Feb. 15, 2001
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Order/ Ranking of Results |
Other Notable Aspects of Search Results Display |
Effectiveness in Test Searches |
| AltaVista |
Links to relevant categories from LookSmart directory are offered at top of the screen.
Other matches ranked by relevance.
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Displays first few lines of text from site, with any matching text in bold.
Offers links to additional pages from same site, related facts (sometimes off the subject), and a translation tool.
Default is to display multiple hits per site but advanced search can group them.
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Results were inconsistent. Did poorly on combining terms ("pray" with other "ancient Egypt" categories) and on narrowing in with Boolean search terms.
Broad searches worked OK, but the closer matches did not always appear high on the list, raising questions about the quality of the relevance ranking system.
Handled photo search very well. Led right to a page with thumbnail photos-all good matches-and links to source.
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| Ask Jeeves |
A small number of matching sites (often only one or two), that have been chosen by Ask Jeeves editors, appear first.
Additional sites that have been popular with other Ask Jeeves searchers are listed below (there are many more of these and the effect is similar to a more standard search results page).
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Popular sites are listed with name and brief summary.
No URLs or match totals are listed.
Resulting sites are displayed within an Ask Jeeves "frame," but you can remove the frame to go directly to the site.
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Difficult to narrow in closely. It was totally unable to locate obscure information (on an individual school in Massachusetts, for example). Using Ask Jeeves suggestions led to some high-quality sites addressing broader search topics. |
| Excite |
Matching Web sites are displayed on the screen, ten at a time.
You can click on a link on the results page to find matches within the LookSmart directory instead.
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Includes overall site description when available. User can turn off descriptions to fit more titles and URLs into a single page.
Default is to display multiple hits per site but can re-sort so that matches are listed by URL, with individual pages indented below each parent site (no titles or descriptions, just URLs).
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Very effective on all of the test searches. Jumps right to the matching page. |
| Go |
Links to relevant directory categories are offered at top of the screen.
Sites rated by "GO Guides" (visitors who apply to become guides) follow, with ratings of one to four stars.
Other results are ranked by "relevance score" and date (you can choose which order).
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With many initial searches, asks if you'd prefer to jump to one of several subtopics ("Did you meanư?") or continue with search terms.
Can display or hide details for each match-including relevance rating, date of last update, and file size.
Default is to group pages, so there's only one hit per site with an optional link to others. Can ungroup with one click.
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Did OK with broader searches but poorly on combining terms ("pray" with other "ancient Egypt" categories). Didn't jump to the exact page at site containing the match. |
| Google |
Link to closest directory category is offered at top of screen.
Other results are ranked by a unique relevance score that, in addition to the usual criteria, ranks sites by number of and importance of other pages that link to them.
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Includes matched text from site, in bold, so it's easy to figure out if the match is right for you.
Includes two hits from high-match sites and a link to other pages at same site-an interesting grouping compromise.
Links are offered to similar sites and to cached pages from site (in case the site linked to is down).
Shows the date the matched page was last updated.
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Very effective on all of the test searches. Jumps right to the matching pages. |
| HotBot |
Links to relevant directory categories (from the same Open Directory as Lycos uses) are listed near top of screen.
First screen shows ten most popular sites on the topic (when available).
Other results, on following screens, ranked by relevance.
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Includes overall site descriptions when available.
Default is to group pages so there's only one hit per site with link to search further at that site.
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The search engine, by Inktomi, was very effective on all the test searches. However, the "Top 10" results, arrived at using a different tool, often did NOT match the search request. For example, in the search for photos of baby giraffes, Top 10 sites included several for baby toys and announcements with no connection to giraffes. |
| Lycos |
Separate section at top for "featured sites," which appear to be sponsor-related.
Another section for "popular" matches-including ones from Open Directory as well as what's been popular with previous searchers.
Remaining matches ranked by relevance.
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Displays first few lines of text from site, with any matched text in bold.
Multiple hits displayed per site. Cannot group.
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Very inconsistent, varying from one search to another and between advanced and basic search, even when search criteria appeared to be the same. Didn't always recognize quotation marks or Boolean operators.
Top matches on results list (especially in "popular" section) generally were relevant.
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| Northern Light |
Results are ranked by "relevance score" and date (you can choose which).
Unique option: folders, displayed on left of screen, break down search results into groups by subject (e.g., planet Saturn), type of site (e.g., K-12 school sites), and other criteria (varies from one search to the next). Clicking on a folder causes only those results to appear in the display window.
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Displays overall site description (when available) or first few lines of site, with any matched text in bold.
Also includes relevancy percentage, site category (e.g., job listings, directories), date updated (if available), and type of site (based on domain name).
Default is to group pages so there's only one hit per site with optional link to others.
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Narrowing in on an exact phrase ("Daughter of Time") was difficult because of the default OR search and lack of advanced Boolean choices in search menu.
Folder options were helpful for narrowing in (example: picking "zoo animals" over "baby toys" made it easier to find the desired giraffe photos).
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| Yahoo |
Closest Yahoo! category link appears first.
Matching categorized sites come next.
Additional Web pages that match are then listed. (Yahoo! uses the Google search engine for this.)
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For Yahoo! sites, a very brief description is included with matching words in bold.
Web pages located by Google include matched text from site in bold. Other Google details (date, for example) not displayed.
Default is to group matches so there's only one hit per site with optional link to others.
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Very effective on all of the test searches. Jumps right to the matching pages. |
