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Google has been dominating the search engine industry for as long as we can remember. You will be surprised to know that there are plenty of alternative search engines that you can turn to. When do you remember using another search engines other than Google? Even if you do, it was probably because you used some other browser that by default took you to a different default search engine.
There are some very good search engines that are decent alternatives to Google even this day. They might not get the exposure that they deserve due to very little market share. Our goal today is to introduce those alternative search engines to give you a new perspective on the web search.
1. DuckDuckGo – search engine that protects your privacy
If there is one search engine still out there that doesn’t track your every move, that would be DuckDuckGo. Developed by Gabriel Weinberg, this innovative web search engine has been around since 2008.
People often call this alternative search engine DDG for short. Because let’s admit it, DuckDuckGo sounds kind of funky. Not many people may not use it right now but the ones that do are really concerned about their privacy online.
Continuing the success legacy of the best search engine, a mobile browser was introduced back in 2018.
The fundamental operations of DuckDuckGo are quite different from Google search engine. It looks through over 400 sources to answer your question. Some of the sources include industry-leading names like Bing, Yahoo!, and Yandex.
The Instant Answers feature of this private search engine is very good if you ask us. The idea behind this feature is to give you a ‘zeroclickinfo’. It means that when you ask a question to DuckDuckGo, you can expect to click none of the results. The answer to your question will be displayed right on top of the search results.
When you navigate to duckduckgo.com and search for something, it may look like the dark version of Google search to you. But in reality with this alternative search engine, you’re surfing the internet without being subject to any profiling. However, it’s always a good idea to follow the online safety tips to protect your personal data.
Our Rating: 10 / 10
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2. Yahoo Search – one of the most popular alternative search engines
Yahoo search engine was a thing even before Google. The history of Google leads back to 1998 while Yahoo was launched in 1995. It’s written in PHP and the current URL is search.yahoo.com.
The original Yahoo Search used an interface for the users that sent them to an index of pages to find their answers. You’ll be amazed to know that the web crawling process was not a part of the original Yahoo! Why is that relevant? Because almost all existing alternative search engines now use web crawling to gather relevant information.
When this web search engine was first launched, the users could browse through the Yahoo directory only. There is also Yahoo mail email service available which was and still remains widely popular.
In 2010, Microsoft partnered up with Yahoo! to create Bing search engine. All of the brandings of Yahoo! were then converted to Bing, especially the BingAds.
The current interface for Yahoo! Search looks something like the above. You can ask any questions or search for any specific topic using the search bar of this alternative search engine. Or, you can simply click on any of the news articles below if you feel intrigued. There is news from all over the world including all sorts of news.
Our Rating: 10 / 10
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3. Bing – alternative search engine by Microsoft
Microsoft Bing or just Bing, whatever you want to call it, it’s Microsoft’s very own alternative search engine for Google. Initially, it was known as ‘Bing’. Later, Microsoft rebranded it as Microsoft Bing.
Bing search engine is a continuation of MSN Search and Windows Live Search, the original search engines by the company. Bing was released in 2009 as a replacement for Live Search. Very soon, it was merged with Yahoo! Search for exposure and better operations.
An interesting fact about Bing search engine is that the name was chosen by focus groups. If you’re not familiar with what they are, focus groups are group discussions where different demographics participate and share their opinion. Then, the result is chosen via voting.
If you use Microsoft’s latest browser Microsoft Edge, Bing web search engine is pinned as the default search engine there. Alternatively, you can navigate to bing.com in your favorite best browser. There’s no need for signup if you want to simply search for something.
Our Rating: 9 / 10
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4. Yandex – alternative search engine based in Russia
You may not have heard about this alternative search engine before. But it’s a very competent and accurate Google alernative. It was created by Arkady Volozh, IIya Segalovich, and Arkady Borkovsky.
As you may have already guessed from the name, this is Russian search engine. According to a 2015 report, Yandex generates more than 51% of search traffic in Russia.
You can simply use this tool by navigating to www.yandex.com. It has a very minimalistic interface. You can search websites, choose between images, videos, maps, AppMetrica, Browser, and mail. Just like you would do with Google. Yandex offers a cloud storage Yandex.Disk which is a great WeTransfer alternative.
The tiny Yandex logo is displayed right beside the search bar where you need to type in what you’re looking for.
Similar to other alternative search engines on the market right now like Google or Yahoo, Yandex also lists all of the search results. If you don’t’ look at the top section of the SERP, it’s very normal to mistake it for Yahoo or Bing.
Our Rating: 9 / 10
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5. Ask.com – alternative search engine specialized in questions
It’s right in the name. Ask.com search engine is ready to answer your questions at moment’s notice. This alternative search engine to Google was known as Ask Jeeves during the initial years of its launch. This internet search engine is older than Google as well! It was first launched in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen.
Ask.com is listed as an answer engine and it’s only available in English. The idea behind this search engine was to fetch answers to direct questions. Jeeves was the Mascot or the ‘face’ of the site to bring you the answers. Make sure your antivirus software is on while you’re browsing the web.
As of now, Ask.com doesn’t work as a regular alternative search engine. It abandoned the algorithm-based search back in 2010 when it fell short due to the increased competition in the industry. However, it launched a Q&A community the generates answers directly from real people!
Our Rating: 8 / 10
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As you can see, there are plenty of great alternative search engines that you can try out instead of Google search. Make sure you don’t leave your personal information on the websites without secured protocol (read more about the difference between HTTP and HTTPS and clear browser cache for the best web search performance and more relevant results.
Hello, I’m the founder of Coo, an alternative search engine – prioritizes social good over corporate greed and investor interests. Our profits go towards supporting animal welfare charities.
Since we are new website we are trying to promote it. If you have think our search engine would value to your post, we would appreciate being listed. I can answer any questions you may have.