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Perhaps you are a student doing research for a class. Or maybe you are a concerned parent looking into a medical condition. You might be an employer looking for a place to buy supplies. Almost everyone's station in our modern world leads them to one place: the internet. But how do you navigate this vast network of information? For many, the answer to this question is Google. But Google is not the only option for searching the internet. Numerous reliable, alternate search engines that offer a plethora of useful tools exist, each with a unique set of advantages and disadvantages.

First, we must realize that, despite popular credence, Google is not perfect. Google has problems, as does every other search engine. Foundationally, then, we must identify the strengths and weaknesses of each search engine. For Google, great strength and great weakness lie in its popularity.

Because Google is popular it is thoroughly sponsored. In one regard this is a positive quality, for proper funding is available and Google can do what it must. Sponsorship, however, likewise acts as a hindrance to those searching the web. Sponsored results on Google's web search are placed with precision in the most appealing of positions, at the top of the page apart from the main results, diverting the attention of those browsing. While the position of sponsorship may seem unimportant, it expresses a major inadequacy in design by Google. This inadequacy begins at the top of the page, where the sponsors reside, and ends at the bottom of the page, where the list of related search topics is placed, and those only sometimes.

Another problem inherent to popularity is result relevance. Results are not ranked by pertinence, but by popularity. This can make finding accurate information difficult, especially because good information is often found in sources of higher complexity and greater detail. Simplified sources are pleasing to this have-it-now generation. Therefore, less useful but easily digested information tops result lists. Relevance is also deposed when ranking is manipulated, and though rank manipulation does not happen often, it has been a problem in the past and will likely continue to be one in the future.

Google Bombing is the term applied to a type of manipulation created by users of Google links. This manipulation links search terms to a specific site, whether or not that site has any pertinent information. The most famous example of this form of manipulation occurred late in 2003, when the

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