Oftentimes, when we need to find something on the internet we just open our web browser and type what we’re looking for.  The top web browsers used are Google, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.  It’s usually Google’s search tool we end up using, or maybe Bing, if you’re a Renaissance kinda guy.  But with the deluge of data and new tools around big data analysis, what if there’s another methodology from some other search engine that could in fact benefit you?

Here are just some of the search engines that are trying to break in or get back on the horse:

Greplin

The idea for this company came to Daniel Gross as he was fumbling through his smartphone, searching all his social networks just to find the address he was attending.  Frustrated by the daunting task of going through all his networks, he thought, what if there was a way to search all of these at the same time?

“I’m putting more and more stuff online,” says Gross, 20. “There should be a product that can just give me one search box for it.”

And so Greplin was born.  Greplin is a personal search engine that allows you to search all your online data in one easy place.  Greplin is a personal search engine that allows you to search all your online data in one easy place.  It works by indexing the information you create on different websites (like Gmail, Twitter and Facebook) and provides lightning fast search of all your information.

All you have to do is create an account at Greplin which is available in Basic, which is free, and Freemium, which users have to pay $5/ month or $50/year if users want to search business apps like Salesforce.  And the great thing about this is that it already has an app available for iPhone users that features Greplin Highlights, speeding up the process of finding the information you need.  The app is available for free in the App Store.  Greplin is co-founded by former Google employee Robby Walker, and the company already raised $5 million in funding from venture capitals and angel investors.

Momondo

Momondo, a World-class travel site that offers free service assistance for all your travel needs, launched a new search engine for multi-stop round-trip travel.  Multiple destinations is currently in Beta stage.  Travelers can now search flights for multiple destinations in just one search and compare the best prices for the total trip.  This eliminates the need to buy tickets from multiple places – you’ll get all your tickets from a single supplier in just one easy process.

Ask.com

Ask.com launched its live Q&A community to 100% of their users.  The feature was previously available to only a portion of their audience as it was still in its beta testing phase.  Their site is also sporting a new look and feel that accelerates Ask.com’s transition from pure algorithmic Web search to a Q&A site and mobile service fueled by the ability to search the Web for answers or connect with other users for personal opinions.

“Ask’s approach to Q&A is unique – we embrace questions where we can deliver answers in milliseconds from content on the Web, but also deeply appreciate that crawlers can’t replace human experience,” said Doug Leeds, CEO, Ask.com.

“Our limited exposure beta period allowed us to learn where humans and search best intersect as mechanisms for getting credible answers to the millions of questions – fact-based or subjective – we receive each day. Today’s launch combines the best of these two worlds into a single, comprehensive Q&A destination.”

The refurbished search engine offers flexibility and choice for users with their new tabbed interface that enables quick web search and easy access for community or user-based questions or answers.  Users are able to join Ask People, where they can participate in discussions regarding a certain question or answer.  Their web search is tailored for questions and answers, with a new streamlined design showcasing more user-generated Q&A throughout the homepage and overall site via “People Are Asking” and “Related Q&A” sections.  Additionally, users can now share questions and answers of interest across multiple social platforms.

Now you’ve got more choices when doing your search but there are times when you want to compare your searches with other search engines.  It’s kind of daunting to open multiple tabs or windows for this so Accrue Search Concepts made it easy for you to do this with Bounce.  Bounce is a free-for-download browser search tool that allows consumers to compare search results using horizontal and vertical search together which is termed as “bouncing.”

“The successful launch of our public beta gave us valuable feedback as to the way people search,” said founder and CEO Troy Fearnow. “We’ve discovered that when smaller, niche sites are added into the search routine, people’s search habits change.” The company states that over half of the sites boounced (i.e. searched) during the month of August were performed on non-horizontal sites like Scribd, ChaCha, Yelp, or Grooveshark. “Our goal is to identify and make it easy for consumers to search sites more targeted for their query.”