Search Engine Alternatives
Privacy friendly alternative to Google search
DuckDuckGo
It’s often a David versus Goliath scenario when it comes to privacy technology, with startups going head to head with either Facebook or Google.
This is the case with DuckDuckGo, the search engine alternative to Google which doesn’t collect IP addresses or track searches. Having been around since 2008, it gained massively in popularity in 2013 following the revelations about NSA mass surveillance.
Dogpile
If you want results from the top three search engines, but don’t want to go to them individually, try Dogpile. It’s results are pulled from the top three search engines “without all the mess.”
Blekko
Want spam free search results? Blekko‘s mission is to provide a differentiated, editorial voice in search. They look for quality over quantity, source based authority over link based, removes sites whose primary purpose is monetization over information, and uses human curating through the use of user tags.
WolframAlpha
Looking for a search engine based on computation and metrics? Try WolframAlpha. It will give you website data, historical information by date, unit conversions, stock data, sports statistics, and more. You can see examples by topic to learn more.
Joongel
Want to search ten sites at a time? Check out Joongel. While it doesn’t always get things right, it does give you some great ideas of sites to search under various categories including the ones shown above plus analytics, local, finance, and jobs.
Social Network Specific Advanced Search
Need to find something specific on one of the top social networks? Here are some great advanced search pages.
Facebook Search
Want to see a particular search across different areas of Facebook? Use Facebook Advanced Search. When you type in your query, click on the “see more results” link at bottom of the suggestions. Then use the filters on the left to see results within people, pages, places, groups, and more.
LinkedIn People Search
If you want to find some new connections on LinkedIn, use the Advanced People Search. This will let you narrow down your results by the above plus relationship and language. Premium members will have access to additional search filters including groups, company size, years of experience, and more.
LinkedIn Job Search
LinkedIn offers job seekers an Advanced Job Search to find jobs using the above information plus experience level and industry. Premium members can narrow their search down further by the salary offered.
LinkedIn Answers Search
LinkedIn Answers is a great way to gain exposure and build authority in your industry. Use the Answers Advanced Search to find the perfect questions to answer.
Twitter Search
Twitter’s Advanced Search is a great way to find better results on Twitter. It is especially great for businesses looking for a local audience by allowing them to filter their results using the Near this place field.
Social Search
The following search engines will allow you to search one or more social networks in one place and gain additional data about the results.
Bing Social
If you’re looking for updates from Twitter and Facebook on a particular query, tryBing Social. Updates seem to be a day behind, but they will continue to trickle through when you click the play button at the top right of the results.
Who’s Talkin
Who’s Talkin is another social search engine that will let you filter results by various networks under blogs, news, videos, images, and more.
Forums
Want to participate on forums in your industry? Use this search engine to find results specifically on forums.
Boardreader
BoardReader allows you to search forums and narrow results down by date (last day through last year) and language.
Blogs
Find industry related blogs and posts using the following search engines.
PostRank
PostRank allows you to search for blogs by topic and sorts them by social engagement metrics. Bypass the login and use the search box to find topics or specific blogs to which ones have the most comments and social shares.
Technorati
Use the search box at the top of Technorati to find blogs or posts on your favorite topics.
Regator
Regator allows you to search for blogs and posts on any topic, then narrow down your results by posts with audio or video, date range, topic, and domain.
Documents, eBooks, and Presentations
If you’re looking for documents, eBooks, presentations, or other similar file types, try the following searches.
DocJax
DocJax allows you to search for free eBooks and other documents. Sort by file types for documents, spreadsheets, powerpoints, and PDF to narrow down your results.
Scribd
Scribd is the largest social reading and publishing network that allows you to discover original written content across the web. Sort results by category, language, length, file types, upload date, and cost (free or for sale).
SlideShare is the largest community for sharing presentations. If you missed a conference or webinar, there’s a good chance the slides from your favorite speakers are here.
Image Search
Looking for beautiful images? Try these image search engines – note that you must gain permission to use any images you find unless they are specifically marked as Creative Commons licensed.
Flickr
Flickr offers an advanced search screen that allows you to find photos, screenshots, illustrations, and videos on their network. You can also search within Creative Commons licensed content.
Bing
Bing offers an image search that starts out with the top trending images, then leads to images which can be filtered by size, layout, and other criteria. They also display tabs above the results with related search queries.
Creative Commons Media
Need to find media created by others to use on your website? Try these Creative Commons searches.
Creative Commons
Looking for only images that you can repurpose, use for commercial purposes, or modify? Try the Creative Commons Search which will allow you to look through multiple sources including Flickr, Google Images, Wikimedia, and YouTube.
Wikimedia
Wikimedia Commons has over 12 million files in their database of freely usable images, sound bites, and videos. Use the search box or browse by categories for different types of media.
Video Search
Looking for video to embed on your website or simply entertain you? Try these video search engines that look across multiple sources to find what you need.
Yahoo
Yahoo Video Search allows you to search through video content from their own network, YouTube, Dailymotion, Metacafe, Myspace, Hulu, and other online video providers for videos on any topic.
Blinkx
Blinkx allows you to go beyond YouTube to find videos on any topic from hundreds of video partner sites including big names like YouTube and Hulu. If you’re looking for video, you’ll likely find it here.
Clipblast
Clipblast allows you to find professional video on topics discussed by news stations, newspapers, podcasting, and commercials. Top sources include CNN, ESPN, E, Sundance, BBC, and more.
VideoSurf
VideoSurf brings clips from Hulu, CNN, TMZ, Metacafe, Fancast, Dailymotion, and other sources to provide you with entertaining videos across the web.
Website Data & Statistics
Looking for information about your favorite brands and websites? Try out these search engines for data and statistics.
CrunchBase
CrunchBase offers insight into your favorite online brands and companies. Listings will tell you people who are associated with a company, contact information, related videos, screenshots, and more.
Quantcast
Quantcast allows you to search for website profiles based on topic or specific domains. Domains with a high volume of traffic will have data including total regional visitors per month, pageviews online vs. mobile, demographics, sites similar audiences like, and more.
DoubleClick Ad Planner
Google’s DoubleClick Ad Planner lets you research domains and get the traffic statistics, daily unique visitors, and demographics such as age, gender, education, income, topics of interest, and more. This tool can be used with or without a Google account. You can also see a list of the top sites measured by Ad Planner and traffic stats in a glance.
BuiltWith
Curious to see what technology your favorite sites use and usage trends of that technology? BuiltWith allows you to search for domains and see the technology they use, including analytics, content management systems, coding, and widgets. You can also click on any of the products to see usage trends, industries using the technology, and more.
