Finally, the wait is over. Google, Bing, it is time to welcome the new challenger Blekko which promises to add a new “spin” to the search engine stakes. Launched on Oct 31st after being in some time in beta testing, Though not positioned as a Google Killer , Blekko might still have enough surprises up its sleeve to be the next best alternative to the biggies.
Blekko’s differentiator, the slash tags, enable users to to “slash” or create specialty search engines for any topic. Higher adoption by users in the long run will result in more authoritative mini-indexes across a broad range of topics, the more topical it gets, the better the relevance and value. For the real beef on Blekko’s features, head here.
What I liked about Blekko is their transparent approach to their crawl and rank data and their founding principles called the Web Search Bill of Rights as shown below.
- Search shall be open
- Search results shall involve people
- Ranking data shall not be kept secret
- Web data shall be readily available
- There is no one-size-fits-all for search
- Advanced search shall be accessible
- Search engine tools shall be open to all
- Search & community go hand-in-hand
- Spam does not belong in search results
- Privacy of searchers shall not be violated
Easy access to SEO data does make them popular with Internet Marketers. There is an SEO toolbar to view data in real time. Check out a nice overview of what you can do with Blekko’ SEO tools. Interesting stuff this, Rich Skrenta talking to Aaron Wall on all things Blekko.
Only time will tell if the human touch to search results, a la Wikipedia meets Search according to searchinegineland, will gain traction and eventual search share success.