searching #75: google and beyond

1) Blindsearch was pretty fun. I did three different searches and ended up picking Google twice and Yahoo once. My first search was for Johnny Weir and the vote went to Google because it included a link to the YouTube video of his skate to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face." (Arbitrary, I know, but I can't help it! I love that song and I adore his feisty skate to it!) My second search was for Wales. I ended up picking Google's results because it brought up a site other than Wikipedia or Answers.com the earliest. My third search for Joe Flanigan turned up an almost identical set of results in each column, so I randomly selected Yahoo.

Oddly enough, I generally prefer Yahoo at home, use Bing at work (through the live search option), and only use Google as a fall back. Despite my Blindsearch results, I will most likely continue this way simply because I dislike Google as a whole.

2) Not surprisingly, Google was the top search engine this week with 70.95% of the hits. Considering that Yahoo trails it with a meager 14.72% of hits, it is clear that Google has taken over the Internet. (Also not surprising, Google tops the list of most visited websites as well.) Clearly, the usage stats do not match my personal choice since I generally use Yahoo.

3) Yahoo has recently introduced a Search Pad function on their results pages. Search Pad allows users to save search results in a list, organize the list anyway they want, write notes on each site bookmarked, and save the list for future use. The lists can be retrieved later so searches don't have to be redone, and can also be sent via email or weblink to anyone you want to share it with. I think this is fantastic. It lets users do a search, save info, and come back to the same sites later on without the hassle of saving tons of bookmarks, leaving tabs open and hoping nothing goes wrong, or scribbling things down.