Why use a spoon for every kitchen activity when sometimes a knife or a tongs would work a lot better? Or why use Google for every search?
Research shows most people type just a word or two into a search engine, usually Google. And then they skim through the top few sites and pick one.
You can be a more sophisticated searcher by picking good key words and by using more than Google.
Jason Jedlinski, @JasonJedlinski, VP of Digital Products & Platforms at Tribune Broadcasting, pointed me to this blog listing specialized search engines put together by Aussie Adam Vincenzini, a digital marketer, now working in the UK. He lists specialized engines for:
- blogs
- audio and video
- images
- music
- flights
- and more.
Check them out here. I noted that since his post last month, some of the sites have been shuttered, so don’t bother with BlogPulse, FileDigg or Podscope. Pipl seems to have changed in recent months and contains very little usable free information, so I don’t recommend it. But there’s still many here to bookmark for quick searching on various topics.