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Search Engine Comparison Chart:
Google, Bing, Yahoo (December 30, 2009)

[To Print - click in this frame and select Print from the Browser toolbar or File menu. ** marks significant changes since March 2009]

Feature Google Bing Yahoo!
Address www.google.com bing.com search.yahoo.com
Size Largest - 1 trillion? ?? Second largest
File Types web, pdf, msoffice, mac, corel, swf, rss, xml, kml, kmz web, ppt, xls, doc, pdf web, ppt, xls, doc, pdf, xml, rss, rdf, swf
Levels Simple and Advanced (form) Simple and Advanced (form) Simple and Advanced (form)
Basic Syntax + to require common word or number, and to stop auto stemming
- to exclude, "phrase"
+ to require common words or stop auto stemming
- to exclude, "phrase"
- to exclude, "phrase"
Boolean OR upper case, single words - eg labour OR labor Simple: AND, OR, NOT in caps. Nesting ( )
OR in uppercase.
Proximity Can use * at end or beginning of a sequence of words to require those words to be near each other. Also use * as a wildcard in a phrase -- "three * ducks" or somewhere in query. No Can use * as a wildcard in a phrase -- "three * ducks" (Not as good as at Google)
Truncation/ stemming Automatically stems some words and looks for word variants. Turn off with +
Can use ~ to pick up some variants and synonyms. ~invest for investment, investing, investor.
Will pick up related terms - this might include singular / plural forms. Turn off with +. Automatic singular, plural and some variants. Turn off with +
Restrict by date Advanced Search: Date first indexed - 24 hours, week, last month, 2 months, 3, 6, last year

Show Options: Latest, past 24 hrs, past week, past year, date range. **
No Advanced Search: Pages updated - 3 months, 6 months, year
Field Search Advanced: Filters for Title, Format, URL, Domain and Site Advanced:   Specify site/domain, country/region, language. Advanced Form:
words in title or url.
site/domain, file format, country, language
Domain site:utoronto.ca forestry- pages in the utoronto.ca domain that mention forestry
site:au health - pages about health with Australian country code. Use site: with search terms.
site:utoronto.ca - find pages at utoronto.ca
loc:au- find pages in Australia (any top-level domain for Australia)
site:au- find pages with Australian country code
Site Explorer --
site:utoronto.ca - find pages at utoronto.ca. Can also use domain:utoronto.ca
Title or Text allintitle:solar heat - all words in title
intitle:solar heat - solar in title, heat anywhere
intitle:"solar heat" - phrase in the title.

intext:milton poetry
words in text.
intitle:"solar power" basics looks for "solar power" in title and basics anywhere. intitle:"solar energy"
URL allinurl:milton poetry pages with both words in url
inurl:milton poetry milton in url, poetry anywhere
No - but can use url: to check if site has been indexed by bing. Eg url:www.websearchguide.ca inurl:archives
Feature   contains:wma finds pages with Windows Media audio files. feature: finds pages with links to other filetypes: eg, acrobat, audio, flash, image, script, shockwave, video, vrml.
Filetype filetype:pdf search only pdf files. Also doc, ps. ppt, xls, rtf, swf, xml, rss. filetype:pdf - also doc, rtf, xls, ppt originurlextension:pdf
Also xls, ppt, doc, tixt, xml, rft, rss.
Links to Page link:www.utoronto.ca - pages that point to a URL
info:www.websearchguide.ca
brings up information about the site. 
inanchor:magic pages that have magic in the link text.
No


link:http://
www.websearch
guide.ca

Pages that link to a particular url. Can combine with other terms. Must have http://
linkdomain: websearch
guide.ca tutorial
pages that link to domain and mention tutorial
* Uses Yahoo SiteExplorer.
Grouped By Web Site More results from No More from this site. Set Preferences to get this display.
Major sites listed in left panel. **
Cached Page Yes - with date Yes - with date Yes - no date
Search w/in Yes - bottom of page Yes - In Advanced Search No
Topical Grouping Sometimes shows "searches related to" at top or bottom of page. Also Show Options - Wonder Wheel ** Categories and Web Groups - depends on query - different for health, travel, shopping. **

Related searches (shows on 1 or 2 word queries)
Search Assist related searches and concepts.
Real Time ** Twitter feed embedded in web search results in scrolling box. (Appears rarely) Also News block.

Show Options: Latest
Bing Twitter - separate search - only for US. Latest News in search results: tabs for news, photos, video, and sometimes Twitter.
Search Aids Spelling correction automatic.

Search suggestions as you type.

Show Options: Timeline - view of topic over time. **
Show Options: Various views of pages. **

Define - definitions from web.
Number range - 2000..2004

Recognizes addresses - map search.

More listed under Web Search Features
Spelling correction automatic.

Search suggestions as you type.

Shortcuts for definitions, conversions, financial quotes, calculations, weather.







Spelling correction automatic.
Shortcuts - dictionary, encyclopedia, travel, weather.
Create an open shortcut.

Search Assist
gives suggestions as you type . Also shows concepts prevalent in the results.

SearchScan - McAfee alerts for malicious sites.


Translate Yes. Also Google Translate

Show Options: Translated Search **
Yes. Also Microsoft Translator Yes. Also Babelfish
Personal Search Tools Google SearchWiki for search history, bookmarks, notes

Google Custom Search - make your own search engine
Search History - for browser session. **

Save & Share - to save history on computer. Use Windows Live for online storage. **
Customize - add enhancements for display of search results **

Search Pad - save and share links, pages, notes. Requires online account.**
Verticals & Tools Search Alerts
Image Search select images that contain any content, news, or faces.
Video Search TV, educational, personal plus YouTube.
News Search (25,000 sources) and News Alerts
BlogSearch
Google Groups - search public discussion

Local search - products and services near an address or by zip/postal code. US and Canada. Also Google Maps for locating places.

Scholar - journals and scholarly sites
Book Search - snippets, table of contents, and some full text. Large collection.

News Archive - 200 years

Google Trends - view interest in a topic through search volumes, occurence in news, and geographic location.

More through Google Labs and Other Google Services
Images - show similar images

Video - filters

Local and Maps
- bird's eye view on maps for US, UK and Canada. Some street views for some US cities.  **




Preferences - lists settings for search features and display

Images
Video - Yahoo Video and others including YouTube.
New Music
Local and Maps (Canada weak)

News - 7,000 sources

Yahoo Answers - QnA - mixed quality.

Subscriptions - access for for-fee databases.


All Yahoo Services

Yahoo Tools for Searchers
Toolbar Google Toolbar and Desktop Search Windows Live Toolbar Yahoo Companion
Subject Directory Open Directory Project Ranked None Yahoo Directory
Sponsored Links Google AdWords Yahoo Marketing and MSN Ad Center Yahoo Marketing

Where to Next?

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