This morning Blekko invited me to beta their new search engine. I was absolutely thrilled when the DM invite appeared in my Twitter inbox. I am an SEO consultant, so for me this was like Christmas morning. I so hoped the excitement would not lessen once I accepted the invitation and unwrapped my new gift.
Unlike Christmas morning, where I savor the unwrapping of presents, I ripped into my Blekko access as fast as I could. I was not only impressed, I really loved the experience. I quickly started making slashtags for some of my favorite things and I started searching topics that I’m intimately familiar with on Google. I wanted to see the difference between results and I wanted to better understand Blekko’s algorithm.
In addition to my SEO work, I’m a WordPress addict so I frequently search Google for WordPress themes and plugins as I build new websites. Sometimes this process is efficient and other times I’m overwhelmed by spammer websites and useless blog entries from people who barely understand the English language. With Blekko my searches produced a different type of result list or SERP for my fellow geeks. I found myself seeing more quality results for both WordPress themes and plugins. Instead of having to filter through useless information, I was presented with some of my favorite developers. My only disappointment was that StudioPress, my favorite team of WordPress developers, was listed at 57 and not at the top. Since Blekko is new, this is obviously an oversight and they will realize the error in their ways. Blekko did list Yoast on page one for WordPress plugins, so this helped me recover from the StudioPress issue, although this SERP did return more “best of” lists than the theme search. Regardless, I was impressed with the introduction and I found myself wanting another date with the search engine.
For years I have been a huge Google fan. I closely follow Matt Cutts, I own Google stock, and I start my day with Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics. My love of Google and my respect for the company is unmatched by any other company or website. But I have to admit, Blekko has stolen a little bit of my Google love. Not only do I find the search engine fresh and creative, I am thrilled with the idea of not seeing four thousand articles and blog entries written by spammers or want-to-be subject gurus.
Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, Cuil, Wolfram|Alpha and all the others could not come close to dating me. They simply could not court me or disrupt of my loving relationship with Google. I was formally introduced to them, but I always returned to my first and only love. Blekko, you might be different. I might have to cheat on Google a little bit and I just may have to have a long-term affair with you.
If you’re not familiar with Blekko, you can learn more about the new search engine at Blekko’s website, Blekko’s blog, Blekko on Twitter, or Blekko on Facebook.
Blekko is definitely a cool new search engine. The slash tag feature is unique and gives it an edge that people will be interested in. However, I do not think it will ever reach the popularity of Google due to it’s complicated nature. I think Google’s greatest strengths is it’s simplicity; it’s so easy anyone can use it to it’s full potential. Blekko is not like that.
Coming from someone who doesn’t have a lot of time on her hands, having to learn how to use a search engine does not appeal to me when I have Google available. Of course I took the time to learn about Blekko, but I’m in the industry. I don’t think the average person will want to do that.
I’ve done some research and I think the best new search engine is Bweezy. Similar name, but very different from Blekko. Bweezy offers Google results, which I love. It also lets you open search results in the same window as the search, which eliminates the need to open a ton of tabs! I’d check it out if you’re into new search engines.