Alternative Search Engine Blekko Launches

**snakeair** · Share | #1 (**permalink**) 10-31-2010, 06:20 PM

Well, the long and awaited search engine has gone live. This one may have a future and not die off like other "so called new search engines" we see people loosing interest in.

Few months ago i had created a thread about this. Take a look at this thread if you wish to read the replies in it. Click Me

Before you post a response, i'd suggest that you read this blog post then go play around with Blekko or make a comment in this thread.

Alternative Search Engine Blekko Launches to Eliminate Spam in Search

Quote:

Blekko’s alternative search engine — a $24 million venture-backed project that’s been three years in the making — is today launching its public beta. With the official rollout, Blekko is also releasing several new features designed for both mainstream and the site’s super users.

As you may recall, Blekko is designed to eliminate spam search results, allowing users to search just a subset of the web through its proprietary slashtag technology.

The most significant upgrade to Blekko’s search engine is the addition of slashtags that auto-fire for queries that fall into one seven categories: health, colleges, autos, personal finance, lyrics, recipes and hotels. Every time a Blekko user’s query is determined to be in one of these categories, Blekko will automatically append the associated slashtag to the query and limit results to just the subset of URLs that fall under that slashtag.

The auto-fire functionality is designed with...

Continued at: Blekko Goes Live

Please share your opinions on this new search engine and feel free to get into some details. Take a look at there investors that they have currently. http://blekko.com/ws/+/investors

BradCallen · #2 (**permalink**) 10-31-2010, 07:10 PM

Hrm.. I'm a little bit frustrated here. See, I signed up for alerts and beta but didn't know about this. I even wear around a Blekko t-shirt now!

Thanks for sharing. At least SOMEONE let me know

ps. what do you think of their design? Too minimalistic or just right?

**snakeair** · #3 (**permalink**) 10-31-2010, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BradCallen

Hrm.. I'm a little bit frustrated here. See, I signed up for alerts and beta but didn't know about this. I even wear around a Blekko t-shirt now!

Thanks for sharing. At least SOMEONE let me know

ps. what do you think of their design? Too minimalistic or just right?

I signed up for alerts a few months ago and did not get to many emails but i followed them on twitter every now and then. lol

The design is a simple look and feels like i am using google. Only thing is, the results are different.

BradCallen · #4 (**permalink**) 10-31-2010, 07:16 PM

The results are totally different but mine are on top

And looking around I actually think the results are just as accurate as Yahoo/Bing if not better and where I see SERPs being GAMED on Google, they aren't here.

Slashtags friggin' rock too.

The link data looks a bit.. incomplete but I would assume that will only get better. This is REALLY big as Yahoo Site Explorer has become less reliable and its very existence is threatened. Blekko steps up at the perfect time and if they are complete results, lots of people won't have to pay 99$/mo to use OSE. WOW.

* Open Link data (not hidden like Google)
* Links broken down by geographic location
* Excellent crawl stats and host ranking info
* Duplicate content info
* Side by side site comparisons

I didn't realize that they are using ScoutJet web crawler. Looks like Christmas came early

**snakeair** · #5 (**permalink**) 10-31-2010, 09:43 PM

Now that's impressive. What i am wondering is.. do we have to submit our sites to the search engine or put a meta code on our sites? I'm guessing the bot will find our sites in time. I can't speak for everyone but some folks maybe wondering about this.

Anyways, i was just at the SEObook.com blog and Aaron Wall did an interview with Rich Skrenta.

Quote:

Rich Skrenta has been at the core of search longer than I have been in the SEO market. He is famous for launching sites like DMOZ and Topix. His most recent project is a search engine called blekko, and I recently had a chance to chat with him about blekko, the web, and marketing.

Continued at: http://www.seobook.com/interview-rich-skrenta

**snakeair** · #6 (**permalink**) 11-01-2010, 07:05 AM

Danny just did a blog post with some more good information for people to know about this new search engine. Pictures are included of course.

Quote:

The new search engine Blekko just launched, and it’s making SEO-related data that it has found during its crawling and indexing of the web available for all sites. Just what does it include and how useful is it?

Accessing SEO Data

You can access SEO data for any domain or URL by clicking the SEO link below any page in search results. You can click link for a list of external links.

Continued at: http://searchengineland.com/blekkos-...-provide-54479

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Additional stuff: http://searchengineland.com/google-a...ther-day-54499

BradCallen · #7 (**permalink**) 11-01-2010, 09:25 PM

GREAT post at Search Engine Land. Probably the best one so far.

Just curious.. has anyone from Blekko openly stated what their stance will be on paid advertising?

**Cricket** · #8 (**permalink**) 11-01-2010, 10:15 PM

Okay, I am VERY slow to pay attention to new search engines, but this one has my attention. The results are pretty solid, and the extra info seems to be fairly accurate. I love the clean design. Hmmmmm.... Is Google commenting?

**HTMLBasicTutor** · #9 (**permalink**) 11-02-2010, 01:28 AM

I tried a sample page tonight.

The page ranked higher than at Google.

But when I checked out the duplicate content tab the information seemed useless, even incorrect?

robjones · #10 (**permalink**) 11-02-2010, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BradCallen

GREAT post at Search Engine Land. Probably the best one so far.

Just curious.. has anyone from Blekko openly stated what their stance will be on paid advertising?

Not sure on the advertising question, but while researching it for a review I did see mention that they'd be providing some form of advertising, just couldnt find details. Didnt see mention of it on the site, so I kept that point nebulous when I did a review on it at work today. There are pros and cons to the model, but Skrenta has a habit of doing stuff ahead of the curve so I don't bet against him. The concept has merit, it'll be fun to watch and see how it works out.

**Cricket** · #11 (**permalink**) 11-02-2010, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robjones

Not sure on the advertising question, but while researching it for a review I did see mention that they'd be providing some form of advertising, just couldnt find details. Didnt see mention of it on the site, so I kept that point nebulous when I did a review on it at work today. There are pros and cons to the model, but Skrenta has a habit of doing stuff ahead of the curve so I don't bet against him. The concept has merit, it'll be fun to watch and see how it works out.

For those who do not know, that review can be found here:
http://www.botwblog.org/blekko-debuts-new-se/

**snakeair** · #12 (**permalink**) 11-06-2010, 01:25 PM

Rob did a really good review on Blekko.

I was just on the ReadWriteWeb blog and they did a big blog post on Blekko.

Quote:

The author of the web's first worm-virus, teamed with a man who dresses as a medieval warrior and goes to battle on the weekends and a woman who follows World of Warcraft, acupuncture and ballet, have raised $24 million dollars to storm the gates of the Google Castle. They got incredible press coverage when their new search engine, called Blekko, launched this week - but they are probably going to get slaughtered.

In the meantime, they have provided an opportunity for countless other freaks and geeks to use the magical tool they've built to grow our stature wherever we work; to cut through information overload, to shine a bright light on opportunities and to augment our minds with the snap of a finger. Read on for my advice about how to use Blekko and we'll use it well - for as long as it lasts.

Continued at: Use Blekko to Rock at Your Job

Emily Johnson · #13 (**permalink**) 11-15-2010, 04:08 PM

Is Blekko a real competitor or just another fluke?

BradCallen · #14 (**permalink**) 11-18-2010, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emily Johnson

Is Blekko a real competitor or just another fluke?

Time will tell! A lot of people believe Google sits firmly upon their throne and aren't going anywhere.

Of course the success of Blekko is anybody's guess. I think a smaller start ups (like Google was at one point) with innovative minds could potentially do great things & once again break the mold.

robjones · #15 (**permalink**) 11-18-2010, 08:32 PM

In any industry even if an upstart doesnt dethrone a reigning giant they can still have a positive impact on the market by introducing features the giant feels compelled to incorporate or emulate.

Rich Skrenta has 2 major net projects under his belt that immediately leap to mind... both still live... one of which is now almost 12 years old and inspired an entire wave of volunteer driven net projects. Both of those projects were "different" in some way from what was out there. Both were bought out by industry giants that didnt share his entrepreneurial creativity but did have large checkbooks.

Betting that he'll send Google packing would be an extreme longshot, and I cant imagine anyone would take that bet including the founders. This isn't a contest where unseating Google is a threshold requirement to be considered a success. OTOH, the probability that his product will have a measure of success and will impact the market is a pretty good bet.

highseo · #16 (**permalink**) 11-19-2010, 12:41 AM

the most interesting feature i found in Blekko search engine, is seo statistics about each domain. I really liked this feature. Its one of the needs of all webmasters. However beating Google is very very .... difficult.

deutsched · #17 (**permalink**) 11-19-2010, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by highseo

the most interesting feature i found in Blekko search engine, is seo statistics about each domain. I really liked this feature. Its one of the needs of all webmasters. However beating Google is very very .... difficult.

I was just about to post about this very same feature, I've been playing with it for about an hour now

**snakeair** · #18 (**permalink**) 11-23-2010, 10:01 PM

Blekko just partnered up with a Duck. Blekko is here to stay and i do believe that they will not die like the other new search engines that we thought would make it. Take a look at this blog post for the news.

Quote:

When we founded blekko, we decided to find a new playbook to launch and grow our search startup. We deliberately avoided playing into the old hype of being called a "Google killer". We also resolved to work with other search startups, especially ones that shared our conviction to eliminate webspam.

So I'm pleased to announce blekko's first search partnership, with fellow search startup DuckDuckGo. When DuckDuckGo users search on a term which matches one of blekko's seven auto-fired slashtag categories, DuckDuckGo users will see results from blekko. (The seven auto-fired slashtag categories are health, colleges, autos, personal finance, lyrics, recipes and hotels.

As part of this partnership Blekko users will have access to DuckDuckGo’s...

Continued at: http://www.skrenta.com/2010/11/blekk...duckduckg.html

There is a few links at the end of this blog post to read more about this news if you are curious.