Be The Mark In Blekko's 3 Engine Monte

Search engine Blekko is pretty excited about their new Zorro launch that I just wrote about. All new design, a move from red to blue links and a general declutterfication is just the shiny stuff on top. Underneath there’s a new web index and they’re really putting those slashtags to work – about 1,000 of them are now auto-added to appropriate results pages.

But enough tech jargon. The proof is in the pudding, they say, and Blekko just served some pudding. Try out their new tool called 3 Engine Monte (derived from the popular 3 Card Monte confidence game.

You can get to it from the link above, or via the Blekko home page. Or just add /monte to the end of any query. You’ll see three sets of results in three columns, all formatted identically. Your job is to pick the one you think is Blekko and click on it. You’ll then see if you’re right or wrong.

I’ve played it a few times and can beat it just about every time. The key is to look for certain signals, like the inclusion of content farm stuff. It still appears high in Google and Bing results, but you won’t see it at all in Blekko. Give it a try, and good luck.