Which search engine returns the best results?

[Will.Spencer]

I designed and executed some tests to provide a (mostly) objective answer to this ongoing question.

The results are at:

Which search engine returns the best results?

[netbaldwin]

Nice research!

[Mac 5]

Can you check your link Will.Spencer. I tried to click on your article and it said "the specified server could not be found."

[incrediblehelp]

Same here, link not working.

[Will.Spencer]

I made a DNS error with the NS record at my parent name server.

Unfortunately, those are set to a default TTL of 48 hours.

I apoligize for the error.

It seems to be working again now. <blush>

[ADAM Web Design]

Sweet. My favourite singer (Jimmy Buffett) being used as objective testing material. Attaboy!

* puts on a white sport coat and orders a pink crustacean and two more Boat Drinks *

Personally, I think this is a very well-thought and scientific manner to do things. Controlled experiments are always useful.

However, there are a few things I'd like to see: when lowering a score, show the irrelevant (if any) results.

Also, try looking up words and phrases that will generate a lot of spam results normally (such as "I90 ringtones") and see how the engines each handle them. I'd be interested to know how the scoring would pan out then.