Best Search Engines

Google isn't always enough

Google remains the established leader among search engines -- accounting for more than 72 percent of all searches -- and it continues to grow. Reviewers say this is partly because it's so easy to use, especially if you add the Google Toolbar to your Firefox or Internet Explorer browser or use Google Chrome as your browser. (We have a separate report on web browsers.)

Information specialists note that Google's advanced search features provide a huge range of options. You can choose how many results to show per page and filter the results by date, file type, region, domain type and more. You can also exclude pages that include the words you specify. Experts also like the way Google lets you search inside books with Google Books, as well as search images, videos, blogs and even products for sale. Google Scholar helps you search academic and professional sources. Google Maps wins top marks in a comparison review at Laptop Magazine, and Local Search finds businesses in any area you choose, complete with a map or even an aerial satellite view.

Editors of the UC Berkeley library site note that even the huge database at Google indexes only about half of the web. The 2008 comparison tests at Dolores Labs find that at least one of the top five results from Google is judged "highly relevant" for about 80 percent of queries. Scoring equally high are the other two most popular search engines, Yahoo! Search (Yahoo.com) and Windows Live Search (Live.com). Therefore experts recommend using either Yahoo! or Live -- or both -- to get the best results for any kind of thorough research.

Yahoo! and Live.com also offer specific strengths. Reviews praise the new Yahoo! Search Pad built into Yahoo! Search. Editors in The Wall Street Journal review of this note-taking feature like the way it's designed to kick in automatically if the user seems to be doing research. (You can also turn it on manually.) The Yahoo! Search Assistant, an older feature, suggests search terms as you type in your query.

Windows Live Search (which is also available at the MSN portal site) makes it possible to create a customized search engine using search macros; you can specify search operators and terms or narrow search to specific websites or domains. Visit MSN's search macro site (http://search.live.com/macros) for more information. Reviews also praise Live.com for providing direct answers to many search queries. In fact, two comparison tests rank Live.com above Google and Yahoo! for current event queries for which direct information is available. Search engine expert Danny Sullivan, in his January 2009 comparison review at SearchEngineLand.com, finds that Live.com provides the most information on the term "oscar winners." Similarly, a comparison test at StraightUpSearch.com gives top ranking to Live.com for information on the 2008 Olympics.

Ask.com, the fourth-most-popular search engine, also provides direct answers to many queries. Another nice feature is the way some listings can be previewed, by hovering over the "binoculars" icon. Relevant search terms are listed in a column on the right, and reviewers like the way Ask.com ranks expert sites at the top of the list of unpaid results.

Back in 2006, comparison reviews praised Ask.com as the most improved search engine, partly for this reason, and it was one of the three search engines recommended at the UC Berkeley library site. More recent comparison tests find Ask.com lagging behind in search relevance, however, and it's been dropped from the UC Berkeley list.

Instead, the UC Berkeley editors recommend supplementing Google and Yahoo! Search with a lesser-known search engine based in France, Exalead (free, http://www.exalead.com/search/). It has a clean, intuitive interface and makes it easy to add shortcuts to favorite sites. Quick searches of Wikipedia, the user-created online encyclopedia, are also built into Exalead.

Privacy issues are an ongoing concern for many search-engine users. Google has joined other major search engines by starting to display ads in a personalized way, based on a user's search history. Our Useful Links section includes a link to a March 2009 article in PC World that shows readers how to opt out of personalized ads at all three major search engines. Another link leads to a chart at MikesMarketingTools.com showing how much information each search engine keeps about each user, and for how long. (Privacy advocates will appreciate Windows Live Search on this score.)

Reviewers note that there are dozens more search engines available. These include many visual search engines that provide thumbnail views of web pages or organize search results in some visual manner. Other search engines, such as Clusty.com, organize results into subcategories to make it easier to find what you want. There are also loads of niche search engines that cover only specific topics. Our Useful Links section includes links to additional search engines to try, as well as links to websites and blogs that discuss the latest search engines.