Joshua Walters LIB 266-10, Duran Fall, Assignment 1 September 1, 2004

Assignment 1 Search Engine Evaluation

Part 1 - Matrix
Search Engine Name Search Engine Type Search Term: Library Leadership # Hits - Simple www.alltheweb.com www.gigablast.com www.looksmart.com www.dogpile.com Major Search Engine Major Search Engine Major Search Engine Meta Search Engine 4,100,000 IE 3,940,000 Opera 2,313,872 (IE and Opera) 60 (IE and Opera) 92 IE 87 Opera 82 (IE and Opera) 1,060 (IE and Opera) 3757 IE ONLY 9 (IE and Opera) Speed <1 Sec 1-2 Sec ~1 Sec <1 Sec ~1 Sec ~1 Sec ~1 Sec ~3 Sec ~1 Sec ~2 Sec 0.13 Sec 0.35 Sec ~2 Sec ~1 Sec Content Value (1L - 10H) Simple Advanced* 2/10 6/10 2/10 2/10 Use of " " = 10/10 Use of Exact Phrase = 10/10 No Advanced Exact Phrase = best results 9/10 No Advanced 10/10 but only five results 10/10 Filters (AND) Good Boolean = >1000 Hits: ~7/10 Search Term: Special Populations*** # Hits - Simple 2,860,000 IE 2,760,000 Opera 816,470 (IE and Opera) 32 (IE and Opera) 78 in IE 90 in Firefox^ 83 in IE 95 in Firefox^ 0 Results Returned 13,113 in IE 0 Results Returned Speed <1 Sec 1-2 Sec ~1 Sec <1 Sec ~1 Sec ~1 Sec >45 Secs ~2 Sec ~1 Sec ~1 Sec 0.13 Sec 0.35 Sec ~2 Sec ~1 Sec Content Value (1L - 10H) Simple Advanced* 0/10 0/10 1/10 1/10 No LIS Related until other descriptors No LIS Related until other descriptors No Advanced No LIS Related until other descriptors No Advanced No LIS Related until other descriptors Filters - still too ambiguious 4/10 Boolean AND + Library = 45, 3/10

www.mamma.com news.google.com

Meta Search Engine News Search Engine

4/10 3/10

1/10 0/10

Wilson Web (Education Full Text) www.nexis.com**

MLIS MLIS

8/10 Good Results 7/10

3/10 0/10

* Advanced results used "exact phrase" where available. ** Searched in News, Most Recent 60 Days, English *** Search term Special Populations did not result in many LIS-related hits until paired with other descriptors. ^ Opera browser same as IE - Tried Firefox for comparison

Joshua Walters LIB 266-10, Duran Fall, Assignment 1 September 1, 2004 Part 2 Evaluation Detail

Search Engine Selection

Like most future librarians in this program I am extremely familiar with the major engines such as Google, Yahoo, Excite, Alta Vista, Teoma and others. Therefore I chose to include in my selection, several engines that I dont use on a regular basis. Among these I chose three major engines: alltheweb, gigablast and looksmart; two meta search engines: Dogpile and Mamma; and two news search engines: Google News and Nexis, the news side of Lexis/Nexis which is password protected and accessible via SJSU provided personal passwords. Note: For search engines that did not provide speed (search time in seconds) I used the Opera browsers built-in timer. While switching between IE 6.0 and Opera 7.2, I noticed that in several search engines the number of results returned was far less in opera; compare 3.94 million results versus 4.1 million results. I wasnt aware of this fact before and was under the impression that results in the search engine were not hampered by the particular browser used.

User Friendliness
Following the trend set early by many search engine/web portals, big-name search engines like Terra Lycos, Excite, Yahoo!, AOL, MSN and others first came to market trying to be the one-stop-shop for all your online needs. These engines featured horoscopes, news, classifieds, weather and sports all on the same page as their search. Enter, Google simple, undiluted search on a fast-loading page, generating fast results with keyword and smart advanced features all from the same search field. As Google took off in popularity, the one-stop-shop engines faded. Excite filed bankruptcy, Lycos sold out to Terra, Yahoo! began focusing their business on the My Yahoo! page and cobranded services, and MSN and AOL began to feature their connectivity businesses to sustain them. Today, the simple approach to search engines is standard, and the engines I focused on in this project are examples of this fact. All of these search engines take after Googles undiluted simplicity (save for news.google.com and Lexis, which serve different search purposes). Advanced features (where available) like Boolean searching, the use of quotation marks for exact phrase searches and other features unique to each service, are available from the general keyword search line. In the case of Alltheweb, Gigablast and Dogpile there are even advanced search pages which provide even more help in navigating the Web using these services. Also building from the Google model, revenue generation via preferred placement is becoming standardized. The AdWords model of paying to come up when certain keywords are searched can be seen in the Alltheweb and Gigablast pages. Together, these bare-bones homepages, fast-loading results and unobtrusive advertising streams are the de-facto standard regarding search.

Joshua Walters LIB 266-10, Duran Fall, Assignment 1 September 1, 2004

Search Relevance
Searching using only two keywords is not the best way to find information on a subject in the online metropolis that is the interweb. Often, to find relevant, precise, accurate results a searcher must use a combination of Boolean logic and creative word combinations to find exactly what is sought. In fact, the NOT command is one advanced search feature I find myself using with greater frequency (e.g. apple NOT computer). Despite the massive amount of information online, simple keyword searches are still a great place to begin any search online. Simple searches help build context and empower searchers both with things to continue using in their search project, and things not to use. Every search is a lesson in the body of work that exists online, for nearly every search will yield results not intended. This is caused by engines using algorithms which are still learning, web programmers who are unfamiliar with the use of meta information, and the simple fact that the web is a dynamic environment that is forever growing and changing.

Conclusion
There is no doubt but that search engines are getting better every day. Proprietary engines that use a precoordinate vocabularies to index records are themselves relying more and more on the search all fields option to connect users with records in a timely fashion and with the fewest steps between data entry and result generation. Search engine programmers (or should I say teams of programmers) have taken the discipline of search behavior (a component of information seeking behavior) to new levels of sophistication and improve the usability of their search engines with every release. It follows then, that as librarians attain higher levels of understanding regarding search strategies in various databases and search engines, and as we learn more about the information seeking behaviors of users in online environments that librarians will be able to better advertise their information savvy to patrons and become the park rangers of the forest of data our users stumble through in their daily lives.