Just how many search engines are there in the world?

It has recently been estimated that there are 1,700+ search engines in the world.  We agree with that estimate.


“Even without that, there are already more than 1700 search engines in the marketplace.” -Lexxe News 


But I thought you said you only had 1,000.

We started AltSearchEngines with a Master List of 1,000.  Since then we have found an average of one new one per day for six months, for around 180 more.  Then we began searching for Global search engines every Saturday, and I imagine that has added about 120 more.

Will you ever find them all?

I predict that at our current rate of discovery that we will find - but not necessarily review - most of the 1,700 by our anniversary date, June 1, 2008.

Then what will you do?

Hopefully people will keep inventing new ones, plus the existing ones keep adding new features.

Will one of these 1,700 ever beat Google? 

Some think so, but I don’t.  I believe it will be a group of them.

Why do you list only the Top 100 Alternative Search Engines?

Because we want to highlight the ones that truly deserve your attention.  Besides, are you really going to look at more than 100?  How many readers have even had the time to look at ”only” the Top 100?  And the list changes every month, too!

Why are there only 10 finalists for the Search Engine of the Year award?

Every month for the past ten Top 100 lists, I have seleted, purely on my own, one Search Engine of the Month to feature.  Note:  That does not reflect poorly on the other 99!  Remember, all 100 are the “best in show.”

How will you select the Search Engine of the Year from those ten finalists?

Very carefully!  The popular vote, now around 200, will be one factor, but there will be others - market share, innovation, features, and so on.  It won’t be easy; please keep me in your prayers!

When will you make the announcement?

This Monday, December 3rd, along with the final Top 100 List for 2007.

Does that make the other nine losers? 

If you were one of the top ten search engines in the world (hypothetically), would you feel like a loser?

Where will you be on Monday?

In the federal witness protection program.  No, actually in Chicago at the SES Chicago conference.

What if I have a question that you haven’t covered?

Please leave a comment!

Why does Berkowitz keep voting for Google? Are they a finalist?

No, they’re not.  David does not feel that any of the ‘Alts’ will ever truly succeed.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 11:02 am and is filed under Guest Authors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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