More Recursive Searches

I got to thinking about yesterday’s post and decided I probably gave Google short shrift regarding its placement of its competitors in the results for a search on “search.” After all, if someone comes to your search engine and searches for “search,” chances are pretty good that your service isn’t really the one they’re looking for, so it makes sense to present them with the top competitive alternatives. That’s not condescending; that’s trying to anticipate what your customers want, and give it to them.

So, how do Google’s competitors do in this regard. Bing does pretty well, actually, putting Yahoo and Google in the top three. Yahoo isn’t quite as egalitarian, placing itself at #2.  Google comes in third, but Bing doesn’t show up until the ninth spot. A little professional jealousy, perhaps?

Now, since both of these services listed Metasearch in first place, does Metasearch reciprocate?

Yeah, pretty much, although I assume that Google’s top spot is a paid listing (note the subtle indentation and not-so-subtle marketing pitch).

I could go on and on (there are hundreds of search engines) but at this point, I’ve pretty much forgotten my original point.