Fed up with Google Search

I have been a huge fan of Google Search since I moved from AltaVista eight years ago—but lately I'm really annoyed with my once-favorite search engine, and I am starting to review some of the 100 alternatives to Google.

Google is a research tool for me. I've learned most of the basic and advanced syntax secrets, and I can find specific answers to most questions in seconds.

It's more non-specific research that's driving me bonkers!

From an advertising perspective, it is in Google's best interest to return as many pages of results as possible for each search. For this reason, Google tries to "get to know you".

It uses cookies to track your search history—to "learn your interests". If you search for something that returns only a small result, it will pull in findings from earlier searches to pad the results. Google believes you won't complain, because it is returning results that you like.

I hate that!

You don't believe me? Try this experiment:

Use the Google image search. Search the phrase "ugly as sin".

Afterwards, search for "Angelina Jolie"

Then search for random phrases, like "The Three Stooges", "Sonny and Cher", "Albert Einstein", "The Civil War", "Daniel Boone", "The Lone Ranger", "The Wizard of Oz", and "The Man with One Red Shoe"—and in between each of these, search again for "Angelina Jolie".

After a dozen or so random queries followed by the "Angelina Jolie" query, search again for the phrase "ugly as sin".

Click through the first nine pages of your results and count how many times you see Angelina Jolie.

I wonder if AltaVista is still around.