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For me, the most surprising thing about the Yandex search engine is that it is still used by a huge number of people. My acquaintance with the Internet, like most at that time, began through the Yandex search engine. There were many popular search engines, including Russian ones, at that time. I searched for what I needed using different search engines, and for quite a long time my empirical experience confirmed that if Yandex didn’t find something, then others certainly won’t find anything useful for this query. I also liked the slogan of Yandex that “Yandex is not the censor of the Internet, but its mirror.” What was meant is that Yandex does not filter search results, even if some people don’t like some of its results.
At that time, it was common to reach 7 and 11 pages of results, etc. Because. either the Runet was still small, or the search engines worked so-so. Nowadays, the vast majority rarely go to even the second page of search results for any query.
Some time later, I noticed that Google had caught up with Yandex in the quality of search results. But I continued to use Yandex even when I realized that Google had become better. It's all about the conservatism inherent in most people: I had mail on Yandex, and in general people have some fears associated with changes. In general, I made up my mind and completely switched to Google search, and after a couple of weeks my fears about the transition began to seem naive and ridiculous.
Sometimes I go back, “test” Yandex search results and only once again am convinced how right I was when I stopped using it. Runet, through the eyes of Yandex, is somehow shabby, incomplete, with some skewed priorities.
Some time ago, it’s hard to say exactly when, but Google stopped giving me a feeling of complete satisfaction. Those. In the overwhelming majority, Google is perfect and gives exactly what you need in the very first positions. But when searching, for example, for movies or something else counterfeit, Google censors the results. Google reports this directly on the search results page. This, as well as the constant “Google monitors users,” has always pushed us to experiment with other search engines.
I began my note with the fact that most of us are very conservative and are very reluctant to change our habits. Today, judging by the number of clicks to my sites, there are very few users of duckduckgo.com. Some people simply don’t know about its existence, others have tried it before and didn’t like it. It's time to try something new. I invite everyone who wants to look at the Internet (Runet) with a clean, unclouded view of censorship or delusional “ranking”, to try the search engine
As expected, Google took first place in the world rankings. His share is more than 70% of search queries from residents from all over the world. Moreover, a third of all google.com traffic comes from US citizens. In addition, Google is the most visited website in the world. The average daily duration of use of the Google search engine is 9 minutes.
The advantage of the Google search engine is the absence of unnecessary elements on the page. Just a search bar and the company logo. Chip are animated pictures and browser games dedicated to popular and local holidays.
2. Bing
Bing - search engine from Microsoft, dating back to 2009. From that moment on, it became a mandatory attribute of smartphones running Windows OS. Bing is also distinguished by minimalism - in addition to the header with a list of all Microsoft products, the page contains only a search bar and the name of the system. Bing is most popular in the USA (31%), China (18%) and Germany (6%).
3. Yahoo!
Third place went to one of the oldest search engines - Yahoo. The bulk of users also live in the USA (24%). It seems that the rest of the world is deliberately avoiding the help of search robots... The search engine is also popular in India, Indonesia, Taiwan and the UK. In addition to the search bar, on the Yahoo! offers a weather forecast in your region, as well as global trends in the form of a news feed.
4. Baidu
A Chinese search engine that has gained notoriety in Russia. Due to its aggressive policy and lack of translation into Russian or English, extensions of this search engine are perceived as viruses. It is very difficult to completely remove them and get rid of pop-up windows with hieroglyphs. However, this site is fourth in the world by attendance. 92% of its audience are Chinese citizens.
5. AOL
AOL is an American search engine whose name stands for America Online. Its popularity is significantly lower than that of previous systems. Its heyday was in the 90s and 00s. Almost 70% of AOL's audience are residents of the United States.
6.Ask.com
This search engine, dating back to 1995, has quite unusual interface. She perceives all requests as questions and offers answer options in accordance with the search results. This is somewhat reminiscent of the Answers.Mail service. However, it is not amateur answers that are included in the search results, but full-fledged articles. Over the past year, the site has lost about 50 positions in the world ranking of the most popular Internet resources and today ranks only 104th.
7.Excite
This search engine is unremarkable and similar to a lot of other sites. It offers users a lot of services (such as News, Mail, Weather, Travel, etc.) The site's interface also evokes memories of the web of the 90s and, one might assume, has changed little since then.
8.DuckDuckGo
The developers immediately warn that this search engine does not track your actions online. Nowadays, this is a significant argument when choosing a search engine. The site design is made in a modern manner, using bright colors and funny pictures. Unlike other search engines, the “duck search engine” has been translated into Russian. Over the past year, the site has gained about 400 positions and in March 2017. is ranked 504th in the Alexa popularity rankings.
9. Wolfram Alpha
A distinctive feature of this search is the variety of auxiliary services designed for queries related to certain knowledge. That is, in the search results you will not see links to posts on social networks or articles from the yellow press. You will be offered specific numbers and verified facts in the form of a single document. This browser is ideal for schoolchildren and students.
10. Yandex
Search engine, the most popular in Russia and the CIS countries. In addition, about 3% of the site's audience are residents of Germany. The site is notable for its large number of services for all occasions (music, radio, public transport schedules, real estate, translator, etc.). The resource also offers a large selection of individual website design, as well as customizing widgets for yourself. Yandex ranks 31st in the world in popularity, having lost 11 positions over the past year.
With the rise of censorship and surveillance, alternatives to Google and Yandex are becoming more and more interesting to users. We will tell you about three no-holds-barred search engines that do not collect personal information about you, but, on the contrary, protect your privacy.
Startpage: The World's Most Discrete Search Engine
Startpage.com calls itself "the world's most discrete search engine." Since 2016, the service has been merged with the Ixquick website. As proof of the security of its search, Startpage.com bills itself as the only search engine with an EU privacy certificate.
Startpage.com promises not to store user IP addresses and, according to the service,does not use cookies for tracking. Additionally, Startpage.com is accessible from the Tor network.The search engine servers are located in the Netherlands.
The site has a convenient feature:Search results can be viewed using the Proxy option, which encrypts the connection to the corresponding web page using a proxy server. Thus, this is a real search engine without restrictions: you can safely view what your provider blocks.
Search proxies: Startpage easily bypasses Yandex.DNS blockingSearch proxies are the main feature of Startpage, which make it a search engine without censorship. If you need to search without blocking, this service is for you.
DuckDuckGo: anonymous search engine from the USA
DuckDuckGo is the most widely used secure alternative to Google with over ten million searches per day.Even though the search engine's servers are located in the US, DuckDuckGo.com still offers some interesting features.
When searching through DuckDuckGo.com, your IP address will not be stored. The system alsoDoes not use cookies for tracking.DuckDuckGo uses HTTPS encryption. You can also enter a query into a search engine via the Tor network. You can also use different themes to customize the appearance of your search page.
You cannot open websites through a proxy here. But taking into account the fact that the system is outside the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation, it is not subject to, for example, the “right to be forgotten” in the sense in which it is understood in our country.The search results may not be perfect, but they are still quite useful.
The right to be forgotten: DuckDuckGo finds sites with compromising evidence blocked in the Russian Federation. Google - news only This service is more suitable for those who primarily value anonymity and search without tracking. Or for those who want to find information excluded from search results in the Russian Federation. However, we should warn you: in Russia, DuckDuckGo has become a partner of Yandex, so you can expect everything.
notEvil: Internet search that doesn't exist
The notEvil search engine allows you to search the Internet using the anonymous Tor network. To do this, you do not need to install any additional software (although you will need it in order to open search results).
This search engine allows you to search on the so-called darknet - that part of the Internet that is usually inaccessible to the average user. Due to blocking, useful services are gradually moving into it, for example, for downloading content.
Most web search engines on Tor shamelessly make money from advertising: you get results from Tor, and in addition - a handful of advertisements and tracking for free. notEvil fundamentally does not do this. It is clear that we are not talking about IP tracking and the use of cookies here at all.
notEvil: helps you find things in Tor that may not exist on the Internet The site will be useful for those who want to get acquainted with the contents of the invisible Internet; hardcore anonymity guaranteed. By the way, we recommend that you immediately save the link to your bookmarks - URLs in the “Tor-to-web” category are very unfriendly in terms of remembering.
Anonymous search engines as a safe alternative to Google
All three search engines do not log your IP address or use cookies for tracking. Encryption using HTTPS is provided by all named providers.
The DuckDuckGo search engine showed the best search results in the test, and you will receive guaranteed security when choosing an alternative search engine with the Startpage.com system. EU data protection certification confirms that the search engine stands by its promise of search anonymity. NotEvil, in turn, is useful for searching the darknet.
What is this
DuckDuckGo is a fairly well-known open source search engine. Servers are located in the USA. In addition to its own robot, the search engine uses results from other sources: Yahoo, Bing, Wikipedia.
The better
DuckDuckGo positions itself as a search engine that provides maximum privacy and confidentiality. The system does not collect any data about the user, does not store logs (no search history), and the use of cookies is as limited as possible.
DuckDuckGo does not collect or share personal information from users. This is our privacy policy.
Gabriel Weinberg, founder of DuckDuckGo
Why do you need this
All major search engines try to personalize based on data about the person in front of the monitor. This phenomenon is called the “filter bubble”: the user sees only those results that are consistent with his preferences or that the system deems as such.
DuckDuckGo creates an objective picture that does not depend on your past behavior on the Internet, and eliminates thematic advertising from Google and Yandex based on your queries. With DuckDuckGo, it’s easy to search for information in foreign languages: Google and Yandex by default give preference to Russian-language sites, even if the query is entered in another language.
What is this
not Evil is a system that searches the anonymous Tor network. To use it, you need to go to this network, for example, by launching a specialized one with the same name.
not Evil is not the only search engine of its kind. There is LOOK (the default search in the Tor browser, accessible from the regular Internet) or TORCH (one of the oldest search engines on the Tor network) and others. We settled on not Evil because of the clear hint from Google (just look at the start page).
The better
It searches where Google, Yandex and other search engines are generally closed.
Why do you need this
The Tor network contains many resources that cannot be found on the law-abiding Internet. And their number will grow as government control over the content of the Internet tightens. Tor is a kind of network within the Internet with its own social networks, torrent trackers, media, trading platforms, blogs, libraries, and so on.
3. YaCy
What is this
YaCy is a decentralized search engine that works on the principle of P2P networks. Each computer on which the main software module is installed scans the Internet independently, that is, it is analogous to a search robot. The results obtained are collected into a common database that is used by all YaCy participants.
The better
It’s difficult to say whether this is better or worse, since YaCy is a completely different approach to organizing search. The absence of a single server and owner company makes the results completely independent of anyone's preferences. The autonomy of each node eliminates censorship. YaCy is capable of searching the deep web and non-indexed public networks.
Why do you need this
If you are a supporter of open source software and a free Internet, not subject to the influence of government agencies and large corporations, then YaCy is your choice. It can also be used to organize a search within a corporate or other autonomous network. And even though YaCy is not very useful in everyday life, it is a worthy alternative to Google in terms of the search process.
4. Pipl
What is this
Pipl is a system designed to search for information about a specific person.
The better
The authors of Pipl claim that their specialized algorithms search more efficiently than “regular” search engines. In particular, priority sources of information include social network profiles, comments, member lists, and various databases that publish information about people, such as court decisions. Pipl's leadership in this area is confirmed by assessments from Lifehacker.com, TechCrunch and other publications.
Why do you need this
If you need to find information about a person living in the US, then Pipl will be much more effective than Google. The databases of Russian courts are apparently inaccessible to the search engine. Therefore, he does not cope so well with Russian citizens.
What is this
FindSounds is another specialized search engine. Searches for various sounds (house, nature, cars, people, etc.) in open sources. The service does not support queries in Russian, but there is an impressive list of Russian-language tags that you can search for.
The better
The output contains only sounds and nothing extra. In the search settings you can set the desired format and sound quality. All sounds found are available for download. There is a search for sounds by pattern.
Why do you need this
If you need to quickly find the sound of a musket shot, the blows of a suckling woodpecker, or the cry of Homer Simpson, then this service is for you. And we chose this only from the available Russian-language queries. In English the spectrum is even wider.
But seriously, a specialized service requires a specialized audience. But what if it comes in handy for you too?
What is this
Wolfram|Alpha is a computational search engine. Instead of links to articles that contain keywords, it provides a ready-made answer to the user's request. For example, if you enter “compare the populations of New York and San Francisco” into the search form in English, Wolfram|Alpha will immediately display tables and graphs with the comparison.
The better
This service is better than others for finding facts and calculating data. Wolfram|Alpha collects and organizes knowledge available on the Web from a variety of fields, including science, culture and entertainment. If this database contains a ready-made answer to a search query, the system displays it; if not, it calculates and displays the result. In this case, the user sees only the necessary information and nothing superfluous.
Why do you need this
If you are a student, analyst, journalist, or researcher, for example, you can use Wolfram|Alpha to find and calculate data related to your work. The service does not understand all requests, but it is constantly developing and becoming smarter.
What is this
The Dogpile metasearch engine displays a combined list of results from search results from Google, Yahoo and other popular systems.
The better
First, Dogpile displays fewer ads. Secondly, the service uses a special algorithm to find and show the best results from different search engines. According to the Dogpile developers, their systems generate the most complete search results on the entire Internet.
Why do you need this
If you can't find information on Google or another standard search engine, look for it in several search engines at once using Dogpile.
What is this
BoardReader is a system for text search in forums, question and answer services and other communities.
The better
The service allows you to narrow your search field to social platforms. Thanks to special filters, you can quickly find posts and user comments that match your criteria: language, publication date and site name.
Why do you need this
BoardReader can be useful for PR people and other media specialists who are interested in the opinion of a mass audience on certain issues.
Finally
The life of alternative search engines is often fleeting. Lifehacker asked the former general director of the Ukrainian branch of Yandex, Sergei Petrenko, about the long-term prospects of such projects.
Sergey Petrenko
Former General Director of Yandex.Ukraine.
As for the fate of alternative search engines, it is simple: to be very niche projects with a small audience, therefore without clear commercial prospects or, conversely, with complete clarity of their absence.
If you look at the examples in the article, you can see that such search engines either specialize in a narrow but popular niche, which, perhaps, has not yet grown enough to be noticeable on the radars of Google or Yandex, or they are testing an original hypothesis in ranking, which is not yet applicable in regular search.
For example, if a search on Tor suddenly turns out to be in demand, that is, results from there are needed by at least a percentage of Google’s audience, then, of course, ordinary search engines will begin to solve the problem of how to find them and show them to the user. If the behavior of the audience shows that for a significant proportion of users in a significant number of queries, results given without taking into account factors depending on the user seem more relevant, then Yandex or Google will begin to produce such results.
“Be better” in the context of this article does not mean “be better at everything.” Yes, in many aspects our heroes are far from Google and Yandex (even far from Bing). But each of these services gives the user something that the search industry giants cannot offer. Surely you also know similar projects. Share with us - let's discuss.
Users are becoming more and more interested. We will tell you about three no-holds-barred search engines that do not collect personal information about you, but, on the contrary, protect your privacy.
Startpage: The World's Most Discrete Search Engine
Startpage.com calls itself "the world's most discrete search engine." Since 2016, the service has been merged with the Ixquick website. As proof of the security of its search, Startpage.com bills itself as the only search engine with an EU privacy certificate.
Startpage.com promises not to store users' IP addresses and, according to the service, does not use cookies for tracking. Additionally, Startpage.com is accessible from the Tor network. The search engine's servers are located in the Netherlands. The site has a handy feature: search results can be viewed using the “Proxy” option, which encrypts the connection to the corresponding web page using a proxy server. Thus, this is a real search engine without restrictions: you can safely view what your provider blocks. Search proxies are the main feature of Startpage, which make it a search engine without censorship. If you need to search without blocking, this service is for you.
DuckDuckGo is the most widely used secure alternative to Google with over ten million searches per day. Even though the search engine's servers are located in the US, DuckDuckGo.com still offers some interesting features.
When searching through DuckDuckGo.com, your IP address will not be stored. The system also does not use cookies for tracking. DuckDuckGo uses HTTPS encryption. You can also enter a query into a search engine via the Tor network. You can also use different themes to customize the appearance of your search page.
You cannot open websites through a proxy here. But taking into account the fact that the system is outside the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation, it is not subject to, for example, the “right to be forgotten” in the sense in which it is understood in our country. The search results may not be perfect, but they are still quite useful. This service is more suitable for those who primarily value anonymity and search without tracking. Or for those who want to find information excluded from search results in the Russian Federation. However, we should warn you: in Russia, DuckDuckGo has become a partner of Yandex, so you can expect everything.
notEvil: searching the Internet that doesn't exist The notEvil search engine allows you to search the Internet using the anonymous Tor network. To do this, you do not need to install any additional software (although you will need it in order to open search results).
This search engine allows you to search on the so-called darknet - that part of the Internet that is usually inaccessible to the average user. Due to blocking, useful services are gradually moving into it, for example, for downloading content.
Anonymous search engines as a safe alternative to Google
All three search engines do not log your IP address or use cookies for tracking. Encryption using HTTPS is provided by all named providers. The DuckDuckGo search engine showed the best search results in the test, and you will receive guaranteed security when choosing an alternative search engine with the Startpage.com system. EU data protection certification confirms that the search engine stands by its promise of search anonymity. NotEvil, in turn, is useful for searching the darknet.
