New Google Site Shows How Search Works

Most of you use a major search engine like Bing, Yahoo or Google, everyday. And some of you have never given any thought to where those answers come from, like Google is just some all-knowing genie in the “cloud”. Those of you who are tech savvy know that the search engines use algorithms to answer questions, but how much of the actual process do you understand? If you would like a more indepth look at how Google’s algorithms turn your questions into answers, the company will explain it all to you on it’s new site How Search Works. Google launched the site on Friday to help explain the magnitude of the engines search process to its loyal users. Explaining the process Upon entering the site you are prompted to scroll down through an unfolding, animated presentation that follows the entire path of a search query. Google explains how they search through over 30 trillion pages by crawling, sorting, indexing, using algorithms and writing formulas and programs to deliver its users with the most relevant results. The site also gives you a broader view of algorithms and lists the numerous aspects of the search such as user context, site and page [...]

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Alternatives to Google Search

The majority of internet users frequent one of the three major search engines, Bing, Yahoo, and Google. But do these sites really give you the best available results? Google has many strong suits and numerous benefits for the user. However, it does have some shortcomings, mainly user privacy. If you’ve seen Microsoft’s recent Scroogled ads, and you value your email’s privacy, you might be rethinking your search engine choice. Whether you are concerned about privacy, or desire more tailored results from your search engine, here are some alternative options you may not have heard of. Duck Duck Go This search engine boasts of real privacy and never tracks its customers. This allows them to pop the filter bubble that is used to decipher what a typical search engine “thinks” you want to see, based on the tracking of your searches, likes, comments and even emails. The filter bubble is sometimes helpful in finding the things you like, however in time it can cause your searches to become cluttered with repetitive junk. An interesting feature of Duck Duck Go is their Goodies, which are specialized search queries that contribute instantly to your top results. Wolfram|Alpha This internet searcher deems itself not [...]

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