Mac Poll: What’s Your Favorite Search Engine?

Safari has become the top browser of choice for Mac users so it stands to reason that Google is now the top search engine (built in). Many Mac users like Yahoo’s search results. Others prefer a different #2. What sites are on your search engine list?

Mac user polls are fun. We’re often surprised at the results, as recent polls on the iPod will tell you. Search engines are not iPods or music. Most of us probably use a number of search engines and chances are good that we search multiple times every day.

Without running the poll, I suspect that Google is #1 for both Mac and Windows users. Safari has a Google search built in to the menu bar, so it’s a default choice (though utilities exist to change that). Since nearly two in three visitors to this site use Safari, it’s probably safe to say that Google is #1.

What’s #2? Do you use something different to search on the Internet?

There’s a web site called Search Engine Watch which provides webmasters with hints on how to get better rankings on search engines.

Search Engine Watch also lists their favorite search engines and points out some of the differences. For example, Google and Yahoo are both used as the search engine for other sites. It’s just branded as a different name.

For example, Microsoft used Yahoo for many years, but has now developed their own search engine. It’s in beta relase now but will be released and promoted soon. Click Here to view the Microsoft beta search engine.

I have my favorites, too. Of course, Yahoo and Google top the list, though I’ve also used AskJeeves, HotBot, and SmartSearch (all well thought of by the folks at Search Engine Watch).

There are specialty search engines, too. Too many to list on a poll. So, check out the poll and vote for your #1 and #2 search engines. If your favorite isn’t on the list, share your thoughts and experience by clicking on the Comments link below.

There’s two basic questions to the Search Engine Poll: What’s your favorite search engine, and what’s your favorite #2 search engine. To check out the questions, and click in your response, Click Here.

To see the results on votes by other readers, just Click Here.

update - editor’s note What’s interesting about the poll so far is not that Google is the #1 search engine choice among Mac users. It’s the near absence of a runner up in the #1 choice—Google is hot.

Not surprisingly, Yahoo is the #2 among the Second Choice Search Engine; far lower numbers than expected.

In the future, I’ll expand the poll lists because over 35% of Mac responders listed a non-Top Ranked Search engine as their #2 choice.