Search.com, One of The Best Kept Secrets On The Internet

Nope I haven’t lost faith in Google, Yahoo or any of the other really great Search Engines. However, from time to time, there can be problems when their business gets in the way of their independence. So, sometimes it’s nice to have an alternative to keep the other guys honest – right – and if it just happens to be an even better choice – hey, who am I to argue. That’s why, as an alternative search engine, Search.com would be my first choice.

As search engines go, Search.com has to be just about the best kept secret on the Internet. By way of design, Search.com is classified as “metasearch” search engine. It uses some very smart technology to give you the most comprehensive search results on the Internet.

Remind me again – what exactly is a metasearch search engine?

Well for a start, just about all search engines simply compile results for a search from a single database of web sites they have collected and indexed. By contrast, a metasearch search engine will actually compile its search results from a whole variety of sources. When you enter your search criteria on the Search.com page, you are really getting your search query submitted to most of the top search engines on the Internet. Search.com then gathers all the results and merges them together so that any duplicates are eliminated from the mix.

You only need to search once for results from more than a thousand other search engines, Web directories, auctions, storefronts, news sources, discussion groups, reference sites, and many more. Furthermore, Search.com's metasearch channel allows you to get specialised results from dozens of search engines dedicated to popular topics, like Music or Travel.

Anyway, let me explain why I like Search.com so much. Being a metasearch search engine, it literally gives you the best of all worlds. It searches Google, Ask Jeeves, Business.com, Kanoodle, LookSmart, MSN, Open Directory, plus dozens of other leading search engines.

However, it's important to point out that they apply their own technology to these results to ensure that you get the absolute best results possible as fast as possible.

Where has Search.com been – is it a new arrival – does it have a good “pedigree”?

Search.com is owned by CNET Networks. CNET, http://www.cnet.com/ would probably be one of the most trusted sources of information for millions of technology users around the world. It has, and continues to win countless awards for expert and unbiased advice on technology products and services.

It has a directory of more than 200,000 computer, technology, and consumer electronics products with information, downloads, trends, reviews and price comparisons. CNET is also comprised of many other top quality sites such News.com, Download.com, CNET Reviews, Shopper.com, GameSpot.com, MP3.com, etc.

Does Search.com have different features to other search engines?

One particular feature I really like is the ability to actually preview web sites before you click on them. You do this with Search.com’s thumbnail option. Selecting the “show thumbnails” or “hide thumbnails” feature on the search results page activates it.

Another fun feature is you can personalise Search.com, by selecting one of five colour schemes using the toolbar on the front page.

Sorting your results can also be very helpful. When you see Sort by: Source | Relevance | Date at the top of the results listing, you can click on these links to sort the results again. Usually, your results will be sorted by Source, which means they will be grouped based on the site they got them from. If you click on Relevance, you'll see the links that show up in the most search engines at the top. The link to sort by Date is not available in every channel, but when you do see it, you can click to sort your results with the most recent articles or news stories at the top.

I get frustrated by overly enthusiastic search engines that don’t understand what I’m looking for and returning a frustratingly large results list – is Search.com like this too?

Search.com will let you narrow and fine-tune your search. You do this by simply by clicking on a set of tabs that are located above the search box. By doing this you can limit your search to say, just Downloads, Shopping or Games. If you still haven’t got what you need, you can click on the "More" tab and research by topic.

Remembering that Search.com searches other search engines - Search.com also has customisable category searches where you can personally control the sources that are search by using their customisation feature. You will find this by clicking the "advanced" link under the search box or any link on the research by topic page.

You can customise the categories and engines that will be included in any metasearch. Adjust the checkboxes beside category names and individual engines before searching. To save time, Search.com can store these custom settings for you and apply them automatically. To do so, choose ‘Remember selections’ before you run a new or revised custom search.

Is Search.com easy to use?

Very, perhaps this is because the screens are very “low energy” designs. Some would suggest that Search.com is a very basic, plain looking search engine.

However, if you can get past the cosmetics issue, you will find that Search.com delivers some excellent results! It even gives some excellent tips on getting more users to find your own site with a step-by-step submission guide that shows you what to do. It explains how by just making some simple adjustments to your web pages and registering with several engines, how you will greatly improve the odds of your content appearing in Search.com's search results.

Arthur Hissey
Computer Research & Technology
www.crt.net.au