Search Engine Strengths

In the early days of the Internet, when the average household was first navigating the World Wide Web via dial-up modem, Yahoo emerged as one of the premier search engines, popular for its ease of use, free email service, and seemingly lightning-quick responses. As the Internet grew and evolved, Google emerged as the giant on the search engine playing field. While Google has won over most Internet users in popularity, both search engines have strengths and weaknesses worth investigating.

About Google & Yahoo

  • The Official Google Blog What better place to find information about Google than straight from the horse's mouth? This is their official blog, where you can find history, technical information, and the latest press releases from the ever-changing search engine giant.
  • Google Corporate Site For a more technical look at the Google corporation, check out the corporate home page. This site lacks all the bells and whistles of the company blog, and has exponentially more information. If you're interested in working for Google, investigating their policies, or for their company timeline, stop here first.
  • Search Engine History is a website dedicated to exploring the history of search engines and their role in the development of the Internet we know today. Here you can find the history of Google, Yahoo, and many more. This website is highly reliable, a list of universities and publications that rely on its information can be found on their home page.
  • The History of Yahoo comes directly from the corporate website's media relations page. This site is the end-all, be-all for questions about where Yahoo came from, where it's going, and what its plans are for the future.
  • Top 5 Myths about Yahoo explores the latest news and rumors surrounding both Yahoo and Google, and provides great information debunking all of them. This site is well researched and has tons of links to sites with further information.
  • Yahoo Company Info Want to know everything there is no know about Yahoo, including employment opportunities, stock exhange info, and the company motto? This is the official site of the search engine coroporation, and your portal to more information about Yahoo.

Strengths

  • Google's Still Got It This article appeared in Business Week, an established, reliable news source. It details Google's rise to power and business practices that help it dominate a market that is so subject to change. This article is highly informative, although highly technical.
  • Google Analytics is the company's website dedicated to helping people develop their own Web pages using Google services, and how to optimize these sites for great search engine results. This site gives the average reader a lot of insight into how the search engine works, and how to use it themselves to find that nugget of information they've been searching for.
  • The Anatomy of a Search Engine is a class webpage from Stanford University. It details the history of Google, and outlines, step-by-step, how this computer program can sort through the boundless information on the Internet. Take this information in slowly; it can be a bit overwhelming for the beginner.
  • Yahoo Developer Network Yahoo itself has dedicated a large branch of its website to educating and informing computer programmers how their search engine works. This site is a great place to look for information on the nuts and bolts of how this search engine combs the Web.
  • Yahoo Search Draws Younger Crowd Analysis by Hitwise, a blog dedicated to crunching the numbers for search engine statistics, discovered both an age and income gap between those who use Yahoo, and those who use Google. While these graphs may not take into account many variables, it is still an interesting look at how some strengths can appear to be weaknesses to different user groups.

Weaknesses

  • Top Five Google Weaknesses is an article from Google Watch, a website run by Clint Boulton. It takes on every topic that touches Google, including this well-researched article. This website aims to be unbiased and present only the truth about Google.
  • The Gap in Google's Defenses comes from the website of Forbes, a highly reliable financial publication. This article details how Google may suffer from unseen competition, as it weakens itself trying to enter too many new markets.
  • 10 Google Weaknesses Microsoft is Obsessed With is an article that appears on CRN, one of the leading technology websites. While this article looks at the Google vs. Microsoft aspects, it still highlights issues that Google will have to deal with, and things that it should just leave alone.
  • Weakness at Yahoo Doesn't Bode Well For Google comes from Wired, a leading technology magazine. This article explores how, as the former leader Yahoo fades into the background, other search engines (namely Google) may suffer as well.
  • Weakness at Yahoo, not Google comes from Forbes, and takes a completely different perspective as the previous article. It is worth reading both these pieces to form a better picture of what it takes for a search engine to become a corporation, and how this new form of business should proceed in the future.
  • Yahoo vs. Google is an analysis of the two companies done by a French economics group. The PDF on the site has a 12-page document that outlines what Google has done right, and what Yahoo has done wrong. The numbers are all available so readers can reach their own conclusions.

Best Application

  • Google Chrome Google is now more than a search engine; it has its own Web browser as well. You may think you're happy using whatever browser came automatically installed on your computer, but give Chrome a shot, and you'll never go back. This browser is extremly intuitive to use and lightning fast.
  • GMail You guessed it, Google also provides free email service. They spent years beta-testing this email client to provide the best possible experience for email users anywhere. A top-of-the-line spam filter, chat options, and almost infinite storage make this the email service for those in the know.
  • Google Search Let's face it, if you're going to search for anything on the Internet, you're going to use Google. Even if you're using Yahoo, you'll still be using Google, since Yahoo now uses some of Google's patented technology. Just go straight to the source - use Google search.
  • Yahoo News The latest headlines take front and center at Yahoo.com, which means that if you want to keep up with trending topics quickly and easily, Yahoo makes a great home page. There are also quick and easy links to many of Yahoo's other services (the Games tab is one of the most popular). Plus its clean design means its one of the fastest-loading pages on the web.
  • Yahoo! Answers Crowdsourcing is a big deal right now, an idea that you can have a crowd write you an article, create a photo portfolio, or even answer your deepest and/or silliest questions. Yahoo Answers is leading the way with this portal. Simply submit a question and soon members of the huge community will provide the answer. There is even an option to provide citations, so you know the information you're using is good.

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