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WebSearch Academy 2016
If not Google, then what?Internet Librarian International, London
17th October 2016
Alternatives to Google – what to look for
Does the search tool automatically look for synonyms and
variations on your terms? Does it drop terms from your
search? Personalisation?
filetype: command or similar to search for document formats
e.g. car ownership UK filetype:xlsx
site: command to limit your search to a specific site or type
of site, for example renewable energy site:www.gov.uk
Limit your search by date
Specialist tools
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MAYBE !
Bing.com – looks a lot like Google
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Bing http://www.bing.com/
Results seem to be more consumer/retail focused
– more ‘shopping’ than research
– results improve as soon as you start using the advanced search
commands
Sometimes more up to date than Google
– updates sites more frequently (but does not seem to like
Blogger)
– adds new sites more quickly
– useful if you are looking for information on a new company or
organisation
BUT some search features and options available only to US
users
– changing location /version of Bing does not always work
– using anonymous proxy does not always work
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Bing
No advanced search screen on Bing - use commands
List at Advanced Operator Reference http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/ff795620.aspx
filetype: site: inbody: intitle:
“...” around phrases
AND, NOT, OR parentheses for relatively complex Boolean searches
(but don’t go mad)
[near:n proximity operator no longer seems to work as described but
still in the list of operators]
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Bing limit by date – UK version
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Bing limit by date – US version
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Bing
Bing images – good alternative to Google
Bing videos – good alternative to Google (includes YouTube in results)
Bing maps – much improved over the last 2-3 years and generally a
good alternative to Google. Some aspects e.g. mapping of lakes, rivers
rather vague.
Availability of different views including Streetside are dependant on
location. Ordnance Survey option for the UK is back
Bing news – much improved
Close links and integration with Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare
Bing Translator (http://www.bing.com/translator) – different results
compared with Google and just as (un)reliable
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Yandex
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Click for advanced
search
Yandex – Search Operators
https://yandex.com/support/search/how-to-search/search-
operators.xml
site: command
mime: but filetype: also works (picks up e.g. .xlsx as well as .xls)
Proximity– & - words appear in the same sentence e.g. penryn & memorial
& garden
– /n – words/phrases appear within a certain distance of each other
e.g. "University of Birmingham" nanotechnology /2 2020
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Millionshort http://millionshort.com
Great for finding specialist articles that Google and Bing
bury beyond reach
Useful for researching new, niche technologies or
information not well optimised for search engines
Can choose how many “top sites” to remove from results
- 100, 1000, 10k, 100k, million
View which sites have been excluded
Specify location
Can use site: and filetype: command
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DuckDuckGo – http://duckduckgo.com/
Does not track, does not personalise, does not share your
personal information
Results come from over 400 resources but Yahoo main source
“We also of course have more traditional links in the search
results, which we primarily source from Yahoo!, and in some
regions and scenarios, Yandex and Bing”
https://duck.co/help/results/sources
Advanced search commands include:filetype: site: [intitle: not convinced this works]
region:cc (e.g. de) to boost a country [not sure about this one]
‘Bang’ (!) short cuts e.g. !w plasmonics to search Wikipedia
for information on plasmonics.
http://help.duckduckgo.com/customer/portal/articles/300304
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UPDATE: Yahoo no longer
listed as primary source.
eTools.ch
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Carrotsearch Circles and Foam Tree
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WolframAlpha
http://www.wolframalpha.com/
Computational knowledge engine, curated data
Click Examples, Random to get an idea of what it covers
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Archives
List of Web archiving initiatives
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Web_archiving_initiatives
Internet Archive Wayback Machine http://www.archive.org/
UK Government Web Archive | The National Archives
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/webarchive/
UK Web Archive https://www.webarchive.org.uk/ukwa/
Digital Education Resource Archive (DERA) http://dera.ioe.ac.uk
Archives hub – http://archives.ac.uk/
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Essential Non-Google Search Tools for Researchers – Top Tips
http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2016/09/19/essential-non-google-
search-tools-for-researchers-top-tips/
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Top Tips from delegates on a recent non-Google workshop
