Search Engines

Search Engines

I should imagine that if I asked a hundred people, which is the best search engine, at least ninety percent would say Google, but how many of them ever consider using other search engines? Google has done such a tremendous job of PR that it now attracts at least 85% of search queries. In this article, I am going to look into the phenomenon of search engines.

I looked through my computer’s logs and found that my blog had figured in a search that used the query ‘Asus F541U Laptop Computer‘, because I had written a review of that computer after buying one earlier that year. First, I checked Google, the default search engine on my Asus F541U, then I checked some others – six in total. Here are the results of my article’s placing or rank within those search engines:

Google: >100

Yahoo: 3rd

Bing: 2nd

Ecosia: 2nd

DuckDuckGo: 2nd

Yandex: 2nd

That’s right, my article could not be found within the first 100 entries on Google, yet five other top search engines ranked it within the top three most read articles on that particular laptop.

How can that be?

It’s simple, Google charges for the higher ranking slots. In other words, it takes an upfront commission on all sales made through searches made on its site, and that is why, if you enter the name of a product, the top dozen or more listings will direct you to shops where you can buy it.

I wrote my review of the Asus F541U to help people and attract them to my website, so I am not going to pay to promote it, and that means that Google is not interested in me or it.

So, if you want honest search results, you need to be careful which search engine you use, however, there are other advantages too.

For example, Ecosia donates a percentage of its profits to planting trees, and DuckDuckGo promises not to track your searches. This is important, because most search engines do, which is why, if you search for, say, the Asus F541U today, you will see ads popping up everywhere for it for the next week to come.

So, let’s stop automatically going for Google. Google is basically a list of shops ranked in order of what you want and which one paid the most to get near the top. Some people might call that corrupt.

Give the other search engines a chance, you will be pleasantly surprised.

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All the best,

Owen

PS: AI search engines go a much better job these days…

The Welsh Novelist With 1,000 Books