The New Search Frontier
In a down economy search engines have to keep coming up with ways to stay ahead of the pack. Many of you may be aware of Microsoft Live's new search sweepstakes, where as for every search you perform you get 1 credit and at the end of the promotion you will be able to trade you points in for merchandise. This may seem new to some of you, but it isn't new to the web. There are quite a few search engines with a similar model. With so much competition among new and even existing search engines, search companies are trying to find ways to stand out from each other.
Let me explain the 'search and win' search engine craze currently hitting the net. Search and Win search engines are set up the same exact way almost all searchengines are set up,
with one major difference being that you can instantly win cash and prizes just for using them for your everyday searches. Most Search and Win search engines use the same results as Google, Ask.com and/or Live.com. As with traditional search engines, Search and Win search engines make their money when the person searching clicks on a sponsored link.The best part being that when you refer someone to a Search and Win search engine and they win a prize, you win the same prize. Live.com is the only Search and Win search engine not offering a referral program that gives you any kind of such incentive to refer friends.One of (if not) the very first search engines to come out with the 'search and win' concept was SearchChips.com, which is now under renovations and has been offline for a few years. There is another very popular Search and Win site called Blingo.com, which gave out (in my opinion) the best prizes at the most frequent rate. They offered prizes to random searchers every few minutes, every day. Blingo's search results were the same as Google, so you knew you were getting quality results when you searched. In July 2006, Blingo was purchased by Publishers Clearing House. Since then the prizes have grown larger, including a chance to win $10 million in a yearly sweepstakes, but the chances of winning have dropped quite a bit. They now average one prize and hour. If that weren't bad enough, the search results are horrible. They state that they use Ask.com, Google and Live.com for their search results, but if you use Blingo you'll notice it's almost all sponsored search results that are displayed when you search. Which makes it not worth using them for a serious search engine and just using them to get your daily entry into the $10 million drawing.This isn't to say that there are not other quality 'Search and Win' search engines on the net, there are plenty. SearchAndWinPrizes.com currently offers the most in depth list of 'Search and Win' search engines. Also showing you where the search engines get their search results, how many searches you can perform daily and any other features the search engine offers. Many of the newer Search and Win search engines offer not only offer web search results, but also news and image search options as well.Some other Search and Win search engines offer points per search and/or the chance to win points while searching. These points can be used to enter sweepstakes for cash prizes, usually monthly. These point search engines usually offer a few games that you can bet your points with the chance to win even more points. Point search engines often offer both points and the chance to win products or gift cards instantly per search.With so many new search engines coming out almost daily, plus the bigger search engines fighting each other for visitors these types of search engines should be around for some time to come. It's a tricky game the search engines are playing. They have to be able to balance the sponsored links with quality search results. No ones going to waste their time on a search engine that doesn't give them true search results. For a comprehensive list of quality 'Search and Win' Search Engines visit SearchAndWinPrizes.com - http://www.SearchAndWinPrizes.com
