Private Search Engines Explored: Open for Member Discussion

[rustybrick]

The next question was submitted by Viggen. He asks;

what search engines are you using for private searches and why...

regards
viggen

Now I am not completely sure what Viggen meant by "private searches" so it should be interesting to see how the moderators here, interpret the question.

[randfish]

I use del.icio.us - it's not designed as a search engine, but it makes a great one. Del.icio.us allows you to browse through the entries people have tagged, and by using the "popular" delimiter, you're only seeing stuff that dozens or hundreds of people have found highly useful and engaging.

For example, I wanted to see what was making headlines in the world of analytics, so I went to http://del.icio.us/popular/analytics - damn good links on that page, far more worthwhile than a google search for "analytics".

I'm also using Ask.com for a ton of non-search type searches. I love the little bar on the right-hand side that lets me quickly jump to maps (they have the best road maps right now, IMO) or the thesaurus or currency conversion. Ask is also a really fast URL to type in

Finally, I like to use Yahoo! for a ton of complicated link searches. For example, if I want to see who links to SERoundtable and mentions my name but isn't linking to SEOmoz, I can do that. If I want folks who've linked to 3 of a client's top competitors, but hasn't linked to their site, I can see that, too.

Hope that's the kind of response you were seeking - great topic, BTW!

[dazzlindonna]

I assume Viggen means vertical search engines such as specialized health search engines, etc. Honestly, I don't utilize any of them. If I can't find it via Google, Yahoo!, MSN, or Ask, I assume it either doesn't exist, or more likely, I'm not using the most appropriate search phrases.

The one thing I do that helps me a lot is making use of an online bookmark manager. I use MyLinkVault, but I'm sure there are plenty of other choices. This enables me to quckly save a page that I think I may possibly need in the future. I usually just save it to a Temporary category so that I can quickly move on, but later, I go back to the Temporary category and reassign each page to a more appropriate category.

I assume most people would be using something like delicious (don't ask me to put the dots in the right places in that word, because I'll never be able to remember where they go), or some other tagging engine to accomplish the same goal, but I just can't seem to do the whole tagging thing. It's just too cumbersome and time-consuming for me. I know that it's supposed to be exactly the opposite, but it's just not right for me and the way my brain works.

So...I guess to summarize, I use a combination of the four major search engines and bookmarking, but I never use vertical search engines.

[Darrin Ward]

Great question. In the grand scheme of things, I think you'll find that within the top 3 or 4 engines, one is almost as good as the next. Some are better for some searches than others.

Yahoo! Search is my default. Usually it gives me what I need right away. But if for some reason it doesn't, I'll try Google.

I really like MSN Search though, other than a few things, so I use them every now and then.

Rand, I'll be sure to give Delicious a shot - sounds like a great idea.

[rustybrick]

I also use social bookmarking sites such as delicious and even technorati. I also use Ask for quick answers, Yahoo for site explorer, and Google for other searches.

I'll try to take a slightly different approach...

I depend on RSS searches. I subscribe with my RSS reader to Yahoo News searches, Google News searches and some blog search engines (although I find myself skipping over the search results of blog rss searches more often these days). I use RSS searches, in "private" mode to;

(1) Manage The Search Engine Roundtable's Online Reputation example rss search
(2) Manage RustyBrick's Online Reputation example rss search
(3) Manage My Personal Name Reputation example rss search
(4) To find dated information on search related companies example rss search
(5) To find dated information on topics of interest example rss search
(6) To find dated information on competitors example rss search
(7) And more...

Those are some types of private searches I do on a daily basis.

[dazzlindonna]

Good points, Barry. I also use rss to do many of the same kinds of things. I also use Google alerts to email me information that I'm interested in. Hadn't really thought of either of those in terms of private searches.

[rustybrick]

Yea, I agree, that is what came to my mind, when he said "private searches."

I mean, I also thought of vertical search engines. I do use the shopping search engines often. I don't use many other verticals....

[Phoenix]

In terms of private searches, I mainly conduct the majority of mine at Google & Ask. I do not value Yahoo Search, its junk in my opinion. I keep a number of Google alerts to let me know whats going on for my name, or for terms such as "search engine optimization". I like to watch the news in those areas.

I don't use Del.icio.us. for search as Rand does, but I can see how effective it can be. For individual private local searches I use Desktop Search alot. In my mind, thats as private as you can get. If you can get an older version of Google Desktop search, then you can turn off the reporting, and have an effective tool to index all your own documents. It can be incredibly useful in a pinch.

I have been using the search in "Bloglines" more and more lately. To scan and evaluate news and blog posts more quickly. I additionally, conduct more video search more often as places such as Google Video and YouTube.

[viggen]

Now I am not completely sure what Viggen meant by "private searches" so it should be interesting to see how the moderators here, interpret the question.

LOL, damm my english sucks, what i meant (and most figured it out anyway) was which engines do you use when not in "working/analyzing mode", meaning for private day to day search...

thanks, for your responses btw...

cheers
viggen

[Sharpseo]

Besides Google, some of my favorites are Lycos' Discussion Forum Search, technorati, and del.icio.us.

For SEO stuff, I like Yahoo's linkdomain:www.domain.com function, and I check msn to see how quickly different site structures are spidered, and backlinks.