14 Great Search Engines You Can Use Instead of Google
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Google is a behemoth.
With its powerful algorithms, dominant advertising platform, and personalized user experience, Google is a force to be reckoned with – and one of the most popular search engines in the world.
That said, Google’s easy-to-use interface and personalized user experience comes at a cost.
It’s no secret the search engine giant catalogs the browsing habits of its users and shares that information with advertisers and other interested parties.
However, if you are unwilling to trade privacy for convenience, there are dozens of Google alternatives – many offering a better search experience.
Here are 14 search alternatives to Google.
1. Bing
Despite trailing Google by a wide margin in U.S. market share (24.2 percent vs. 63.2 percent), an argument can be made that Bing performs better in certain aspects.
For starters, Bing has a rewards program that allows one to accumulate points while searching. These points are redeemable at the Microsoft and Windows stores, which is a nice perk.
The Bing image search performs flawlessly across all browsers, whereas Google image search seems to be optimized just for Chrome.
In my view, the Bing image search GUI is superior to its rival’s and much more intuitive. Bing carries that same clean user experience to video, making it the “go to” source for video search without a YouTube bias.
2. DuckDuckGo
If you’re looking for true privacy, DuckDuckGo is the search engine for you.
DuckDuckGo doesn’t collect or store any of your personal information. That means you can run your searches in peace without having to worry about the boogeyman watching you through your computer screen.
DuckDuckGo is the perfect choice for those who wish to keep their browsing habits and personal information private.
3. Wiki.com
Looking for a search engine that pulls its results from thousands of wikis on the net? If so, Wiki.com is a good choice.
Wiki.com is the perfect search engine for those who appreciate community-led information as found on sites like Wikipedia.
4. Twitter
Twitter is hard to beat as a real-time search engine. It’s the perfect place to go for minute by minute updates in the case of an emergency.
Google’s algorithm will catch up eventually, but nothing beats a Tweet in the heat of the moment.
5. CC Search
CC Search should be your first stop on the hunt for many types of copyright-free content.
This search engine is perfect if you need music for a video, an image for a blog post, or anything else without worrying about an angry artist coming after you for ripping off their work.
The way CC Search works is simple – it draws in results from platforms such as Soundcloud, Wikimedia, and Flickr and displays results labeled as Creative Commons material.
6. Gibiru
Are you wearing a MAGA hat while reading this? If so, Gibiru may be the search engine you’ve been looking for.
According to their website, “Gibiru is the preferred Search Engine for Patriots.”
They claim their Search results are sourced from a modified Google algorithm, so users are able to query the information they seek without worrying about Google’s tracking activities.
Because Gibiru doesn’t install tracking cookies on your computer they purport to be faster than “NSA Search Engines.”
7. Internet Archive
The Wayback Machine is great for researching old websites, but it’s so much more.
As the name implies, this search engine queries a massive collection of documented material, including millions of free videos, books, music and software.
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Essentially, Internet Archive is a vast online library where you can access just about anything you could imagine.
8. Search Encrypt
Search Encrypt is a private search engine that uses local encryption to ensure your searches remain private.
It uses a combination of encryption methods that include Secure Sockets Layer encryption and AES-256 encryption.
When you input a query, Search Encrypt will pull the results from its network of search partners and deliver the requested information.
One of the best parts of Search Encrypt is that your search terms will eventually expire, so your information will remain private even if someone has local access to your computer.
9. Yandex
Looking for a search perspective outside of the United States?
Yandex is the most popular search engine in Russia, which is used by more than 53 percent of Russian Internet users. It is also used in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Yandex is an overall easy-to-use search engine. As an added bonus, it offers a suite of some pretty cool tools.
For example, if you use its cloud storage service, Yandex Disk, you can search for your personal files right from the search bar of the search engine!
10. StartPage
StartPage was developed to include results from Google, making it perfect for those who prefer Google’s search results without having to worry about their information being tracked and stored.
It also includes a URL generator, a proxy service, and HTTPS support. The URL generator is especially useful because it eliminates the need to collect cookies. Instead, it remembers your settings in a way that promotes privacy.
11. Swisscows
Swisscows is one of the more unique options on this list, billing itself as a family-friendly semantic search engine.
It uses artificial intelligence to determine the context of a user’s query. Over time, Swisscows promises to answer your questions with surprising accuracy.
12. Boardreader
If you’re interested in finding a forum or message board about a specific subject, Boardreader should be the first place you turn to.
This search engine queries its results from a wide variety of message boards and forums online. You should be able to find the forum you want with just a few keystrokes.
13. SlideShare
This unique search engine allows you to search for documented slideshow presentations.
You can also search for ebooks and PDFs, making it an excellent tool if you have a business presentation to prepare for.
SlideShare also allows you to save slides and even download the entire slideshow for use on your local computer.
14. Ecosia
Looking to save the planet, one tree at a time? Then check out this environmentally friendly search engine!
This may come as a surprise, but your Google searches actually contribute to the creation of quite a bit of CO2.
To battle this issue, Ecosia uses the revenues generated from search engine queries to plant trees. Typically Ecosia needs around 45 searches to plant a new tree.
Bottom Line
Google may be the most popular choice in search engines, but you still have a multitude of alternatives to use.
Many of these alternative search engines provide a better user experience and superior information to Google.
Whether you’re looking for more privacy or simply want to explore your options, there are plenty of search engines to experiment with. So what are you waiting for?
Chuck PriceOctober 2, 2018- 1.5KSHARES
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Google has launched a new type of search engine designed specifically around helping people find data.
Simply called “Dataset Search,” the tool provides easier access to millions of datasets across thousands of data repositories on the web.
Anyone can use Dataset Search, which is still in beta, but Google emphasizes the benefits it has for journalists and data scientists.
“In today’s world, scientists in many disciplines and a growing number of journalists live and breathe data… To enable easy access to this data, we launched Dataset Search, so that scientists, data journalists, data geeks, or anyone else can find the data required for their work and their stories, or simply to satisfy their intellectual curiosity.”
Dataset Search surfaces results from publishers’ sites, digital libraries, and authors’ personal web pages.
Google’s new search engine is largely dependent on the schema markup for dataset providers that was rolled out in July.
Dataset markup allows publishers to describe their data in a way that Google (and other search engines) can better understand the content of their pages.
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Google encourages dataset providers to utilize this markup in order to have their content included in Dataset Search.
Currently, Dataset Search can be used to find references to most datasets in environmental sciences, social sciences, as well as government data and data provided by news organizations.
When more publishers begin using the new schema markup, Google will eventually expand the variety of content included in Dataset Search.
Dataset Search is available in multiple languages and works just like any other search engine. Just type in what you’re looking for and Google will return relevant datasets.