The goal of many SEO specialists is to figure out that system to help their clients rank higher for their sites. Of course, Google changes it every so often with updates such as Panda to prevent webmasters from manipulating the search results.  A better option might be to use humans to tell you when a website provides valuable information on a specific topic.

The Power of People

That is exactly what Scour.com aims to do with their search engine.  While they will still use the results from Google, Bing, and Yahoo, “The Big Three”; they are going to temper that with comments and rankings from people that use their search engine.  This way, when a website gets several votes up, Scour will know it’s a great site for a particular search. 

The Problem with Algorithms

The main issue with algorithms that search engines use is that after a certain amount of time people figure them out.  They watch the results and see what top listings have in common and then use that to drive their own websites higher in the searches.  Now, this is an oversimplified definition of how it works, but the point is that people work hard to learn how to manipulate the results.

This is not always a bad thing if you have a good solid website that is valuable to certain users.  However, there are plenty of websites that are just looking to get ranked higher and are not concerned about providing quality on their website.  While Google has made adjustments over the years with updates to prevent this from happening, website owners still learn how to get past Google. Scour.com ranks things differently.

When you use live people as part of your search engine and listen to their opinions, you get a better result.  They do not have to be taught how to look at a website for relevancy.  Since they are searching for the same results as someone else, they can tell you if the website has anything worthwhile to contribute.  They can look at the images, graphics, and text, unlike a search engine spider crawling the website that can only see text.

Finally, people look past keywords, links, and other tools to see that the core content of the website is valuable to them.  It may not have all of the fancy things that Google, Bing, or Yahoo likes, but it provides key information on a topic.  While you hope Google will recognize the value, you know a person will.

What is Panda?

Google released its first Panda update back in February of 2011 to reduce the rankings of low-quality websites.  As website owners find new ways to outsmart Google, it releases updates to correct those issues.  Unfortunately, some people get hit with the penalties who aren’t trying to manipulate the search engine.  It may be that someone told them how to rank well and they never questioned why.  It could be that theirs is a new site that hasn’t developed authority or created enough content yet.

Whatever the cause, many people dread Google updates.  The question becomes: is there another way?  If businesses and users could find a new search engine to support and rally behind that has a different method of obtaining search results, Google search would lose some of its power.  For instance, Amazon is fast becoming a top search site for products.  YouTube is popular for anyone who wants a video instruction on how to do something.

Scour.com is another small search engine that uses the search results from Google and others and combines it with users’ opinions.  This allows it to get the benefit from Google searches and add in the human element that says whether this site is as good as Google says it is.

With Scour.com, instead of worrying about devastating updates and trying to outsmart the search engines, website owners can focus on how to make their site the best it can be for those who visit.

Yes and No

Google rose to the top of search engines and has firmly planted itself in first place.  It doesn’t seem likely that anyone can knock it off that position, even the other two big engines, Bing and Yahoo.  Everyone strives to learn about Google’s search criteria to rise to the top because they know that is what matters to their business or website.

On the other hand, Google was once that small search engine striving to take away some of the users from the big names at the time, including Alta Vista.  It developed a different style of ranking websites and became the top engine that it is today.  It remains conceivable that someone else could duplicate that success with the right method of search.

Complaints on Google

There are numerous complaints from users and website owners about how Google manages its results.  Millions of dollars are spent trying to figure out how to get Google’s attention so your website can rank in the first few listings.  Entire businesses and careers have been designed around Google and search engine optimization.  While the entire focus is not on Google, when new search engines like Scour.com are coming up, that is where the majority of searches are done so that is the engine you want to impress.

If a search engine could come along and develop a new way of ranking websites that is easier to understand and follow, it could become quite popular.  Scour.com is one such search engine that hopes to do that.  It uses the major search engine results combined with users’ opinions to provide more relevant rankings for websites.  This type of search results could appeal to people who are disenchanted with Google or who want a simpler, more user-friendly search.

New Ways to Search

Statistics show that one-third of people doing searches online for products began with Amazon rather than a traditional search engine.  Amazon searches have grown while Google’s have been static.  This tells you that people may be looking for a new way to search, and they may be open to new search engines.

You can also look at Facebook as a search engine.  More people, including users of Scour.com, search for people and places on there on a regular basis. This could develop into more in the future.  It has a unique position with the one billion users that it has to capture more information and translate it into a search.

What about people who bypass traditional search engines and go for the specialized sites?  For instance, many people visit WebMD to find out about medical conditions.  They see it as a reputable, trusted source so they narrow down their results with the specialized search engine.

The Future of Search

The one thing that we can learn from the internet and technology in general is that the company on top today probably will not always be there.  That means the same for search results.  While Google is the king of that domain, change will come when people get tired of the way things are.  That means there is always room for more competition; the competitors must watch for the right opportunity and be ready to capitalize. Companies like Scour.com know the importance of staying on top when it comes to good SEO practices.

A Monopoly

The Federal Trade Commission investigated Google to determine if there was a monopoly on search.  While it may appear so for many companies that are trying to get noticed online, including Scour.com, various other engines have been created with their own unique approach to searching.  It’s up to them to promote it and users to embrace them and give Google the competition that every business needs to be the best at what they do.

Room for One More

What this means is that with all of the search engines available, there is still room for one more.  Introducing Scour.com! Most people use more than one search tool when they are doing research online.  They may say they only use Google or Bing, but when they think about it, they realize they search YouTube for videos or songs, they look up prices on Amazon, and utilize various other sites for other reasons.

So, how is Scour.com different from other search engines?  The same way they are different from each other.  Scour uses its own method of determining which sites to place at the top of searches.  The difference between this site and many others is that it adds in a human element to select the ranks of websites.

Let the People Vote

Scour.com will take the search rankings from Google, Bing, and Yahoo and then allow users to add comments and vote if the search result is valid.  Does it provide valuable information for what you were searching for?  This is basically what Scour wants to know from people who use its site to search for things.

People who are looking for something on the internet are going to be interested in the same type of information as the last person who used that search.  Scour basically says “this website worked great for the last person with this topic, so you should try it.”  It’s kind of like having a friend give you advice on which website to go to for help.  Except in this case, Scour.com gives you a lot of friends for advice.

Thanks to Scour.com, searches could become more influenced by people in the future.  The way searches work on the website is that people put in a search term and a list comes up that is a combination of the three major search engines: Google, Bing, and Yahoo.  People then have the opportunity to vote on those results either to move them up or down.

Websites have the potential to do well on Scour.com if they provide the information that people want to see.  With this website, it is about more than just using the typical SEO tools to rank well.  It has to appeal to humans; this could mean visually as well as contextually.  Whereas, images and graphics don’t carry weight with the search engines, they can with people.

What this means for people searching for information is that they can rely on other people’s opinions and comments to guide them on which websites to look at and which ones to ignore.  While other search engines try to incorporate users’ information into their results, Scour.com does so in a more direct way.

The goal of Scour.com is to connect users and results to gain more accurate information.  By using the ideal of a social interaction, it is like having a friend tell you about a website that you need to check out, except you have a large group of friends recommending it to you.

Instead of dealing with complex algorithms that most people don’t understand, users can look at what others have said about a site and make their own determination about its value.  This puts searching back into the hands of humans instead of search bots and spiders.

To protect against abuse of the site, Scour.com checks for patterns that appear invalid or spam.  This ensures that the results they do count are from real people so that they are valid and trustworthy.

The goal of Scour.com is for people to get their voices heard on searching instead of relying on computers and automatic results.

A Social Search Engine

Scour.com uses a different approach to searching.  It uses the three top search engines: Google, Yahoo, and Bing to create relevant results.  However, it doesn’t stop there with the rankings.  It allows people to vote on the results and comment on them to move them up or down in the search results for the next time.

You can sign up as a member on the website, scour.com.  When you do a search, you will get results from a combination of choices from the three top search engines.  Once you review those results, you can make comments and vote for a link to move either up or down.  It works similar to social websites, such as mix and digg.

Scour.com Wants Good Responses

While some abuse of the system may occur, Scour.com is looking for intelligent, thoughtful comments about websites that will be helpful to others.  It will not tolerate inappropriate commenting since this is supposed to be a benefit to the other people who read the comments.  Even negative comments about a particular website should be handled in the right way.

The goal of Scour.com is to bridge the gap from those who are performing searches and relevant, helpful search results.  While algorithms and other methods of finding the best results may be used with other search engines, Scour.com believes in human opinion as a part of the process.  This gives people a chance to make their opinion heard so that the next time they look for search results, it will provide better information on their topic.

We are gearing up for the Superbowl weekend and we thought it would be appropriate to go down memory lane and revisit some of the best 2009 Superbowl commercials.

Here are some of our favorites from last year:

Do you have any favorites that we did not post? If so, post links on our comments and share them with our readers.

Enjoy!

Team Scour

We are proud to announce that we have upgraded our local search results on Scour.com. You can now search for local businesses through our NEW “Local ” tab.

Simple Steps:

1. Type in the name or type of business you are looking

2. Type in the location (Zip Code or City, State)

3. Select the results you want.

Give it a try and send us feedback on your experience. We want to know what you have to say.

Send us feedback on the features and the layout of the page. Anything that you want changed/improved?

Enjoy!

-Team Scour

Hey Everyone,

We would like to wish everyone a Happy New year and say “Thank You” for allowing Scour to grow bigger than we could have imagined over the past year. We look forward to new and exciting things for 2010.

Best Wishes,

Team Scour