Search

There are many options other than Google, whether searching for text, videos, images, news or local information. There are some search services that have become formidable opponents of the "king" search.

Not many names can become "search verbs" like "let's google .". Nielsen / NetRatings' January 2007 report shows that more than half of all web queries in the US are made through Google. The second most popular search engine, Yahoo Search, achieved less than half of Google.

Does Google really deserve that traffic or does it just live on reputation? People use it because they don't know what other search services might be better? To find the answer, the test team (NTN) gave Google a duel with rivals, Yahoo and Microsoft Live Search, as well as smaller "challengers" like AlltheWeb, AltaVista and Ask.com and one. The number of specialized search services includes Blogdigger, PicSearch and TubeSurf.

Predictive search service may need to find images to display along with normal text results.

The results show that Google is really the best search service, although there are two other services that stand on it - but only in text search tests (text). The Google index is the most accurate, intelligent and up-to-date. It is also more than most specialized search sites, meaning sites that focus on one type of information or file type, such as videos, images, news, blogs or local information provided on mobile phones.

Recent improvements to Live Search's mobile component have taken this service to the forefront of local information search tests, although you have to move manually to its mobile-optimized site. instead of being transferred automatically when you log in from a mobile phone or handheld device.

This shows that intense competition and better Google should focus on your forte. Its competitors are implementing a number of improvements and interface enhancements (Ask.com is particularly impressive in this aspect) to enhance the user experience and provide more information than 10 color links. normal green on the results page.

Champion can not dispute?

If you use Google and are happy with it, there is no reason to switch to other services. Simply because Google is an excellent search engine. It scored the highest or the highest score of all tests, including searching for common text information as well as searching for videos, photos, news, blogs and local information. While other services performed a bit better or better in particular areas, Google was the only one that excelled in most areas.

The first round of testing includes dozens of specialized and versatile search sites; The last two rounds focus on the top services of the 6 categories in the first round.

TubeSurf, a video search service, combines results from Google, MySpace, YouTube and Yahoo.

This does not mean that low-scoring search sites in the tests here do not have valuable features. Ask.com deserves recognition for its convenience and image search features, although text search tests show only temp. Yahoo does well in most categories, including searching for local information and text, but only on average for image and video searches.

In addition to the big names, there are dozens of search sites that search for images, news, blogs and other specialized information. With some queries, these small services are a good choice. For example, Superpages.com and Whitepages.com are excellent in finding people. TubeSurf also searches videos simultaneously on Google, MySpace, Yahoo and YouTube, this is a quick way to query multiple sites. However, for many categories, such as videos, photos and news, large services often outperform small ones.

You may have heard that all search services offer the same list of results. There is a bit of truth about this statement: for example, when you query sites that search for news about a hotly important news, you may get identical results. But in the experiment here, the results returned vary considerably between search services, especially with image, video and blog queries. For example, the query of the image of Mardi Gras festival (traditional ceremony in the US) receives diverse results, from amateur close-up shots to professional panoramas.

Blog search results are also unpredictable. Test the query "Huffington Libby" (without typing the quotes), the target is a blog post Huffington Post talking about the former White House assistant Lewis "Scooter" Libby - the news at the time. In many blog search sites, like Ice Rocket, Sphere and Technorati, the results do not have links pointing to the destination but only the articles in other blogs that mention the Libby news of The Huffington Post. The lesson here is that some specialized sites are worth visiting, while others are not. In terms of achievement, Google tops the blog search tests, followed by Sphere and Blogdigger.

NTN calculates 3 points for a search service if the first link in the result list points to the correct answer or the appropriate site (or the answer itself appears at the top of the result page or in the first result). A link that points to the correct second or third answer gets 2 points, and one link to the correct answer in the first 10 results gets 1 point (for image search services, each page usually has more than 10 pictures). Zoom out, NTN gives 1 point if the image you want to find appears on the first page). If no correct answer appears in the first page, the search service does not get any points. For some queries that search for a specific blog post or information, other answers with the required information are also considered correct.

What's new in search

You will get links to recent stories related to the query at the top of the results page when using Ask.com

Many Internet users hardly remember anything about Google services before, although AltaVista once dominated search, and before that was Magellan. The history of the web shows that people will switch to another service right away if it gives query results more accurately and easier to use. So service providers seek to realize they need to lead the game. According to Justin Osmer, product manager for Microsoft Live Search: " The current number of competing services benefits users. We all try to make a leap so you will see many improvements in the search field. Search ".

Most improvements focus on how to show results. Few people use fancy search and image services along with other specialized search services, although doing so will have better results. So the way that service providers apply is to build a smarter search algorithm, able to guess what users really want to find. For example, if you enter "daffodil" (Google daffodil) into the Google search box, the results page will show some pictures of daffodils above the web addresses.

When trying the same query with Ask.com, Microsoft Live Search and Yahoo, no service displayed a picture of this flower in the results. To be fair, NTN performed a similar search using the phrase "Eiffel Tower" (Eiffel tower); This time, Google, Ask.com and Yahoo displayed at least one photo of the Paris logo, but Live Search did not. (However, Live Search gives access to images of this icon via a link "Eiffel Tower Photos" in the Related Searches section).

Combining news with web search results is also taking place, Ask.com leads in this. For example, when searching for "titanium" and "flash memory" (2 separate queries), only Ask.com offers the latest headlines on related topics, including a link pointing to a post. about Saturn's Titan moon, and another link pointing to a new flash memory story from Intel - both provide information that we need to find.

With movie-related queries, Google and Yahoo seem a bit overwhelming. NTN entered the word "300" to find information about the Warner Brothers film released in theaters at the time of testing. The first relevant result returned by both Google and Yahho has links to the introduction and commentary on this movie, there is a search box to enter the area code or city name to find the time. local projection.

Instead of copying and pasting multiple photos, let Live Search's Scratchpad save the most likely images for you to decide.

Meanwhile, Microsoft Live Search was inaccurate when guessing that NTN's area was based on the IP address of a trial DSL subscriber, and listed cinemas as far as 90 minutes away.

Smart interface

The best search results pages provide links to relevant content, although not exactly as you requested (for example, a photo of the Beatles when looking for "John Lennon"). It is also useful when search services know a little about you: if your IP address indicates that you live in the US and you search for "civil war", then you may be interested in the American Civil War. and looking for information on the timeline of the war, the contested areas, or the biography of General William T. Sherman and Robert E. Lee.

Ask.com displays the best information and related links. If you search for "WWII" (World War II), column Narrow Your Search (narrowing the search) to the right of the list of results of this service helps refine your query with links like "History of WWII", "Cause of WWII" . Yahoo and Live Search offer similar tools, but they are either not easy to use, or are not as extensive as Ask.com.

Other sites improve the user experience in other ways. For example, Live Search has a "Smart Scroll" feature that displays image results. When you scroll down to a set of thumbnails, the page will automatically load additional images. Since there is no pagination, you do not need to click a link to get more pictures. In addition, Live Search's Scratchpad is a convenient visual bookmark tool, you can drag the image from the results page and drop it into the Scratchpad column on the right. When you scroll through dozens or hundreds of pictures, Scratchpad makes it easy to keep track of the pictures you need for your presentation.

Not all interface improvements are effective. Ask.com's Binoculars feature, for example, allows you to preview the results at certain sites in the pop-up window by holding down the cursor on the result with a binocular icon attached. But with text pages, thumbnails do not provide enough details to help you identify page content.

How to check and evaluate search services

Queries are changed for matching results

NTN's goal is to reproduce the practical application of search services.Most users are not experts looking for or proficient in the classification system, and they often do not use or understand BOOL operators (like AND, OR, NOT);Web users are often simple to search sites, enter a word or phrase, and press Enter.Actually, there are many ways to refine a query, but most users often don't bother to do it.That's why we don't include quotes (") including test queries (for example," hiking boots "), although doing so will definitely produce more accurate results. Check out a total of 55 services in 6 categories: general (text), video, mobile / local, news, photos and blogs NTN performs tests in 3 weeks, uses 10 terms in each For example, with general text search, categories including technology, sports culture, research / academia, books and travel / shopping, in each category, we set out a search. easy questions and a difficult query (because all search services can find 2007 Academy Award winners, but only a few services can find portraits of Italian poet and philosopher Giambattista Vico) .NTN ddChecked the search services at different times of the day - morning, lunch, and afternoon - all 7 days a week, sometimes changing queries, especially in news and blog categories , for updates.For example, a sports culture query that changes from "Academy Award winners" to "2007 NCAA basketball tournament teams" at the end of the experiment.

NTN performed all tests on the same Windows system - a desktop computer using 2GHz Celeron processor, 512MB RAM and DSL Internet connection with download speed of 1.5mbps.We did not evaluate the query speed, this parameter usually changes only a few seconds.The most popular search sites differ only slightly between pressing Enter and the time when results appear.However, there are significant differences between blog search services, with some small sites - like Best of the Blogs - taking seconds to produce results.With mobile / local search tests, NTN uses Nokia E62 smartphone.

Results with comments

Search sites also add user comments and search results. Tim Mayer, Yahoo Search's product manager, said: "If you find a hotel for a vacation, you often get a list of the entire hotel, but no one or any expert has given advice." Stay at this hotel "with a comment on the hotel.

One solution is to add "human opinion" to the results. Yahoo has this content available: Yahoo Answers (answers.yahoo.com) is an online community, where users ask and answer issues on multiple topics. Yahoo recently started adding articles from Yahoo Answers at the end of some results pages. For example, when searching for "Summer vacation", you will see "Shared by Yahoo" at the bottom of the results page; This section contains links to many of the "Best Answers" related to summer vacations chosen by Yahoo users.

This feature benefits Yahoo by directing users to available content, increasing the number of pages viewed. NTN found that Yahoo Answers's comments were much more relevant than the top 10 common links, some of which were just random links to vacant rental (vacation). Answers from Yahoo Answers are more attractive: A member describes 7 tourist destinations in India, while another member offers a full list of theme parks suitable for families.

The results with the comment are a good starting point, but are not always matched with search results and are often ranked at the bottom of the page, few people scroll down to see them. Mayer of Yahoo recognizes this problem: " We just started integrating this content and will have to learn more about ranking. In the long run, this content will be more closely linked to the search page. Search ".

Along with the query "Summer vacation" made with Ask.com, Google and Live Search list a list of links pointing to travel sites. Although Live Search made a link pointing to an MSNBC forum about seasonal travel, it was labeled "boards.live.com", with no indication that it was related to the search. .

Yahoo's "Also try" feature at the top of the results page shows relevant queries chosen by the user: Find "muffins" on this site, and "Also try" list the "muffins receipt" ( Cake recipes), "banana muffins" (banana bread) and similar forms with appropriate content.

Mobile search

When you don't have a computer in hand, tell Google what you need to find by using the Voice Local Search service.

Doing a search on a mobile phone or a handheld device is a unique experience but sometimes frustrating. The advantage is that when you travel and need quick local information such as a nearby restaurant or station, the phone number of an old friend or the place to buy football tickets. But the 12-digit keypad or tiny keypad of the handset makes it difficult to enter the street address or area code. Depending on your ISP or your local area, the mobile Internet connection may not be fast enough or stable enough. And of course, no search for videos.

All major search services let you look up local information on mobile devices. Microsoft Live Search for Mobile provides the most accurate results, but only slightly better than Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Ask City and Whitepages. Live Search for Mobile works especially well when looking for contact information about businesses and people. That means you need to use at least 2 mobile search sites, because different search services excel in different areas. For example, if you find phone book information, use Live Search for Mobile, Superpages.com or Whitepages.com. To find a place to sell tickets online for baseball matches, go to Ask.com, Google or Yahoo - but use their web search instead of the local search function.

What is the difference between these two options? Find the web that allows common queries. For example baseball, if in Los Angeles you can enter "dogers tickets" and find an online ticketing site like StubHub. Conversely, locating can help you find the name, address and phone number of a nearby ticket agent - the kind of information you can get from the phone book.

Mobile search services are optimized for handheld devices. However there are some services that do this better. The first test to access Google Maps and Yahoo Local via Nokia E62 mobile phone, NTN must click the Mobile link on the homepage of the two services to see the interface is adjusted; On subsequent visits, both sites automatically switch to the mobile interface. Meanwhile, Ask City, Superpages and Whitepages immediately recognize the connection via handheld device and automatically offer a suitable interface for mobile. Instead, NTN has to manually browse to m.live.com to access the optimal service for mobile.

Although the search services above are optimized for browsers on handheld devices, but most sites that only you go to are not so (optimized for mobile). StubHub, for example, this site is built only for regular browsers, making it difficult for you to move on a tiny screen. In fact, when you see only a small part of the page at a time, you will get lost. Ask City is one of many sites that try to reformat the page to fit the small screen, but the results are often difficult to use.

Google's secret weapon

So how does Google maintain its leading position compared to its competitors? The key is the comprehensive index system, along with the effort to lead. Update speed is also an important factor.

Many smaller search services redeem indexes from large firms and then process results with their own algorithms, or through human-element indexing, a pioneering technique by Ask.com but now used by many search services. For example, Yahoo's AlltheWeb and AltaVista both use the index of the parent company (Yahoo), while Lycos attaches to Ask, and AOL Search is actually Google disguised.

Why use a smaller site if it merely replicates the results of another service? Firstly, you may prefer its interface. Google's "simple is good" approach is exemplary: there is only one search box, an enlightened icon, lots of space and no ads on the homepage. Both Ask and Live Search mimic Google's minimalist model, but Ask enhances it a bit by adding a handy Search Tools column to the right of the screen, making it easy for users to access useful search help. like dictionaries, maps and encyclopedias.

AlltheWeb's home page is also simple, including only 1 search box and a few tags to access special search sections (news, pictures .). In contrast, Yahoo's home page is full of news headlines, advertisements and links to other features that the search box at the top of the screen is nearly sinking. Meanwhile, if you enter a query in AOL's search area, you get the same results as you do with Google.

Specialized search services are different. This is illustrated with two popular blog search sites: Blogdigger and Bloglines. Blogdigger adheres to the "as simple as possible" rule, while Bloglines uses its home page to promote its blog publishing and RSS reader tools.

The future of search

Search sites are constantly testing the new interface, some of which may become popular sometime. For example, the Act X interface of Ask divides the result into three areas: in the middle displays links and regular text, on the left there are links for expanding or narrowing the search, and the right provides the word. related dictionary and general knowledge topics, as well as shopping links. Try this interface at www.facebook.com/57017. Google lets everyone try their experimental interface at www.searchmash.com.

One company is going in a different direction: Snap (www.snap.com), which lists search results in the left half of the browser and previewes the first result in the right half. Each result has a Preview button, you can click to preview the page. Or click the Next Result button to scroll through the preview displays sequentially.

In all interfaces, the search box is still the only input medium. Don't expect this to change anytime soon, although voice search is currently evolving. Google recently revealed its Voice Local Search testing service, you can dial the phone number in the US 800 / GOOG-411 (800 / 466-4411) to try (this service is currently only available in the US) .

New services put search engines in your hands

Consult with others or share your favorite web addresses at Rollyo's custom search service.

Custom search services, web digging tools and human-powered web indexing tools, these are the new resources we need.

ROLLYO : Great big search services with common queries, but what about really specialized information? Rollyo (www.rollyo.com) is the place to go. Here you can create your own "Searchroll" (search list) from dozens of sites of your choice.

Enter Searchroll and some sites (Rollyo works best in 5-10), and then select the category (eg "News & Media"). Add a few tags or keywords if you want to help people Other find their products.

It is interesting to exploit other people's searchrolls. This site has popular and recently added searchroll lists, you can search by keyword or URL on topics that interest you. If Google doesn't respond to your query, for example "Antartic beach volleyball" then go to Rollyo.

CONGOO : Have you ever heard of "Dark Web" (black web)? It sounds ominous but don't be afraid. This term refers to the array of web content that search services cannot index, including fee-based sites (such as the content of the Wall Street Journal) and government and business databases password protected. In addition, some pages cannot be indexed because there are no links pointing to their content, or because their URL addresses are too long and complicated - too difficult for search services to collect.

Certainly, much of this content is hidden for some reason. For example, a business does not want its internal network and product development plans to be public. But there are still ways to find many content sites that charge a fee. You can even access that content - even a little - without paying a single dollar. Congoo NetPass, a free utility that can be downloaded at www.congoo.com, allows you to find and read limited articles from 35 popular paid content sites, including Billboard's home page, Encylopedia. Britanica, New Republic and WSJ. You can make 4-17 visits per month, depending on the site. When you visit a site that exceeds the allowed monthly amount, you will be prompted to register to use it because obviously you find the content useful.

Đến địa chỉ www.congoo.com/netpass/install để tải về Congoo NetPass, thanh công cụ này gắn lên trình duyệt Internet Explorer hay Firefox. Dùng nó giống như bất kỳ thanh công cụ thông thường nào khác: đơn giản nhập vào câu truy vấn trong ô tìm kiếm rồi nhấn Enter. Dịch vụ này tìm kiếm Yahoo cho các kết quả web thông thường, nhưng nó còn dùng chỉ mục riêng để tìm bất kỳ nội dung có phí liên quan, như hồ sơ các công ty từ dịch vụ tài chính MorningStar. Nếu đã dùng thanh công cụ của dịch vụ tìm kiếm khác, có thể bạn thấy việc cài đặt thanh công cụ của Congoo làm thu hẹp vùng nhìn của trình duyệt, chỉ cần nhấn phải chuột lên thanh công cụ này và bỏ chọn các tùy chọn không dùng đến để mở rộng cửa sổ trình duyệt.

PREFOUND : Một "mashup" của mạng xã hội và tìm kiếm, Prefound (www.prefound.com) cho phép bạn thể hiện kiến thức của mình về một chủ đề nào đó bằng cách tạo các nhóm (Group) riêng bao gồm hình ảnh, video hay thông tin khác. Dịch vụ này nhằm chia sẻ lợi nhuận từ mạng quảng cáo trực tuyến AdBrite cho các "Finder" - những người tạo ra hơn 150 Group. Bạn cũng có thể trở thành một trong những Featured Finder - tập hợp gồm các giáo sư đại học, những người nhiệt tình khác và cả các cầu thủ bóng chày chuyên nghiệp. Cùng với kết quả tìm kiếm của Prefound, bạn cũng sẽ thấy kết quả của Google thường lệ cho truy vấn của mình.

Phuong Uyen