At first glance, SA`s new search engine, www.funnel.co.za, has a distinct Google look and feel about it, but falls well behind when it comes to functionality.
The search functionality is simple and does feature some advanced options; for example, the Hot Spot function, which automatically takes the user to the Web site of the first search result.
A big drawback is that being a South African-only search engine, the site only finds Web sites with the .za domain. This leaves a host of major South African sites in the .com and .net domains unaccounted for in searches - most notably www.kalahari.net.
For example, when `kalahari` is typed into the Hot Spot search, the engine automatically redirects to www.kalahari-kuierfees.co.za. This doesn`t seem practical at all, especially when considering the speed of South African Internet connections. Because a search only turns up a single site at a time, a great deal of time can be wasted starting the search all over again.
The `advanced search` option allows for more specific searches.
A specific file format can be chosen, a search can be made on a particular domain or site, and search results can be broken down into 10, 20 or 100 results on a page.
The face off
In order to weigh up the performance of the Funnel service, a simple `search shootout` was conducted between the Funnel, Google.co.za and Ananzi search engines.
A search for `Kwashiorkor` (malnutrition due to inadequate protein intake) on all three sites yielded the following results:
Google was in front with 632 results at 0.26 seconds, while the newcomer, Funnel, came in second with 149 results at 0.285 seconds. Ananzi was last with only eight results and no time given. Another search of `digital` resulted in the same pecking order.
As far as local Internet search engines go, Funnel has at least brought some competition for the Ananzi Web search, but it has a long, long way to go to outstrip the Google.co.za option.
While Funnel plays on its "proudly South African vibe", it doesn`t offer the local language options that Google does.
The site is worth a visit but I don`t see it converting Google users yet.
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