Say goodbye to Google: 14 alternative search engines
SEO 25 Feb 16 | Christopher Ratcliff
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Source:
Ratcliff, Christopher. 2016. Say goodbye to Google: 14 alternative search engines. Search
Engine Watch. https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/02/25/say-goodbye-to-google-14-
alternative-search-engines/ (Accessed 9 June 2016)
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Well it’s been a big week for search, I think we can all agree.
If you’re a regular Google user (65% of you globally) then you’ll have noticed some
changes, both good and bad.
I won’t debate the merits of these improvements, we’ve done that already here: Google
kills Right Hand Side Ads and here: Google launches Accelerated Mobile Pages, but there’s a
definite feeling of vexation that appears to be coming to a head.
Deep breath...
As the paid search space increases in ‘top-heaviness’, as organic results get pushed further
off the first SERP, as the Knowledge Graph scrapes more and more publisher content and
continues to make it pointless to click through to a website, and as our longstanding feelings
of unfairness over Google’s monopoly and tax balance become more acute, now more than
ever we feel there should be another, viable search engine alternative.
There was a point not that long ago when you could easily divide people between those
that used Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves and AltaVista. Now it’s got to the point where if you’re
not using Google, you’re not really using the internet properly.
Right now though maybe we should be paying more attention to the alternatives. Maybe
our daily lives and, for some of us, careers shouldn’t need to balance on the fickle
algorithm changes of the world’s most valuable company.
Let’s see what else is out there in the non-Google world. It’s not that scary, I promise.
Although you may want to bring a coat.
Please note: this is an update of an article published on SEW in May 2014, we felt like it
needed sprucing up especially many of the listed engines (Blekko, Topsy) are no longer with
us.