AltaVista's algorithm fluke

[ReviewGolf.com]

Surprisingly enough AltaVista demonstrates its poor search algorithm tuning.

Look at the search query and at the actual results delivered.

China... Chile... who cares?

http://www.altavista.com/web/res_tex...ness+directory

[khall44]

Yea, but those are the Sponsored Links, if you look below, where the real links start they all have Chile as the country, not China. The sponsored links sometimes can't be relavent because you have to have someone from Chile buying space. So don't give them too hard of a time, they are trying and they got it right if you ignore the sponsored links, which I always do anyway.

[ADAM Web Design]

It might also be that they have no sponsored links for Chile and that "China", being spelled similarly, fits by their sponsorship algo standards for this particular term.

Mind you, that's not really a good excuse. I'm just suggesting it as a possiblity.

Like khall44 pointed out though, they're just sponsored links and most people tend to avoid them. I usually do unless I see something relevant.

[jawn_tech]

While it's not really an SE algo flaw, the design of the site makes it confusing for some. Many of us know how to spot sponsored results at first glance, but there's many users that don't. So while innocent of having a goofy algo, personally I think this SE and others like Ask Jeeves should make a more clearer separation between sponsored results and organic results (I talk like a broken record about that issue, I know). Otherwise, some of the diversely-experienced public winds up thinking they're all organic listings, thus appearing like they do have a goofy algo.

The only separation on this particular page is the words "sponsored matches", which is in light grey. On Ask Jeeves, theirs is "Sponsored Web Results", which is a small font in red, right next to a red heading bar, causing it to be overlooked by many people.

Personally, I would have to ask SE's a rhetorical question, why should users have to scroll before they get to organic listings, which happens in many cases.

[brian.mark]

Originally Posted by jawn_tech

While it's not really an SE algo flaw, the design of the site makes it confusing for some. Many of us know how to spot sponsored results at first glance, but there's many users that don't. So while innocent of having a goofy algo, personally I think this SE and others like Ask Jeeves should make a more clearer separation between sponsored results and organic results (I talk like a broken record about that issue, I know). Otherwise, the diversely-experienced public winds up thinking they're all organic listings, thus appearing like they do have a goofy algo.

The only separation on this particular page is the words "sponsored matches", which is in light grey. On Ask Jeeves, theirs is "Sponsored Web Results", which is a small font in red, right next to a red heading bar, causing it to be overlooked by many people.

Personally, I would have to ask a rhetorical question, why should users have to scroll before they get to organic listings, which happens in many cases.

I couldn't tell you how many times our customers have thought that our paid listings on Google were also the #1 organic result. Even though they have the blueish background and are above the organics, clearly labeled in my opinion, MPAS still applies (Most People Are Stupid).

Brian.

[jawn_tech]

Quite true -- Google's sponsored listings should be very easy to differentiate, imho. The fact that they're not to some, really shows that the other SE's sponsored listings can be commonly mistaken for organic listings.

Wow I had to keep editing my other post -- I'm having a bad typo/grammar day I guess!