Without question as of now Google is the king of search engines but with more and more information populating the internet and more and more ways to measure the importance of that information there are more contenders popping up with new ways to search the webs information.
1. Twitter Search
Twitter search allows you to search for the most recent tweets related to the keywords entered into your search. This allows you to see live discussions going on about the topic of your interest.
2. Social Mention
Social mention looks at nearly every type of website there is and gives you a result showing the over all social activity related to your query. Everything from blog posts, bookmarks, tweets, forums, events and more. It then gives the keyword you entered a social score the higher the score the more discussed that topic is throughout the web. The downside to this search engine is since it requires information from a number of outside sources it takes a while to process your results.
3. Kosmix
This search engine takes a much broader approach to its results. Not just showing you a list of links but much more. Depending on your query you may see; maps, videos, Q&A, tweets, related searches, blog posts, images and other related content all on one page. I find this search engine extremely helpful when you want to really do some research. It saves you the time from searching then hitting the back button over and over again.
4. WolframAlpha
The big thing to keep in mind with this brand new search tool is that it considers itself a knowledge engine so don’t expect it to spit back a bunch of web content. Instead this search engine will give you raw information. When typing in your search queries act as if you are talking to a robot that has all the worlds’ information. I recommend referencing the examples page before you start.
All 4 of these search engines offer unique and informative results. Sometimes a Google search just isn’t enough and one of these alternatives may be able to offer you a good second opinion. Happy searching!