Sunday, November 27, 2005

Vote for the Best Search Engine

There always seems to be an on-going argument about which is the best search engine on the Web. Over the years, I have settled on Google as my search engine of choice, so that would be my vote. But I must admit I don't use other search engines that often. Now, there is a project underway where everyone can vote to for the search engine they determine is best.

But rather than just vote on your favorite, this one is a "blind taste test" that provides an objective rating system. When you click on their web site, you search on any subject you wish (hopefully something that you know about). You then are shown the top three results from three search engines, identified only as Brand X, Y, and Z. You then click a button to register your vote. After you vote, you are told the results.

You may be quite surprised with your selection. With more than 12,000 testers so far, the figures are Google 42%, Yahoo 32%, and MSN Search 26%. The project just started on Nov. 21 and the results are fairly close, with the lead changing hands several times in the early days. They need more testers and only your first vote counts, so make it good.

I have done it twice...the first time my blind vote was Google. The second time I did it, my choice turned out to be Yahoo. I will say that in both votes, it was very close as to which one I eventually picked. All three engines gave good results. But, you only get the top three results of your search, which I think is far too few to determine the best results.

But it was still fun to do. Give it a try. Click here to play.

No comments: