PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Oct. 31, 2020 - Lynn Bentley, President of Knobull, Inc. announced, "Most academic search engines might start by proposing super results or recommending that you use them exclusively and fully trust their support. We think differently at Knobull. The process starts with you.
Our passion is working with students to deliver a cyber-secure world-class academic experience. We love what we do. Our purpose is to simplify and support your life as a student with one stop systems so that you can give attention to learning and efforts that demand your time!
Keep the ability to securely search through 5 billion academic sources without commercial chatter, chat with your virtual study group, check student news articles, select from a vast array of links to resources and receive instant answers to burning questions close at hand!"
The main selling point of Knobull is the fact that it's search service Refseek doesn't track its users. While Google's entire business is built around data collection and advertising, Knobull just uses native advertising – without the invasion of privacy. Ironically, the service was ranked #7 in a recent Google search!
Its slogan, "The academic search engine that doesn't track you," has only helped it to grow in popularity in the past few months. Though the number of searches is a far cry from Google's 3.5 billion daily searches, the private academic search engine's market share looks set to continue indefinitely.
While most startup search engines haven't been successful, Knobull has somehow managed to stand out and succeed. Part of the reason may be because the academic search engine is specifically designed to be "less creepy and less invasive" than its counterparts!
Although this specific value proposition may only be enough to convert a small segment of worldwide student web searchers, it's still enough to generate significant revenue for the smaller search engine. The results come a few months after the search engine performed a major design overhaul. The interface was modernized to look more minimalist as many designers put it.
Bentley concluded, "While Knobull may never break the back of the search giant that is Google, our smaller engine traffic growth demonstrates a clear demand for private academic search. And despite the fact that users aren't tracked, Knobull is still able to offer up robust features!