds.
Gnod.net - will select music, books and films to suit your tastes
When a person has a desire to read a new book, listen to some new music or watch a movie, he usually turns to his friend or acquaintance for advice, who has authority in his eyes. However, finding someone who would agree to express their opinion on this issue is not so easy. Firstly, not everyone likes to give advice, because when recommending something to another, a person takes on a share of responsibility, and many are stopped by the question “What if he doesn’t like the film that I recommend?” Secondly, the person who gives advice must understand what exactly the interlocutor will like, and what will be completely uninteresting. After all, taste and color, as they say... But there is an easier way to get good advice - use a special search engine that is made specifically for this purpose. So, you want to listen to a new band, but you don’t have the time or desire to look for good music. The gnod.net resource will ask you for several names of musical artists that you like, analyze the results and offer your own version of a singer or group that you should also like. The service has several databases - on music artists, films, books and people. Thus, the resource includes four services: Gnod Music, Gnod Books, Gnod Movies and Flork. The latest service, Flork, is a social experiment in discovering people who are interested in communicating with each other. We were happy to test the music section of this service and introduced three artists - Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Beatles and Hollies. Our selection was not random - these three groups belong to the era of the sixties, to an interesting phenomenon called the British Invasion. All these bands played a beat, and the search engine had to suggest a band or artist in the same style. And so it happened. The result offered to us is the group Archies, which in the late sixties was on the lips of all Americans with their cheerful song Sugar Sugar. After playing with the search engine for some time, we came to the conclusion that gnod.net often gives correct advice and is not mistaken very often. For clarity, the search engine can provide the results of its “advice” in the form of an animated cloud with the names of groups, authors or films. The database can be replenished independently by having “conversations” with the search engine and answering its questions in the style of “I like this” or “I don’t like this.”Alldll.net - finds library files
We recommend that you immediately bookmark this search engine, as sooner or later it will definitely come in handy. Probably everyone has at least once encountered the problem of a missing dll library in their system. This usually results in programs or games refusing to launch, and the message “Couldn’t find *****.dll” appear on the screen." There can be many reasons for this, for example, the absence of a file may be caused by incorrect removal of a previously installed application , accidental file corruption, etc. In addition, the developer could simply not include this library in the distribution of his product.Correcting the situation is very simple - just find the missing file on the Internet, download it and copy it to the directory of the program that refuses to start, or to the ..WINDOWSsystem32... folder. You can find and download the missing file easily and quickly using this service. The resource www.alldll.net is a searchable database of the most popular dll libraries. The files are sorted alphabetically and there is a search function. You can search for the file you are looking for even if you only know the approximate name of the library. It is enough to start entering text in the request field, and at the bottom of the page a huge list of files will appear that begin with the letters that were typed.
Medpoisk.ru - search for medical information
Despite the fact that this search engine uses the search engine from Google, this in no way reduces its value. Medpoisk.ru is a universal search engine that is designed to search exclusively on medical sites. This site is an excellent tool for every physician and anyone who wants to get an answer to any question in the field of medicine. How to treat this or that disease, what are the contraindications for this or that medicine, which doctor to see - all this and much more can be found out by “asking” a search engine. The search engine includes a labor exchange and can be used to search for work among medical professionals. The resource also contains a catalog of medical institutions sorted by region. Among these institutions are the addresses of clinics, medical centers of various specialties, maternity hospitals, diagnostic centers, beauty salons, etc. We sincerely wish you to use this search service solely out of curiosity, and not out of necessity.Taggalaxy.de - search for images and photos
Perhaps you have heard about the popular image sharing service Flickr.com? This is the same service that was blocked by the Chinese authorities in 2007 after photographs of the sad events of 1989 in Tiananmen Square, located in the Chinese capital Beijing, appeared on its pages. Flickr.com is one of the first Web 2.0 services, and the number of images uploaded by users is in the billions. The number of pictures uploaded to the servers of this service is so large that in order to find a specific image in this ocean of photographs and paintings, a separate search engine is needed. The service offers an image search service, but there is a more interesting way to search for images - using the unusual search engine taggalaxy.de. This search service is a tool for searching images on Flickr.com, with previews. What makes it unusual is the search interface, which is completely three-dimensional. The process of searching by keyword is reminiscent of some kind of computer game - different celestial bodies fly in outer space, between which you can move in the virtual world.After the keyword query is completed, a system of the sun and planets that revolve around the star will appear on the screen. Each celestial body has its own purpose and is “signed” with a word. In the center of the galaxy is the sun, the key query, all other bodies are auxiliary words, clarifications. If you click on the sun, this object will come closer, and photographs will fly towards it from all sides and surround it, the content of which is determined by the search query. This three-dimensional model with photographs can be rotated in virtual space, examining in detail and searching for the image of interest. After this, just click on the picture to enlarge it in size, and then you can better examine it and read the description.
While working with this search engine, you can use the scrolling function - it allows you to zoom in or out of three-dimensional planets. The remaining planets that are visible in the search engine interface after the request are auxiliary words that allow you to clarify the request. For example, if you enter “Sky” into the search field, then among the qualifying words-planets there will be the words “clouds”, “sunset”, “blue” and other tags of similar meaning that users specified when using the Flickr.com service. The disadvantage of the search engine is that taggalaxy.de does not support the Russian language, so queries can only be entered in Latin.
Nigma.ru - filters results from other search engines
Among all the search engines that can be found on the Internet, there is a special group of search engines. It differs from all others in that they implement a multi-search function, that is, simultaneous search in several search engines. One of these multi-search systems is the Russian service Nigma.ru.Nigma contains its own resource base, but in addition it allows you to search immediately across all the most popular search engines, including Google, MSN, Yandex, Rambler, AltaVista, Yahoo and Aport. The mechanism for selecting results in this search engine differs from most accepted methods of site discovery. The fact is that the engine of this service uses clustering of results. What does this mean? Imagine that you decide to find out for yourself what “rendering” is. Having compared the results in different search engines, the Nigma.ru engine selected the most likely results and, at the same time, on the left side of the window, next to the list of search results, displayed the so-called clusters - “visualization”, “creation”, “system”, “rendering”, “process”, “studio max”, “computer graphics” and other words and phrases. These clusters represent a thematic group of found documents. This way, you can quickly narrow your search or specify your search query. In Nigma.ru, you can also use categories to limit the area from which results will be selected - for example, perform a search only taking into account music resources, or display results only for images. Another opportunity of this service may be of interest to schoolchildren and students. Nigma.ru offers the services Nigma-mathematics and Nigma-chemistry. The first is designed for quickly solving simple equations and various arithmetic operations, the second allows you to work with formulas of chemical reactions. The search service recognizes more than a thousand physical, mathematical constants and units of measurement, allowing you to quickly convert from one dimension to another.
Searchme.com - search engine with preview
Everyone knows that in order to find specific information on the Internet, you need to spend a lot of time. When viewing search results, the user basically opens resources at random, not knowing for sure whether he will find what interests him on the new page, or whether it will be a waste of time. The creators of the search service searchme.com thought about this problem and came up with an original solution. The essence of this solution was to create a search engine in which the user could look at a rough thumbnail of the page before it loaded. This would allow us to form an additional opinion about the seriousness of the resource and its content.The implementation of this idea was simply magnificent - the created search engine has a beautiful animated three-dimensional interface and shows search results in the form of an animated ribbon of thumbnails, thumbnail screenshots of web pages that include the search keyword. The tape with the results, like a film with old negatives, can be scrolled in the browser window using a special slider located under the string of images. The sketches are loaded instantly, so there are no delays in drawing the results. It is especially convenient to work with search results in full-screen mode - then you can even make out the text of articles in the thumbnails of the results. To appreciate the convenience of this system, just try browsing news resources. Photos for the main news on the title page of the web publication will immediately make it clear which news on this resource is considered the most important.
The solution is a specialized torrent search engine. There are a lot of sites on the Internet that search for torrent resources. However, torrent-finder.com has an undeniable advantage over other search engines - this service allows you to search for files on a huge number of trackers simultaneously.
What is this
DuckDuckGo 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, Bing, Wikipedia.
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.
Forms an objective picture that does not depend on your past behavior on the Internet, and eliminates Google and Yandex thematic advertising based on your queries. With DuckDuckGo it is easy to search for information in foreign languages, while Google and Yandex by default give preference to Russian-language sites, even if the query is entered in another language.
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 .
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 hint from Google (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 their number will grow as government control over the content of the Internet tightens. Tor is a kind of network within the Internet with its own social networks, torrent trackers, media, trading platforms, blogs, libraries, and so on.
3. 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.
4. 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 is given to social network profiles, comments, member lists, and various databases that publish information about people, such as databases of 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, then 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
FindSounds is another specialized search engine. Searches various sounds in open sources: house, nature, cars, people, and so on. The service does not support queries in Russian, but there is an impressive list of Russian-language tags that you can use to search.
The better
The output contains only sounds and nothing extra. In the settings you can set the desired format and sound quality. All sounds found are available for download. There is a search 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 we chose this only from the available Russian-language queries. In English the spectrum is even wider.
Seriously, a specialized service requires a specialized audience. But what if it comes in handy for you too?
What is this
Wolfram|Alpha is a computational search engine. Instead of links to articles containing keywords, it provides a ready-made answer to the user's request. For example, if you enter “compare the populations of New York and San Francisco” into the search form in English, Wolfram|Alpha will immediately display tables and graphs with the comparison.
The better
This service is better than others for finding facts and computing data. Wolfram|Alpha collects and organizes knowledge available on the Web from a variety of fields, including science, culture and entertainment. If this database contains a ready-made answer to a search query, the system displays it; if not, it calculates and displays the result. In this case, the user sees only nothing superfluous.
Why do you need this
If you are a student, analyst, journalist, or researcher, for example, you can use Wolfram|Alpha to find and calculate data related to your work. The service does not understand all requests, but it is constantly developing and becoming smarter.
What is this
The Dogpile metasearch engine displays a combined list of results from search results from Google, Yahoo and other popular systems.
The better
First, Dogpile displays fewer ads. Secondly, the service uses a special algorithm to find and show the best results from different search engines. According to the Dogpile developers, their systems generate the most complete search results on the entire Internet.
Why do you need this
If you can't find information on Google or another standard search engine, look for it in several search engines at once using Dogpile.
What is this
BoardReader is a system for text search in forums, question and answer services and other communities.
The better
The service allows you to narrow your search field to social platforms. Thanks to special filters, you can quickly find posts and comments that match your criteria: language, publication date and site name.
Why do you need this
BoardReader can be useful for PR specialists and other media specialists who are interested in the opinion of the masses on certain issues.
Finally
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.
Sergey Petrenko
Former General Director of Yandex.Ukraine.
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 Yandex (even far from Bing). But each of these services gives the user something that the search industry giants cannot offer. Surely you also know similar projects. Share with us - let's discuss.