Apple

“Anti-Search Engine” FindTheBest Adds Buying Guides, Top 10 Slideshows

Screen Shot 2011 03 24 At 8.45.52 AMThere are a number of ways to describe FindTheBest, the site launched last year by DoubleClick founder Kevin O’Connor. One is “decision engine” another might be “comparison engine,” a third could be “anti-search engine.”

It might be called an “anti-search engine” because, like Blekko’s Rich Skrenta, FindTheBest’s O’Conner believes that search results have become cluttered and filled with spam. O’Conner wanted to provide structured, “apples-to-apples comparisons” of places, institutions and products with total transparency.

The site aggregates and then provides structured comparison data across a growing range of categories, including Arts and Entertainment, Education, Health, Science, Technology (and tech products), Sports, Recreation and others.

FindTheBest has been upgrading its UI and functionality and today is considerably more usable than when it launched. It’s getting better and better.

This morning it introduced “Top 10 slideshows” and “buyers guides.” There’s a “consumer reports”-like angle here except that the content are from a range of third party sources and it’s all free.

Here’s an example of a new buyer’s guide for AT&T smartphones:

Screen Shot 2011 03 24 At 7.49.18 AM

FindTheBest makes the point that these buyers guides are not generic but highly specific (e.g., California Colleges, Ski Resorts in France). Here’s an example of one of the Top 10 slideshows for laptops (which can be embedded):

 

The ultimate ambition of the site is to become “a trusted source for consumers to find reliable information free from hidden marketing schemes.”

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv46GeN3tsA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

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DoubleClick Founder Launches Structured “Decision Engine” FindTheBest.com

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About the author

Greg Sterling
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.