OSINT tools to speed up online research





Almost all of them occasionally need to understand a new area, conduct research or quickly find very highly specialized information. But the search engine does not always understand us. We try diligently to explain: we are introducing large sentences to replace short phrases. We scour the pages and links. And, probably, after a few hours we find in some pdf document a request that had to be entered from the very beginning.



Sometimes it is not always easy to express your informational need in a search query. The necessary terminology may not be enough, or you are not yet completely sure what you are looking for, and when you see the possible options, you will immediately understand what you need. Or maybe what you are looking for is generally difficult to clothe in a laconic search query.



We have collected OSINT toolsthat will make online research faster, more rewarding, and possibly more enjoyable. Most of the collected resources are in English, free and without registration.



Will help you understand what to look for



1. OneLook







This is a dictionary that selects words and phrases that somehow relate to your request. Here you can quickly find definitions of certain words - the result will come from different dictionaries.



2. Keyword Tool



The platform shows keywords for the entered query in any language and for any country. Some queries even show how popular they are, although this service is paid. You can search for keywords on Google, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Amazon, eBay, Play Store, Bing.



Searching on Google, you can, for example, select keywords that contain question words or prepositions. And on the left there are filters where you can search by keywords already in the resulting search results.







3. Answer the Public



Here you enter the word you are interested in and get options for queries with it that people are looking for. There is a choice of languages, including Russian. This is what the section with queries containing question words looks like. The only drawback is that in the free version you can only search for about 3-4 queries per day.











The handle will lead to the desired source



These are reference site pointers. Sites are arranged in thematic folders. You need to choose a topic of interest and see what the platform editors have carefully selected for you.



4. Dmoz







It will help you understand what information you need by offering your options. Allows you to find the exact site by guiding you from folder to folder and narrowing your search.



5. Web Directory







The choice here is not very large, but it can be useful. Each link has a short description from the editors of the platform, which reduces the time spent looking at each resource.



Sort the results by thematic groups



6. Open Knowledge Map







The resource gives out all materials with open access from BASE (search engine for a huge amount of scientific materials) and PubMed (database of medical and biological publications). You can filter by the format of the materials - audio, books, maps, patents, reports, software, videos, scientific abstracts, etc.



The feature of the resource is that it shows the results on demand in the form of thematic circles. They touch and intersect. The closer the circles are to each other, the more related their themes will be. In the center are those that have the strongest object similarity with all the other circles on the map. On the right, you can search for keywords within the resulting map. By hovering over a circle, you can see how many documents there are on the topic of this circle. If you click on the circle, it enlarges, and you can select the appropriate document.







Moreover, the platform has software with which you can render your own set of documents in the same manner.



The downside is that the platform only produces the 100 most relevant results. Although for some it is, on the contrary, a plus, as it reduces the search time.



7. Carrot 2



This is a search engine that distributes search results by subject folders and shows them in the form of a paychart and trimap . You can select the type of clustering algorithm. Here:







By the way, if, when searching, Carrot shows you this, then just change the country in the VPN and refresh the page.







Search β†’ select the folder of interest β†’ results will be on the right. This is what the Treemap looks like if you search for information about metamodernism in Carrot: The platform is also convenient because it searches at once on 15 search engines (including Google, Yandex, Bing).



















8. BizNar







BizNar is touted as a resource for finding business information: market research and various industries. The platform searches on the Deep web (not the same as the Dark web) - results are returned that are not indexed by the usual search engines. Includes search on patents and social networks. Also BizNar packages the issue by subject folders and in the form of a paychart (click "visual" on the left).



After entering the request, at the bottom left there is a graph, in which year how many materials on the topic were published. You can select a year, and only publications for this period will be displayed in the search results.







9. World Wide Science



Search in international and national research bases. The request can be entered in any of the offered languages ​​(including Russian). If you want to receive notifications by mail about the appearance of new materials, you will need to register. However, this feature is only available for English sources.



The results can be filtered by various indicators, and it is also sorted by topic. There is a map on the home page. When you click on the country of interest, a list of bases is displayed by which the platform can search.















Everything possible in one place



10. Fagan Finder







The platform contains a huge number of various search resources, divided into groups. Here you will find, for example, search engines only for encyclopedias, only for documents, for articles from magazines or, finally, for presentations. In general search, you can search not only by pictures and videos, but also by audio or by groups and forums. On the first page, by scrolling down below, you can get short guides to each source.



What is collected here may not be found through a regular search engine, because the source of information may not be online, the search may find it insufficiently important, or may not be published in the form in which the search engine has access to it.



Finds a mention of your request in all popular social networks and not only



11. Hash At It



The tool searches by hashtags, keywords, URL and profile mentions. It immediately produces the newest results, but by selecting a specific social network in the filter, you can quickly see older results.







If you register on the site, you will be able to subscribe to a specific hashtag or request in order to immediately receive new posts on the topic.



12. Social Search







Searches for mentions in social networks and search engines. Interestingly, VK is on the list of social networks he's looking for. Usually foreign search engines do not include it. Here, too, you can set up e-mail notifications about new publications at your request.



Quick search in the news to keep abreast of all trends on a topic of interest



13. Watson News Explorer







It's a news bank. Here you can explore how individuals, companies and news relate to each other. The platform will tell you which topics, persons, organizations are more or less related to your request. The map on the right shows which country is the source of information, you can filter the results by specific countries.



You can customize your search to only search for people, companies, or non-profit organizations. And an advanced search will find the relationship between two queries.



The resource displays data for the last month, and a timeline is displayed below, when what materials were published.



14. World News







This is a resource with all possible news, including in different languages. You can simply search by keywords across all messages, or you can select a country and a topic. By the way, you can also search here on radio and podcasts in different countries. If you click on "Classic" in the upper right corner, a more detailed search will open - everything is sorted by topics and subtopics and is easier to search. There is a mobile application.



15. News Now









Here all the latest news in one heap. The small checkboxes next to the title indicate where this message is from. News can be filtered by country or subject. Here you can also see which news is the most viewed and read.



16. All You Can Read







Choose a country, and the issue gives all the possible online media that are in this country. Plus, you can sort by specific topics. One of the largest news resources with magazines and newspapers from around the world. However, keyword searches are not provided here.



Deliver the necessary information directly to your e-mail



These tools will track the emergence of new materials on the topic, and will also help with monitoring changes on sites of interest to you.



17. Google Alert







The tool automatically notifies by e-mail about new materials on the topic. In order to use it, you need a Google account.



And so, we enter the request that we want to monitor. Open "More options" and see how we can customize our search. "Autoselect" here means that information will come from all kinds of sources. But you can also choose one. For example, you are only interested in new books on a topic. β€œOnly the best results” in the β€œQuantity” section mean that information will only come from reputable resources.



18. Visual ping







Are you waiting for the results of the competition, the appearance of discounts on air tickets or are you monitoring changes in the legislation? This resource will send you a notification when something changes on the link you specified. The program takes a screenshot and compares it with the previous one. Thus, she notices changes. The Chrome extension will help you create new notifications right from the site you want to track. You can also create group notifications in Slack (for more information on how to set them up, see the FAQ at the very bottom). Great for tracking competitors' changes.



The Pre-Check Actions feature helps you automate a specific action before a new check-out screenshot. For example, you need to enter a password, close a pop-up window, or click a button. How to use it in more detail here and here (more advanced use).







You can set up notifications to be sent to you only when the keyword you specify appears.







The free version has restrictions on the number of checks.



19. Watch That Page







This resource is simpler than the previous one. For example, it does not analyze changes in images, only text and links. However, for personal accounts, you can do an almost unlimited number of checks here.



All updates for the sites you specified come in one letter. But you can also divide links by topic - the resource will send them in separate letters. For each site, you can choose: you just want to find out that something has changed there and check it yourself; or immediately receive these changes themselves in the letter. It explains how to quickly add new tracking sites.



Extensions to speed up your regular searches



20. Selection Search



Install the extension β†’ highlight the text of interest β†’ the extension offers options where you can search for information on this request.







21. Infinite Scroll for Google



Everything here is elementary simple - you do not need to click again on the next page of the search results. You just scroll down, and the extension automatically opens new results for you.



22. Search Preview







The extension allows you to immediately see what the site looks like so as not to go to it in vain. Supports Google, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo and Bing.



What else can be useful



23. Wolfram Alpha







This is a kind of search engine that does not look for resources where you can find answers, it immediately gives answers. It analyzes files of various kinds, makes complex calculations, gives precise characteristics of the selected object, compares, etc.



To understand how to work with it, the resource offers application examples . Wolfram Alpha is perfect if you need to quickly find out some accurate data on work in the fields of finance, sociology, medicine, transport, chemistry, engineering, statistics, linguistics, and so on. It can be used for teaching and simply for answering everyday questions.



24. Gigablast







This is a simple and straightforward search engine, there are no ads, there is privacy and a directory of sites. And also a large list of dorks for efficient search.



25. Symbol Hound







A search engine that does not ignore special characters such as &,%, Ο€, so it comes in handy when looking for information about the selected programming language.



26. Digle







In the end, you can ask someone to find the information you need for money or make money on the search yourself.



PS We tried our best to choose the most convenient and high-quality resources among analogs, but if you still find it difficult to choose (oh this constant choice in our life) - take the very first one offered in each section. Good luck!



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