With all the searches being performed every day and the fact that we now use search engines for everything I thought to myself, what do the search engines recommend when searching for a search engine.  Google’s search term “Extraction” tool says that the term “search engine” gets an average of 2,240,000 searches per month.  Here are the results:

Google says Altavista is #1.  It’s been a while since I’ve thought about Altavista but if Google says they are the top for search engine then who am I to get in the way?:

Google Search Results for the term "Search Engine"

Yahoo says they are the top search engine but even Yahoo acknowledges Google is right there.  Again, dogpile and Altavista must have something I didn’t know about because the two top search engines (in my humble opinion) have both now pointed me to Altavista for a good search engine.  Another thing I love is the Also Try section….nothing but Google:

Yahoo search results for the term "search engine"

Next let’s look at MSN’s Live.com.  Again, dogpile and Altavista at the top and Live.com doesn’t even crack the top 5.  Even Microsoft acknowledges the fact that others know search better than themselves:

Live's search results for the term search engine

Lastly, Ask.com sure gives themselves a ton of credit for being a search engine but look at number 2 Altavista.:

Ask search results for the term search engine

So the conclusions I’ve drawn from this exercise are simple. #1 -  I don’t give Altavista near enough credit as a search engine and I should change that. #2 – I should never ask a search engine for a search engine or I’ll be led astray.  #3 – Live.com really is bad.

Happy Holidays!