What would it take for you to switch from Google to another search engine? Unlike switching from Windows to OSX (or vice versa), switching search engines takes little effort. You don’t have purchase or learn new programs. You don’t have to reinstall anything. Ditching Google would be very easy. If someone could add a few of these features to their search engine I’d probably switch.
Thumbnails – I’d like to be able to mouse over a search result and see a thumbnail of the page before I click on it. Something like Tab Preview for Firefox but within the page.
More details – I’d like to option to have fewer but more detailed results returned.
Better Organization – Would be nice if someone could categorize the search results in a manner that makes sense. For example, I search for ‘Logitech Z-5000” and the results page is organized by say, retailers offering the speakers, blogger comments, and website reviews.
Learns my search habits – This would be the search holy grail for me. I’d love a search engine that made me a better user of its engine. One that could suggest different options for getting better results. One that would recognize my spelling mistakes and still find what I’m after.
So far, I don’t like the idea of mixing internet search with local drive search like Google Desktop and MSN Search Toolbar seem to think we all want. I’ve tried both and I didn’t like the amount of CPU cycles they consumed. Maybe future versions will be less intrusive.
For now I’ll stick with Google although I’d quickly switch it something better came along.
Nordquist Blog 
Brett – We have an event called “Search Champs” which is for people who are especially skilled at doing searches – can you believe that this is now considered a skill?
I can see it on my resume now “Proficient at using both Yahoo and Google to search for things on the internet”
🙂
TC
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