This article is in response to “Search results at risk?” by Jambo –Ed.
As previously reported, an open letter from Google creates a shock-wave of inquests and concerned reactions. Australians warned of threat from a new draft media code in an open letter flash on screen.
Google has transformed into a dominant online advertising platform and amassed a global market share of around 87% say some analysts. These analysts maintain that Google catalogues the browsing habits of its users and shares that information with advertisers and other interested parties that are willing to pay, in a round about way, for that data. That data has a SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) ranking and is an internet marketing strategy.
- Popularity surrenders to Dominance
- Trade off for convenience
- Some Alternative Search Engines
Popularity surrenders to Dominance
Google may be the most popular choice as popularity surrenders to dominance in search engines, but it may not always be the best choice, depending on your needs and priorities.
A common perception from observations on the internet search activity and habits, is that convenience is paramount and that Google is well presented as a user friendly attachment on the majority of platforms. But does it have the end-users’ best interests at heart?
Trade off for convenience
This common perception inevitably comes at a cost to your privacy. But if you are unwilling to trade privacy for convenience or have specific search needs, there are a number of Google alternatives that offer a better search experience.
Just by selecting Google as your preferred search engine has its consequences. This hyper-link to SEJ (Search Engine Journal) News explains:
Whether you are concerned about privacy or just want to explore your options, there are plenty of alternative search engines to experiment with and can provide a better user experience than Google. Here are some search engine alternatives to Google.
Some Alternative Search Engines
1. Bing a go-to source for video search without a YouTube bias.
2. Yandex – extensively used in Middle East.
3. CC Search – is mostly copyright-free content.
4. Swisscows – an accurate and unique family-friendly option.
5. DuckDuckGo – doesn’t collect or store any of your personal information and no cookies.
6. StartPage – for those who prefer Google’s search results, but aren’t keen on having their search history tracked and stored.
7. Search Encrypt – Search Encrypt is a private search engine that will pull your query results from its network of search partners. It uses a combination of encryption methods that include Secure Sockets Layer encryption and AES-256 encryption. Your search terms will eventually expire, so your information will remain private even if someone has local access to your computer.
8. Gibiru – is fast, doesn’t install tracking cookies.
9. OneSearch – No cookie tracking, re-targeting, or personal profiling. No sharing of personal data with advertisers. No storing of user search history. Unbiased, unfiltered search results. Encrypted search terms.
10. Wiki.com – is a crowd sourced search results.
11. Boardreader – if you have a specific subject inquiry and are looking for a forum or message board, Boardreader should be the first place you turn to. Using a few keystrokes, this search engine queries its results from a wide variety of message boards and forums.
12. giveWater – has a mission of doing social good.
13. Ekoru – donates 60% of its monthly revenue to a different charitable cause every month, ranging from those focusing on reforestation and climate action to those who are dedicated to animal welfare and conservation and does not store any user or search-related data on their servers.
14. Ecosia – environmentally friendly search engine in a bid to minimise CO2 in its operations. Ecosia uses the revenues generated from search engine queries to plant trees. Typically Ecosia needs around 45 searches to plant a new tree.
15. Twitter – a real-time search engine. It’s the perfect place to go for minute by minute updates.
16. SlideShare – for ebooks and PDFs, documented slideshow presentations. excelent for business presentation. SlideShare also allows you to save slides and even download the entire slideshow for use on your local computer.
17. Internet archive – is great for researching old websites, but it’s so much more. this search engine queries a massive collection of documented material, including millions of free videos, books, music, and software. Essentially, the Internet Archive is a vast online library where you can access just about anything you could imagine.
