Search engines are internet encyclopedias that allow us to find and filter out relevant information. With any given search engine, it takes some skill to find exactly what you are looking for. You must understand how the search engine works and how your search queries are interpreted.
More advanced search engines will meet you halfway, by providing forms for advanced searches, better interpreting your queries, suggesting keywords, or finding unusual context.
In this article I introduce five search engines with such advanced features.
General Search
Whenever you are looking for written information, the general search engines will do the trick. The advanced search gives access to additional features that easily let you refine your search query.
Why?
- keeps setting new standards.
- comprehensive, yet easy to use interface.
- excellent search term suggestions.
Further reading:
- Master the Google Operands ““ Search Like a God & Save Time by Tina
- 3 Google Tricks When You Don’t Know What to Search For by Ann
- A Quick Guide To Google’s New Search Features by Eyal
Alternative: Yahoo! because it uses a different search engine algorithm and may give less biased results, as discussed in a previous article.
Reverse Image Search
While most general search engines can search for images based on file names or tags, more advanced search engines can read the image and make its content searchable.
TinEye
Why?
- creates an image fingerprint.
- does reverse image search based on the fingerprint.
- reveals where and how images are used.
Alternative: RevIMG, which offers more features, for example selecting an area of the image to be searched. Unfortunately, the database is limited.
Similar Image Search
Similar image search doesn’t recognize exact copies of a given image, but similar features, such as color, texture, or structures within the image.
GazoPa
Why?
- extracts general image characteristics, such as color and shape.
- searches similar images based on their general characteristics.
- works with uploaded images and image URLs.
Alternative: Google Similar Images, although it only works with images that have already been indexed.
Further reading:
- 10 Tips to Have Fun Using Advanced Google Search for Images by Saikat
- 3 Fascinating Search Engines That Search For Faces by Tina
- Top 5 Black & White Image Search Engines by Ann
Invisible Search
Information that is stored in databases is largely invisible to standard search engines because they merely index the contents of websites, following one link after the next. Invisible search engines specialize in hidden data in the so-called Deep Web.
CompletePlanet
Why?
- access dynamic databases.
- search within data range.
- well-documented help section.
Alternative: Saikat documented 9 more search engines in his article 10 Search Engines to Explore the Invisible Web.
Semantic Search
Semantic search is concerned with the exact meaning of a search term, its definition and the search context. Search engines based on semantic search algorithms are thus better at eliminating irrelevant results.
Why?
- choose intended meaning for ambiguous terms.
- save a myriad of personal settings.
- search other search engines from DuckDuckGo using its !bang feature.
Further reading:
Alternative: hakia because it offers a more compact interface and it lists search results by category.
Apart from the ones mentioned above, there are countless specialty search engines out there. We have profiled many more of them on MakeUseOf:
- 13 Alternative Search Engines That Find What Google Can’t by Kabir
- The Top 5 Google Alternatives and Why You Should Use Them by Dean
- 5 Good Image Search Engines Apart From Google Image Search by Saikat
- 4 Awesome Visual Search Engines to Transform Your Search by Mahendra
- 5 Powerful Ways To Google People From Alternative Search Engines by Mahendra
What advanced search engine do you recommend?
Image credits: Danard Vincente
MakeUseOf Recommends
More articles about:
Hide 28 Comments
Great list! What about vertical search engines? They can (potentially) understand context-specific queries that horizontal engines cannot.
For example, at Jinni http://www.jinni.com we’ve developed a semantic search engine for movies and shows that gives results for entertainment-specific queries like “funny and thought-provoking” or “witty criminal heroes.”
Thanks for the suggestion Pheobe.
Great list! What about vertical search engines? They can (potentially) understand context-specific queries that horizontal engines cannot.
For example, at Jinni http://www.jinni.com we’ve developed a semantic search engine for movies and shows that gives results for entertainment-specific queries like “funny and thought-provoking” or “witty criminal heroes.”
Really, no mention of Bing? I think you are a bit biased. Bing has quickly become the most full featured engine on the market. All you have to do is watch Google copying their ideas, something that cannot be said in a typical Microsoft scenario. Kudos to the Bing team, whoever you are.
Someone doesn’t mention your favorite search engine and that makes them biased??
No not at all the title isn’t “Our Favorite Search Engines” it’s called the “Most Advanced”…Google makes the list but Bing doesn’t? That’s bias, plain and simple.
That would be because Bing isn’t very advanced. It’s just the old MSN search rebranded, with one or two extra features.
You mean copying their ideas like.. Bing Maps?
“find and filter out relevant information…” Don’t I want to keep the relevant information and filter out the irrelevant information?
Good point. ;) I guess you can (mis)understand this any way you want.
After using TinEye for over a year .. I got rid of it.
(It was on my toolbar)
I can’t say ‘exactly’ how many times I used it but it had to be over a thousand .. Not One Hit .. Ever!
Just a waste of toolbar space.
MC
After using TinEye for over a year .. I got rid of it.
(It was on my toolbar)
I can’t say ‘exactly’ how many times I used it but it had to be over a thousand .. Not One Hit .. Ever!
Just a waste of toolbar space.
MC
No Wolfram Alpha? It was the most impressive thing I’d seen on the web in years. Never understood why it isn’t more well known. http://www.wolframalpha.com
Is it a search engine? It’s more of a calculator processing information beyond numbers. It’s unique and very useful, but I would categorize it as “smart and interactive dictionary”, since it draws its knowledge from the web.
Or True Knowledge (http://www.trueknowledge.com)? Both are great for finding the exact answers to factual questions. True Knowledge also has a brilliant FF add-on which adds the answer above your search engine’s results.
No Wolfram Alpha? It was the most impressive thing I’d seen on the web in years. Never understood why it isn’t more well known. http://www.wolframalpha.com
except google all are new to me thanks…..
The list is good but your intro is rather misleading. Search engines are portals to information, not actual sources of information. As such, they can’t be considered encyclopedias. Then you say advanced search engines enable you to “filter out” relevant information. What they really do is the opposite. They let you filter out *irrelevant* information, so that getting to relevant info is easier.
Gazopa looks AMAZING!
Always interesting to see what gets picked as the best. This list does have variety, but “most advanced” is a stretch given the variety of search engines and technologies available today. Advanced in what way?
Duck Duck Go is certainly worth trying – it can help in identifying concepts in a query and major resources.
Another in the semantic category is Kngine.com – good for concept analysis.
Complete Planet? No. This was an interesting idea and somewhat useful tool several years ago for identifying databases that might have information on a topic. But look at the dates when databases were last harvested – 2004 and earlier – and many links are dead.
A much better set of engines for searching deeply is provided by Deep Web Technologies – http://www.deepwebtech.com/ .
Always interesting to see what gets picked as the best. This list does have variety, but “most advanced” is a stretch given the variety of search engines and technologies available today. Advanced in what way?
Duck Duck Go is certainly worth trying – it can help in identifying concepts in a query and major resources.
Another in the semantic category is Kngine.com – good for concept analysis.
Complete Planet? No. This was an interesting idea and somewhat useful tool several years ago for identifying databases that might have information on a topic. But look at the dates when databases were last harvested – 2004 and earlier – and many links are dead.
A much better set of engines for searching deeply is provided by Deep Web Technologies – http://www.deepwebtech.com/ .
Or True Knowledge (http://www.trueknowledge.com)? Both are great for finding the exact answers to factual questions. True Knowledge also has a brilliant FF add-on which adds the answer above your search engine’s results.
Neither the current article nor the other one listing 10 invisible web search engines includes PIPL, an excellent people search engine. When I recently put pipl to test, I was stunned by the results. Please see http://bit.ly/8XfIiJ for details. To paraphrase Capt. Kirk of Star Trek, pipl boldly went where no other search engine has gone before.
Neither the current article nor the other one listing 10 invisible web search engines includes PIPL, an excellent people search engine. When I recently put pipl to test, I was stunned by the results. Please see http://bit.ly/8XfIiJ for details. To paraphrase Capt. Kirk of Star Trek, pipl boldly went where no other search engine has gone before.
We have covered Pipl several times in the past:
-
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5…
-
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/f…
- http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/c…
Aibek
Thanks for the neat article, didn’t know about TinEye’s reverse image search. Useful stuff :)
Great list! Although I’m wondering why you don’t have any realtime search engines listed. If you decide to do another list you should take a look at Buzzdock. I use it with Google and I think is pretty good.
We have covered Pipl several times in the past:
-
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-powerful-ways-to-google-people-from-alternative-search-engines/
-
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/find-a-lost-love-or-be-a-part-time-detective-with-pipl/
- http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cool-identity-search-tools-for-social-web/
Aibek