1. Search Engine comparison
As of January 2014, according to a website statista.com, billion searches were conducted using Google. With Microsoft Sites following behind with just 3.59 billion searches. Most everyone I know uses Google when they are conducting searches online. This project will introduce you to two other search engines that can be used, Blekko and DuckDuckGo, as well as give a comparison of the two engines.
Blekko vs. DuckDuckGo
Cynthia L. Hendrix October 20, 2014

2. Blekko http://blekko.com
Blekko’s mission is to create searches that are high-quality, curated and categorized. Blekko has a social media feel that includes trending topic searches on their homepage
Cynthia L. Hendrix

3. Blekko Searches Search results are: Categorized into sections
Sections depend on search terms used and vary with each
Sections can be expanded to see more search results
An index of “Related Searches” is given to the right of the results
Specific tabs located at top (Web, Videos and Images)
When a search is conducted using Blekko, the results are categorized into sections. You will find a “Top Results” category and a Latest category. The remaining categories depend on the “search terms” used. Such as, when searching for “macbook pro” you will receive a category for shopping, Apple and Tech. If you search for “salsa recipe” you will receive “Top Results” “Recipes” and “Latest”. For each category, you may expand the sections to see the results. To the right, Blekko gives you an index of “Related Searches”.
You will also find three tabs located at the top of the page. These tabs will divide the information further into webpage results, videos, and images.
Cynthia L. Hendrix

4. Privacy with Blekko Without Supplying Login Info
Using an Account Log in
Collects IP addresses
Collects Date/time of log in
Collects data for third-party website referring browser to their site
Search queries saved for four hours
If result is selected, the click tracking data will be collected (not used for marketing purposes)
Collects everything listed to the left including addresses, blekko username, uploaded profile picture and blekko password
May create slashtag filters (make public or keep private)
Facebook info is private by default
Twitter privacy is governed by your personal privacy settings on Twitter
You have two options when using Blekko. You can use Blekko without signing in, or you can create an account which offers more options including the ability to connect through social media and add profile pictures. Here is a comparison of each. ^read slide^
Slashtags: A tool used to filter search results and helps you to search only high quality sites, without spam or content farms. Slashtags contain a list of websites and when you search with a slashtag, you only search those sites.
Visit Blekko’s Privacy Policy online for more information
Cynthia L. Hendrix

5. Blekko Pros and cons Pros Cons Social Media Feel Simple SERP
Information Automatically Categorized
Tabs for Images, Videos
Related Searches
Slashtags to filter results further
Data collected disappears after four hours
Collects IP Addresses
Collects Browser information
Collects Clicks to third-party sites
Here are the pros and cons with using Blekko as a search engine.
Cynthia L. Hendrix

6. DuckDuckGo http://duckduckgo.com
DuckDuckGo is an opensource search engine. The company states that searches are private and no information is collected. The start page is similar to Google, plain and simple design. DuckDuckGo offers add ons, such as a toolbar and browser plugins. Apps are available for iOS and Android
Cynthia L. Hendrix

7. DuckDuckGo Searches Searches not indexed by webcrawlers
Searches look through results from other sources such as Bing, Google, Yahoo and more than 30 more engines
Instant answers (less spam, more privacy)
Uses tags such as:
!yt (youtube)
!w (Wikipedia)
!bi (Bing Images)
!gi (Google Images)
!m (Google Maps)
!n (Google News)
Drop down list of Filetypes/Extentions/Filters
When a search is conducted, the first result details the term. It may be a definition or just a quick fact. Sponsored links are highlighted in yellow. To the right of the SERP the user is given options to search this term on other sites such as Amazon.com, BestBuy, YouTube, Ebay. These sites will change in regards to terms searched. When I search for “salsa recipe” the list to the right includes “food.com”, “foodnetwork.com”, & “chowhound.com”.
Searches are not indexed with the help of webcrawlers. When a search is completed on DuckDuckGo, other searches engines are searched (i.e. Google, Bing, Yahoo, along with 30 other search engines).
DuckDuckGo uses extentions (filters) to aid with searches. For instance, if you wanted to search for YouTube videos about MacBook Pro you would type in this search string “!yt macbook pro”. This will show you only videos located on Youtube. If you want to search for Wikipedia articles use this search string “!w macbook pro”. The result will take you directly to the site you are searching. There are several other filters that can be added along with searching by date, sorting results by categories and sorting alphabetically.

8. Privacy with duckduckgo
In a Nutshell…
Privacy with DuckDuckGo…in a nutshell “DuckDuckGo does not collect or share information.” If you are concerned about privacy, then this search engine is for you. Take a look at their online privacy policy for more specific information.
Visit DuckDuckGo’s Privacy Policy online for more information.

9. duckduckgo Pros and cons
No data tracking (Encrypted)
Simple homepage
Filter extensions available for use
SERP lists additional and authentic sites to search
Toolbar add on
Apps for iOS & Android
Search results not categorized automatically
Here are the pros and cons with using DuckDuckGo as a search engine. ^read slide^
Cynthia L. Hendrix

10. Recommendation
I recommend Blekko because of the simplicity of the SERP. The results page lists pages within categories automatically. With DuckDuckGo, there is an extra step in categorizing the results. I like the social media feel of Blekko and it is very user friendly with great results.
Cynthia L. Hendrix