Search Engine Comparison
LSC 548
| Name of Search Engine | Alta Vista | |
| What is the URL? | www.google.com | www.altavista.com |
| What is it used for? | Just about everything, i.e. calculator, file transfers, definitions, local search, news headlines, phone book, site search, street maps, stock quotes, travel conditions,— | The site states that its mission is to provide access to information to the global community. It can search web, MP3, Images, Video, Directory, U.S.A. or worldwide, etc. |
| How easy or difficult is it to figure out how to search? | easy. Further there is an ¦about google˛ icon you can click and then there is a ¦help and how to search˛ link which will explain the basics quite clearly. | It seems fairly easy to search. There is a box you type in your term or phrase and then click the search button. Further, there is an option for advanced search, settings, or help. |
| How do you navigate through it? | you can simply enter your query, if needed you could set preferences, then goodle places the information that it believes most closely matches your query at the top, further it lists a text excerpt below the link for more information, you can also click on more results or similar results. Google is easy to navigate through, you seem to just continue along. I would say backtracking is where one would encounter some trouble. | It seems that the adds or sponsors are listed on the top of the result page, half way down you see your actual results for your search term or phrase. Then you can go through page by page investigating. It also offers the option to have more pages on — |
| How many Web sites are covered? | Each time you do a search Google will put a line along the top saying how many results were returned and how long it took. Google also has Froggle, Google Answers, Google Browser buttons, Google catalogs, Google groups, Google image searches, Google labs, Google local, Google news, Google in your language, Google special searches, Google translate, Google wireless— | Each time you do a search it will present you the most relevant web pages found by yahoo. |
| What are some searching tips? | Choose keywords wisely, be specific, try the obvious, eliminate common words, use the web directory if you are not sure of an appropriate keyword. | be as specific as you can, type an exact phrase you are searching in quotes |
| Can you change the default search logic? | You can customize your query and results, but I do not believe you can alter the search logic. | You can filter, translate your text, translate a web page, you can change your country your engine is searching from, select languages you want to search in, but you can not change your default logic. |
| Can you change the way in which results are displayed? | Yes. You can change the language results are displayed in, the number of hits presented on each page, filtering , and translation. | Yes. You can change the language results are displayed in, the number of hits presented on each page, filtering , and translation |
| How many results did you receive? | I searched the phrase ¦dachshund breed˛ to see how many results I would get. I received 104,000 results. I had 10 listed on each page. | I again searched the phrase ¦dachshund breed˛ and received 34,0563 results. |
| How current are the results? | This was tricky. I had to go into some of the sites to see how current they were, others had a date listed right there in the annotation given under the web address. I would say after checking 1-10 the results are quite current, there were 2 that were even updated this week. | This was hard to tell, none of the sites listed on alta vistaĂs results page had a date listed in the brief annotation presented. I had to go into each page to see when they were last updated and if they were current. All the sites seem to be current. There was even 1 that was in the results Google displayed. |
| What proportion of the results were relevant? | I would say half of the results displayed in the 1-10 on the first page were relevant, although in order to get more information specific I should use a narrower search term, so part of this could be my fault. Half of the sites listed had to do with defining the breed, while the other half was to sell dogs. | All of the 10 listed on the first page seemed to be relevant. They all had to do with describing the breed, which is what I was looking for. |
| Was the amount of detail displayed with the results adequate? | Yes. It gives you a brief sentence or two , so that you can then choose if this is in the right direction you are looking for. | Yes. It gives you a brief sentence or two , so that you can then choose if this is in the right direction you are looking for . |
| Was the order in which the results were displayed evident and/or logical? | Google uses page rank software which places what it deems the most relevant results at the top of the page. | They display the most relevant results Yahoo found at the top. So, yes it was logical since that is where you would look first. |
| What are the strengths/weaknesses? | I guess it is a strength putting the most relevant on the top, this way you do not have to go through the endless pages or results. The layout of the page so that advertising is not apparent in you search, but off to the side bar. | I think a weakness is that the advertising is right on the page, at the top no less. I think that unless you are really paying attention you could just click and then you will be searching the advertising not the results. I like that the most relevant are listed at the top. I also like that you can do a basic or advanced search, plus change the tabs as to what you are looking for, i.e. news, MP3, etc. |
| How often is it updated? | The site states that it has ¦dozens of engineers working to improve every aspect of Google on a daily basis˛ | ¦The company's `Power of Precision' philosophy underlies everything we do as we strive to deliver the most powerful search tools available. We continue to evolve with new initiatives dedicated to continually improving freshness, quality and relevancy to help users get the precise results they seek. ¦ |
| What is the e-mail address to submit questions? | suggestions@google.com, comments@google.com, search-quality@google.com, webmaster@google.com, help@google.com | alta vista does not provide an email address, it does provide a contact us link, which provides a box of information for you to fill out and then submit. |
| On a scale of 1 to 10 (1=poor, 10=superior), rate each search engine. | I think I would rate Google a 7 | I believe I would rate Alta Vista a 7. |
| Briefly describe why you rated each as you did. | While Google may not be the best search engine, it is easy to use and I am comfortable with navigating it so this is partly my reason for ranking it favorable. Further it presents an rank system with the best matching result sat the top of the page. I also like that there are no pop ups and advertising is placed on the side margin of the page. I also like its ease of use, you can be broad or advanced in your searching. Further, it always seems that you can get onto Google without any trouble. | I like the results I received when doing my search. I think I will hav eto get more comfortable with using this site. I do not like that the advertising is at the top of the page, but at least once you realize this you can remember this when you use it again. |