Phil Bradley's weblog

SimilarSiteCheck

There are a small number of search engines that allow you to find alternative and similar webpages and SimilarSiteCheck is the latest one. I've taken a look at it, and have to say that I found it really rather frustrating. The concept is simple - pop in a URL of a site that you're interested in, and it will find similar sites for you, based upon its interrogation of the site that it's been given.

On the plus side, it did come up with some interesting sites when I ran a search for Google UK, and I found some interesting sites that related to my football club, but it was less helpful when I tried the CILIP website (no alternatives), the BBC (again, no alternatives) and it took forever to undertake a live analysis of the UK ebay site. A search for my own domain led to it suggesting lots of sites for me that were produced by other people with the same surname, which didn't impress.

I was also very disappointed in the display of results. They're using one of those really annoying social media menu bars on the left hand side of the page that totally obscures what you're trying to look at:

Seriously - how is it possible to be less helpful? Well actually I can tell you - the links to the alternative sites are not live. That is to say, if I want to visit any of them, I have to cut and paste the URL myself. What's irritating is that they can do it - the original site that you put in as your search term has a call out box - but I already know what is on that site - it's the alternatives that I need!

To be fair, there is a bookmarklet that you can add to your browser, but that's not much help when the results are middling to poor to non-existent. It's worth keeping an eye on it, because it can only improve, but until then, I think you'll need to visit SimilarPages, SimilarSiteSearch, or possibly  Siteslike. 

Websites Like

I always like to find interesting new search engines and  www.websiteslike.org falls into that category. Just type in the URL of a site that you like, and it will find other similar sites for you. There are a few of these products out there now and my favourite remains SimilarPages because of the nifty little app you can get. There's also SitesLike as well. Or, if you prefer Big G, try related: although they've hidden this function now because, well, they don't want to help people find stuff do they.

Anyhow, back to this one. It claims to have listed over 1,000,000 sites and I tried it with a couple that I know and I was happy with the results that it returned. Give it a go next time you're stuck

SimilarPages

via www2.similarpages.com

I've long been a fan of the SimilarPages browser addon, which allows me to right click on any site and the resource will give me a list of similar sites. It's great when I need alternatives or I get stuck, or just for when I want a bit of variety. I got an email from Pietro Borradori, the CEO who told me that they've now produced their own SimilarPages search engine. I've played around with it, and it's fun. Simply type in a URL of a site that you know, and the engine will find other related sites for you to look at. I tried my own site (obviously!) and I recognised a good 70% of the results that were returned to me, and most of the others look worth exploring. It's not 100% accurate, but nothing ever is. You can also word search and see some results, click on a link and see a second column of results, as well as a preview of the site you were interested in.

Very simple and straightforward, but really useful. If you try it and like it, I'd strongly suggest adding the browser button, which works across most browsers and it is tremendously helpful.

However, if you like the concept, but don't like the engine, try SimilarSiteSearch, or Whoislikeit, or use the Google related: functionality to achieve the same type of effect.

Alternative.to

Power of Choice - alternative search engine Well, the idea of this is quite simple. Search for something and this will give you alternatives. Consequently it's fine for concrete concepts like iphones and such like, less so for less clear cut things. I tried a search for CILIP which was amusing - the left hand side gives search results, and these included AACR2 and The Borrowers. There wasn't an alternative  given, but it's possible to add in your own.

The problem with all of these resources however is 'why bother?' quickly followed up by 'what's in it for me?' This engine has tried to overcome this by offering various prizes for people who contribute the most. As a searcher however, I'd have to wonder about the accuracy of the alternatives given.

There are still plenty of similar search engines out there, and I've listed a few of them in my collection of search engines at http://www.philb.com/sitebasedinfo.htm#similar

SimilarPages

I'm not usually a great fan of browser add on tools, since you're limited not only by the browser itself, but also the machine that you're using. However, I do use a few of them, but they have to be really top notch. I was introduced to SimilarPages today, and as it required installing onto Firefox (and doesn't yet work on any other browser, though an IE version is in the works) I wasn't overly keen on it. However, I had time available, so thought I'd give it a go.

The concept of SimilarPages is pretty obvious - the clue is in the name. It's a tool that finds pages that are similar to the one that you're looking at. There are plenty of ways of getting data like this - Google has several, including the Related: function, and there's a very nice search engine that I've written about before called Web Insuggest - if you haven't tried it I would most certainly recommend it. The disadvantage of both approaches however is that it's necessary to go to the page/resource to find others. SimilarPages works rather differently, and this is where the download and integration into the browser is important. There are three ways that you can find similar pages:

Simply click on the icon and get a sidemenu display. You get a lot of alternatives, and I was very impressed with the choice for my CILIP example; you get given up to 300 options. I recognised a lot of the sites (and would have listed them myself as related sites if asked) but many I didn't, and a disadvantage is that I'd need to click on the link to go and have a look. A mouseover of more than the URL (which I can already see) would help. The menu bar stays open when you go from tab to tab, and it's lightening fast however - very impressive.

Alternatively you can right click on a page and get an inscreen menu option:

Finally you can run a search (unfortunately only in Google) and click on the icon to see related sites:

(The icon is the tri-colour pawnbroker symbol in case you're wondering.)

Overall, I like the service. It integrates very nicely into the browser, it appears to be very accurate and it's quick. I'd like a clearer indication of where the links go however, as discovery by click isn't ideal. I think it's worth trying, if you use Firefox and one computer.

SimilarSiteSearch finds similar sites

I really like search engines that find sites based on information that you already have, so I'm very pleased to see SimilarSiteSearch which does exactly that. Simply type in a URL of a site that you want to find 'more of' as it were, and it'll pull up suggestions for you. I tried my site and it gave me other sites that were about Web 2.0, librarianship, internet search and so on. Very nice indeed.

SitesLike - Find and Share Similar Websites

SitesLike is a free service that allows you to find, tag, rate and share websites that are similar to each other. The websites listed on SitesLike are constantly monitored so the content is always fresh and up to date. Still in it's infancy - several sites that I tried didn't come up with any results, so it's already lagging behind the competition.

Yes, I get that it's all social and everything, with personal input blah blah, but how many of us have much time to actively do this?

OK. Just tried a link. Saw a site listed called 'youporn.com' (yeah, we all know it) and clicked on the link. Immediately got explicit pornography on the screen. Totally unnecessary. I'm not touching this one any further.

Similar-site find similar sites

similar-site. is one of the new class of search engines that will find sites similar to one that you already know. Just type in an appropriate URL and it will go off and find new sites for you to view. This one provides a percentage figure of confidence. I played around with a few urls - my site, my weblog, BBC site, CILIP and so on. I was fairly impressed with the results that I got, and didn't find any howling errors - on the contrary I was getting really good stuff.

The interface is very basic and may well be offputting to some, but if it's quick results that you're after, this engine will do very well indeed.

[Edited to add: If you want more engines of this type, I've got a list (Let's face it, when it comes to search engines, I've always got a list!) of several at: http://www.philb.com/sitebasedinfo.htm#similar)