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There are many more things to discover besides Google to search the Internet – but the competitors have a hard time.
There is enough space for only two big search engines on the Internet. That is the conviction of Brad Garlinghouse, manager at Yahoo. Giants like Google and Microsoft already have thousands of computers, the exact figures are secret. Garlinghouse says “the infrastructure investment is simply too big to develop something new”.
According to a survey by the Public Opinion Research Institute Marketagent.com in December last year, 92% of Austrian Internet users start their Internet search at Google, followed by Yahoo (3,2%), MSN (1,3%), AustroNaut (1,1%) and Lycos and Alta Vista, each with 0.6%. Asked for the most common reason why Google would be used, 76,9% answered: “It is the most popular search engine". Furthermore, 58% has “never found something using another search engine that could not be found by Google”.
Weaknesses in local search
The fact that Google does not always deliver more results than its competitors is easily visible when searching for something local in Austria. Following the search for “Kroatisch Minihof” - the home town of the current Defence Minister Norbert Darabos – at Austrian websites, Google listed 2,450 results, whereas AltaVista.at listed 16,600.
Austro-search
Using the same search term at Austrian search engines, the result list has a smaller dimension. Unfortunately AustroNaut.at, based on AltaVista technology, does not show the total number of matches. The search ends up at page six with an error message. Startblatt.at, a search engine with editorial and highly regional content, did not know the town at all.
An interesting alternative to Google & Co. is currently Wiki Search, aproject by Jimmy Wales, founder of the online lexicon, Wikipedia which started in January 2008. Just like at Wikipedia, the Internet community should help to improve the search results according to this project. Searching for "Alfred Gusenbauer", Wiki Search delivers 299 matches, while the giant Google shows 265,000 results. The project is still in its infancy.
Not everyone knows everything
A study, carried out by the U.S. universities of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania in the year 2007, shows how search engines differ. They compared the results of the four largest search engines – Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask. Thus, 88.3 per cent of the results at the first result page could only be found at one of the four search engines. Only 0.6 per cent of the first result page was the same at all four platforms.
Meta search for better results
Meta search engines solve this problem by combining the results of different search engines in one platform. MetaGer.de – a project of University of Hannover – combines all German-speaking search engines and offers a range of search options. The results are certainly numerous but the likelihood of doubles increases as well. The meta search engine clusty.com found an interesting solution for the conspectus problem. It merges the search results by subject areas (clusters) and creates a better clarity. Among the advanced options, the search can also be restricted to German-language websites.
Semantic network
Nowadays, a lot of energy is being spent at semantic search engines. They should simplify the Internet search for the user. Lexxe.com or hakia.com ask the user to enter complete questions. When the name of the Austrian president has been asked, lexxe.com answered “Thomas Klestil”, while hakia.com could not give a clear answer but tended to "Heinz Fischer". Everyone, who wants to search the Internet in an environmentally aware way, should take a closer look at ecocho.com. The first “green search engine” is built on the same technology as Google and Yahoo and therefore, should have similar results. The Australian company promises to fund the planting of a tree for every 500th search query.
Search engine with human component
ChaCha.com prevents any user decision regarding the search engine. Behind this search engine, there are people who do this work. The questions are entered in a form on the Internet or are asked by SMS. The answer is supposed to arrive within a few minutes by SMS. Unfortunately, this service is only available to mobile phone owners with a US provider.
Original in German: Es muss nicht immer Google sein
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