Websiteslike.org: More of the same in a good way

Lacey Mason, wtop.com

WASHINGTON – Change is good. But sometimes, you just want more of the same.

Websiteslike.org is a site like no other to give you sites like any other. Just type in a favorite website and it will give you a collection of similar domains.

By using its own algorithms, Websites Like takes keywords, user input, popularity and Alexa ranking to determine the prominence of search results. While the site does say results aren’t always 100 percent accurate due to having insufficient information about a website, it’s still pretty confident about its product.

“Websites Like has by far the largest index of alternative websites publicly available. It has by far the freshest data of its kind with an index that updates several times a day,” it says on its About page.

To take Websites Like for a test drive, I searched “The Onion” – a satirical publication known for its fake news stories that often poke fun at politicians, entertainment and American culture in general.

The top result was Fark. This site is different from The Onion in that it features actual news stories, but the sentiment is the same in that the headlines are usually tongue-in-cheek and a little ridiculous. It gives new meaning to the saying, “Truth is stranger than fiction.”

Next was The Spoof!, which is very similar to The Onion — though when you click on a story you’re given a warning that it may offend and a reminder that it’s completely fictitious.

Comedy Central’s Indecision came in third. Like The Onion and The Spoof!, it features fake satirical news stories. There are a couple “truthy” gems though, like this collection of Tweets from people who didn’t care about the inauguration.

If you’re sick of Google, the most visited website in the U.S., Websites Like suggests Bing, DuckDuckGo, Dogpile and Gigablast, among others.

If you’re looking for a shopping alternative to Amazon, try Half or Buy.

If I had a complaint, it would be that some of the results were a little “blah.”

For example, we don’t need anyone to tell us that Facebook is like Twitter.

Speaking of Twitter, Websites Like’s Twitter account hasn’t had much to say since April. But maybe they’ve moved over to Myspace.

Overall though, Websites Like is a cool resource for new sites or even a reminder of ones we’ve forgotten.

One website I didn’t try to check out was WTOP.com. It’s probably safe to assume nothing can compare.

Follow @LaceyWTOP and @WTOP on Twitter.

(Copyright 2013 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

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