Who are those top ten (10)?

What defines top ten (10)? Quantity or Quality. I asked the same thing about WebmasterWorld posts, but this is a different question all together.

IMHO I think it's face-time, meaning number of impressions or quantity. So then whose numbers do you trust? The SE's or someone like Alexa?

As of a few minutes ago according to Alexa (If you trust them) its:
1. Yahoo
2. Google
3. MySpace
4. YouTube
5. Facebook
6. MSN
7. Ebay
8. Windows Live
9. Wikipedia
10. Craigslist

But wait, over half of these are wholly or partially social networks with search built in. So do we need to reclassify what a search engine is? Or do we say that we have Global Search, then more specific types of searches which would apply to socializing, selling, buying, etc.?

[edited by: Propools at 5:28 pm (utc) on Sep. 18, 2007]

There's quality and there's quantity. Everybody and everything seems to be going for quantity and scalability. That is the measure of being a top dog today. I'm perhaps just odd, but I prefer living tomorrow too.

Anyways, in order to make a top list of anything you'll basically have to do the following: Make an assessment of the perceived quality your resources and sources bring you on any topic and make a list of them and you'll have what nobody else have: An Advantage.

Now, in my totally personal, secure and private list, neither google, yahoo or msn has any rank anywhere, there's far better options out there than any of those mentioned in this thread so far, but i'll reveal a few:

A) The Physical Library.
- Arranged, ordered, sorted and easy to find and structure.

B) The Virtual Library
- Arranged, ordered, evaluated, checked, confirmed and cool.

Now, make your own top list of who and what provides what you're looking for at any given time and see where it takes you,

Sincerely and have fun,

There are also the geographical variations to consider - in much of Europe the words "search" and "Google" are virtually synonymous, Yahoo is apparently market leader in Japan, and Baidu may well have the largest number of actual users given the population of China.

I have never met anyone who admits to using MSN/Live, though it occasionally appears in my logs.

What about this thread [webmasterworld.com ]? Even though it got moved to "Alternative Search", it may be that what was once thought of as an alternative becomes mainstream.

I seem to recall a once rather small, ambitious search engine which was probably considered by some as "Alternative" because of its simplicity in serving results but now, it's not just mainstream but a model for search as well.

IMHO, it may very well be a paradigm shift in how search works. But I'm not a Search Engine, so I can't really say. But it seems probable, no?

Even though it got moved to "Alternative Search", it may be that what was once thought of as an alternative becomes mainstream.

Ah, I was actually responsible for suggesting it be moved from Foo. Glad to see it ended up somewhere a little more appropriate and where it would get the focused attention it deserves.

I registered for Powerset and am looking forward to beta testing their interface. Seems exciting.

So, are we going to be able to come up with a top ten search engine list? Which metrics do we use? Why of course our own. I think we can safely assume that its...

1. Google
2. Yahoo!
3. AOL
4. MSN
5. Live

But who comes after that? Is it...

6. Ask
7. Netscape
8. AltaVista
9.?
10.?

Yes, I'm aware that some of the names are powered by others. This is about search, doesn't matter who is powering who but which search interface is being used.

I know in looking at statistics for 10+ sites that AOL is ranked above MSN and Live. We don't hear much about AOL around here, how come? ;) That's because AOL Search is Enhanced by Google, no need to discuss AOL. Actually there is, and hopefully this topic will progress to the point where we can at least define the top 5-7 players.

I also understand that this is going to be country specific. I don't have a problem with that. Most of us are from countries where the top 1-3 are going to be somewhat similar I think. We can always carry the country specific search engines topics to their respective forums.

So, let's focus on the United States for now. Who are the top ten search engines in the US? Please, look at your statistics. I'd view the last 90 days to give you a pretty good snapshot of who is doing what. How does your list compare to my list above?

Who are the top ten search engines in the US? Please, look at your statistics. I'd view the last 90 days to give you a pretty good snapshot of who is doing what.

I don't know that I would necessarily use my logs for that as this would show only the top SE's that a site is well indexed, optimized, whatever, for. In this regard, I think the top 10 would be skewed to a site's specifics and not to the relevance of the Engine.

I think you're right in saying that we all have our own perspective to the top 10. I wonder if it might be easier rather to inquire about a "group of ten". In no specific order of rank or relevance? Or is that what you're really asking for. ;)