14 August 2002

Looking for Google's successor

By Jim Pinto

Using a search engine is still one of my biggest thrills! I have demonstrated my prowess many times to family and friends (even as a party trick) with the challenge: Ask me anything, and I'll find it for you within 5 minutes!

They ask for song lyrics, the name of a poem from just one line they remember, some obscure mathematical theorem, and other interesting and sometimes odd things. Most often I surprise them by coming back in less than the allocated 5 minutes with the right answer.

There seems to be many choices for doing a Web search-Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, Infoseek-but most are only "portals" using other search engines in the background. Inability to find the right revenue model has caused many to outsource their core search engine technology and services.

Today, Google, AskJeeves, and AltaVista are the only branded Web sites that still power their own searches. Google is the winner, with its quick response and focus on search, search, and nothing but search (it is not a portal like Yahoo).

Most popular portals, such as the ISA Web site, have an excellent choice of search tools powered by Google. You can search the entire ISA Web site for any specific author, article, or topic and quickly get the results.

On the Google Web site, you can do several things beyond a conventional search. You can use its translation tools to get tips on how to make your search more effective, translate a selected Web page into any language of your choice (most major languages available), do a more advanced search, or get "consultants" to help you find what you're looking for.

Google has become a Web favorite because it's simple, and it works. But today, a new generation of search engines is emerging to challenge the dominance of Google. If you're interested, you might try some of them to review their special features.

• Searching for Google's successor
• The Top 10 search engines
• Lasoo - limits the geographical area of your search
• Vivisimo - meta search engine that uses other search engines and classifies the results

Behind the byline

Jim Pinto is founder of San Diego-based Action Instruments. You can e-mail him at jim@jimpinto.com, or view his writings at www.JimPinto.com.