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Internet Librarian International. What the Search Engines are up to Now: same ingredients different recipes. Karen Blakeman RBA Information Services, UK & UKeiG. Searching is not quite like cooking. Cooking same ingredients + same recipe = same dish BUT: Searching
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Internet Librarian International What the Search Engines are up to Now:same ingredients different recipes Karen Blakeman RBA Information Services, UK & UKeiG Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Searching is not quite like cooking • Cooking • same ingredients + same recipe = same dish BUT: • Searching • same search terms + same search engine ≠ same results • Search engines have many, many chefs (servers) cooking to their own recipes and varying according to country and intended customer base • Add to the Internet/Web search mix: • Desktop search • Enterprise search Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Possible results Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
But you do not expect…. ..this ..to end up as: Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
A search engine’s results may vary • In content and presentation • From one minute to the next • different server being used • Country versions • different emphasis • local content • different interface • different search features • Different ‘chains’ or ‘brands’ • Live.com, Tafiti • Yahoo, Yahoo Alpha, AlltheWeb • Exalead, Baagz Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Google • Number of hits is often fictional • Thousands of different servers around the world, running different versions of the database, search features and ranking algorithms • My Google experiment • site:www.charity-commission.gov.uk "makes grants to organisations" • posted to several discussion lists, results from 157 people • majority were 40500, 48600, 49000 hits • a handful reported ca 22000 • Google Canada 5400 • many displayed 78 results • “repeat search with omitted results” - ca 250 results Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Google News Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Google.com vs Google.co.uk Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
iGoogle Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
My iGoogle Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
My Yahoo! Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
http://www.yahoo.co.uk/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
search.yahoo.co.uk, search.yahoo.com Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
search.yahoo.co.uk, search.yahoo.com yahoo.co.uk yahoo.com Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
mindset.research.yahoo.com Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
http://au.alpha.yahoo.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
http://livesearch.alltheweb.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Ask Germany http://www.ask.de/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Ask UK http://www.ask.co.uk/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Live Search http://www.live.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Live UK vs Live US Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
http://www.tafiti.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
http://www.tafiti.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Original Tafiti Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
http://www.tafiti.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
http://www.exalead.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
http://www.exalead.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Exalead’s Wikipedia interface Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Exalead’s Baagz.com Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
What Google's homepage may look like in 2084www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/10/10/opinion/1010opart.html Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Dine à la carte • images • audio/video • news • blogs, RSS • reference • peer reviewed papers • patents • books • social and professional networks • etc. etc. Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Blog searching • Google Blogsearch • http://www.google.com/blogsearch • Ask – Blogs and feeds • http://www.ask.com/ • Exalead • http://www.exalead.com/ • limit search to Site Type Blog • Live Search • http://www.live.com/ and select Feeds • Blog and feed search engines • Technorati, Blogpulse Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
http://www.intelways.com/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Gourmet searching • The set menu may be fast but may not give you what you want • Different country versions • different presentation • different content • different search options • different ranking of results • Be aware of different ‘brands’ • Think about the type and format of information you need – the search engines do not always give you the full menu Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk
Karen Blakeman Tel: +44 118 947 2256 karen.blakeman@rba.co.uk http://www.rba.co.uk/ Blog: http://ukeig.wordpress.com/ UKeiG: http://www.ukeig.org.uk/ Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License