Search Engine Comparison

	Google	Teoma
What is the URL?	http://www.google.com	http://www.teoma.com
What is it used for?	This search engine is used for a variety of different purposes: General web searches Image searches Phonebook searches News A wide variety of other capabilities are also available Google is always developing new tools that can be found under "Google Labs".	Teoma is used for general web searches. The results are displayed with other value-added information.
How easy or difficult is it to figure out how to search?	Google is very easy to search; just type in a search term and click on one of two buttons. The advanced search offers a number of different guided searches, which allows the user to limit by domain, certain terms, certain dates, etc.	It is very easy to search Teoma, the home page is simple and self-explanatory. The advanced search screen is easy to find for users who want more search options.
How do you navigate through it?	From the home page, type in a search term and click on either "Google Search" or "I'm Feeling Lucky". "Google Search" will bring up a list of results. "I'm Feeling Lucky" will bring up the first web page from the results screen. The advanced search offers the "Google Search" button.	From the home page, type in a search term and click on search. The results page has three different categories on it: results, terms to refine the search, or suggested resources. The advanced search offers many different limiters and a prominent search button to click when ready.
How many Web sites are covered?	As of June 14, 2004, Google searches 4,285,199,774 web pages.	A total number of web pages was not obviously listed on Teoma's site.
What are some searching tips?	Basic search tips: Choose keywords wisely and as specific as possible Google automatically returns results with all of the search terms listed Common words are eliminated ("the", "or", etc.) Advanced search tips: Include quotation marks around search terms if looking for the exact phrase To search for word A OR word B, include the word "OR" in the search	Basic search tips: Take advantage of the three categories offered by Teoma to get the best results Teoma automatically searches all of the terms listed; if looking for one word or the other, use 'OR' in between the words To include common words in the search, put + around the word (+the+ who rock music) Advanced search tips: Use the advanced search screen for a wide variety of limiters See the advanced search tips page for a list of operators and syntax that can be used in Teoma
Can you change the default search logic?	The only way that I could find to change the default search logic is by manually entering certain query terms, such as typing "OR" when you are looking for one word or the other. See the Google query syntax page for a complete list.	To change the search logic, you have to use the operators and syntax listed on the advanced search tips page
Can you change the way in which results are displayed?	Google allows customization in the following ways: Search results can be displayed in a number of different languages Search results can be displayed in groups of 10, 20, 30, 50, or 100 results per page Search resutls can display in a new browser window Search results can be filtered to eliminate explicit sexual content	Teoma allows the results to be displayed in a new browser window and in groups of 10, 20, 30, 50, or 100.
How many results did you receive?	Search term: library web usabilty - 421,000 results	Search term: library web usabilty 154,700 results 4 recommended terms to refine the search (one was irrelevant) 10 resources recommended by experts
How current are the results?	A random sampling showed the results to be fairly current; most of the pages were created or updated within the last couple of years.	A random sampling showed the results to be fairly current; most of the pages were created or updated within the last couple of years.
What proportion of the results were relevant?	There were a good number of results that were from different colleges, writing about usability for library web sites. Other results included .com sites with similar topics, sometimes refering to web sites in general.	There were quite a few very relevant sites listed in the results. Some of the results were better than the ones listed in the Google results. A larger portion of the results were from academic-type institutions.
Was the amount of detail displayed with the results adequate?	For the most part, the small description was helpful in determining what the site content was, especially in conjunction with the address listing. The titles of the sites were all very similar and made it difficult to determine which might be something useful.	The information displayed about each page was very similar to what Google displayed.
Was the order in which the results were displayed evident and/or logical?	It was difficult to determine what order the results were displayed in. At first, it seemed that they were displayed chronologically, but that wasn't the case.	There was no evident logic to the way the results were displayed.
What are the strengths/weaknesses?	Strengths: Search interface is very simple and easy to use Sponsored ads are to the right of the results and are not distracting The cached web pages can be helpful in terms of finding older information Weaknesses: There is no obvious order to the results There is no evident way to sort results once the search has been performed	Strengths: Search screen is very user-friendly There is an option on the home page to search the phrase, which eliminates having to use quotes Some of the results allowed the user to search pages that were related to the original site The suggested terms to refine the search could be very useful Weaknesses: The sections "Refine" and "Resouces" are off to the right side, which is where most sites put their sponsered pages; this may cause some users to ignore potentially helpful information There is no evident way to sort results once the search has been performed
How often is it updated?	The copyright date at the bottom of all the pages is 2004. There is no other date showing how often the search engine is updated.	The copyright date at the bottom of all the pages is 2004.
What is the e-mail address to submit questions?	There are many different e-mail addresses available for different types inquiries. For help, the email is help@google.com	For general questions and comments, the email is ask@teoma.com
On a scale of 1 to 10 (1=poor, 10=superior), rate each search engine.	7.5	8
Briefly describe why you rated each as you did.	Google is user friendly and as unintimidating as they can make it. Because of that, people feel confident in their searching abilities and happy with their results. However, as a librarian, I wish it were easier to sort through results and that there was some easy way for people to determine whether or not a site is reliable.	Teoma is very easy to use. The results page is fairly uncluttered and the value-added information could be very helpful to some users. Many of the results for my sample search were relevant, however in other searches I have not had any luck.