Search Engine Reviews: GO.com
Never underestimate Disney. When the company launched its search engine approximately a year ago, it was slow and unfocused. Even the name was unclear. Was it Go Network, GO, or GO.com? The new version which debuted recently has changed all that. It is now definitely called GO.com, and the engine is well-done in (practically) every way.
GO.com is not quite like any other search engine. It's family-oriented, but definitely geared to adults. It has an estimable search system, useful special features, and a design that makes better use of color than any other engine I've seen.
It especially shines at locating pictures, photographs, video and audio on the web. And if you're looking for a pet, a recipe, a car, information on financial investments, travel, restaurants, etc., you'll find GO.com to be comprehensive, clear and quick.
GO.com could still use improvement in my opinion. Search results are displayed on half the page with the other half reserved for news and links to information that is related (sometimes distantly) to the subject of the search. I don't think this use of space is effective and it makes the search results more difficult to read.
In addition, there is still too much space devoted to Disney properties, but this seems to be endemic to search engines developed by established enterprises.
Search Tips
GO.com is one of the smallest of the major general search engines, so I wouldn't recommend it for comprehensive searches. Three types of searches are available - general web searches, searches for images, and searches for audio-visual media at websites (e.g. music and videos). All three types of searches are speedy, and seem to yield results that are average or above-average in relevance and incorporate some valuable features.
Search Operators: You can use the plus and minus signs to require or forbid search words and quotation marks to enclose a phrase. After you complete a search, you're given the option of searching only in the items resulting from that search. This can be very useful when you get a lot of results and want to narrow your search.
Power Search: The Power Search mode provides you with menus for searching and lets you limit your search results to five website domains - com, net, gov, org and edu.
Search Results
Web Search: If any items from GO.com's directory of websites (which is compiled by volunteer Go Guides) are retrieved, they will be listed first. (There seems to be no link to the entire GO.com directory. The only time categories and websites from the directory appear is with the results of a search.)
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