ExpatFinder: Niche Search Engine for Expatriates

ExpatFinder is a new search engine for all the information expatriates around the globe may be interested in finding. The site is launched today by the Singapore-based family startup Interexpat.

The freshly launched ExpatFinder is intended both for expatriates and those that are only planning to leave their motherland for business or personal reasons. Here they ate supposed to search for the most relevant information provided from the perspective of an expatriate only.

Basically what you can do on the site is search for any keyword (like cost of accommodation or regulations about walking dogs) either around the globe or only for a particular country. The search engine will generate for you the list of results based on your preferences. These results are derived from the database of expat-related websites (the creators of the service claim it is the largest database of such sites in the world). In this manner you can either find necessary information about the country of your stay or some services you may need there.

Also the additional functionality to search in blogs and discussion forums allows to search for particular information only in the expats-authored blogs and thus see the life abroad through their eyes. In this manner you immediately get the first-hand experience about whatever issue you may have doubts about.

Right now the search results I have seen are relevant enough and when you search for a topic related to some particular country, it actually produces the results only relevant to this country. The only problem I have seen with the search functionality is that it seems to be terribly slow when you perform a search for a specific country – probably because it needs to further filter out the results to get only those related to this country. Otherwise the results are relevant and seem to be derived only from the sites offering true value to expatriates.

In this global world I don’t think the search engine really should be restricted to expatriates only. After all, when you simply plan a business trip abroad for a few weeks, you may be equally interested in getting to know some of the rules and traditions in advance not to feel at a loss upon arrival. So the site seems to have a good potential for growth if they manage to show people the value they can get from using the first-hand information supported by those people already living in the country you only plan to visit.