Will there ever be a happy medium

[Deliguy]

As a local computer tech I get asked quite often about which search engine I use. I used to always say google as I have been an avid user of google since it's inception. For some reason I no longer have a good answer for that. However in the recent years I couldn't help but notice that my efforts in seo has changed my mind about which search engines I use and when.

Since I am always creating new websites and working on old ones it's easy to notice that among the three majors(google, msn, yahoo) they rank differently. Google prefers old well developed sites, Yahoo likes sites that are focused on one subject. MSN likes keyword rich sites that are updated often.

This, over time, has forced me to change my views on which search engines I actually use. Now when I want to find information on a relatively new topic such as political topics and recent events, I use msn because I tend to find better, more recent information, from all the new sites that have popped up out of the wood works from the event. When I need to find article style information about a wide topic I now use Yahoo because it tends to produce sites that are 100% dedicated torwards that topic(ie real estate in new hampshire). May I point out at this point that google sucks for these type of queries because it will usually put the big old sites that just happen put a little sniplet of worthless information or comment about the subject(s). I can't tell you how annoyed I am at finding amazon.com in the top ten on almost every single search I do on google. They are a good site but they aren't the world, and they rarely are what I'm wanting to find. On the other hand Google's great if I am in the researching mood. I definitely use google because it brings me the sites that have been proven to give me the best information(ie. if I'm looking for something about the civil war or that time I drank too much and caused a riot).

The way I see it is all three search engines have too many flaws to stick to just one. It's better to just use the advantages of each one when they are needed.

Whats your thoughts on this? Will there ever be a search engine that hits that happy medium target?

[brian.mark]

I doubt if any one search engine will ever give me exactly what I need for every search.

I find myself using the Yahoo Mindset tool more often lately - mostly because it's cool.

I also enjoy clicking on the "Search Builder" button on MSN, then changing some of the settings on the "Result Ranking" tab.

The more of these features become available to the user (without being hidden like they are now) and the more they can automatically adjust themselves based on the query and what they've seen other people do the better the SERPs will become. But I still don't think any search engine is ever going to be perfect in every situation. People just want different things, even when they search for the exact same phrase.

Brian.

[ctabuk]

Ask Jeeves in the UK is the best by miles for Legal Stuff, Housing Acts etc - Good post, good subject matter.

[roam_dx]

Wow! Yahoo Mindset is just what I think search engines should start moving toward, instead of clubbing the whole internet in one big search...what're you looking for - products, information...i agree brian...very very cool and well implemented.

I think Yahoo is probably just begining to take itself seriously in the search market and realizing that if anyone can take on Google its them...

Interesting post Deliguy I just made one here

http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=52860

Yahoo and MSN gave me just what I wanted on the first page, while on Google, they seem to force you wade through a few useless pages of spam, somewhat related info and other junk before something really on topic comes up.

Looks like G's really run out of ideas on how to better their search. I mean, fundamentally better their search, other than gimmicks like related results in the center of the page, or wiki results showing on top above other results. They are now resorting to silly tactics like don't link, use rel=nofollow etc.

Just look at Yahoo Mindset, it's brilliant. At least someones trying something new that's geniunly useful for the searcher, even if they only send me 10% of my monthly traffic.

G also need to seriously look at picking the Adsense publishers with a little more discretion, I think it will cut down on half the internet spam.

In fact, I can't think of anything amazing Google has given the search industry since link factoring and page rank. That was a long long time ago...

All that said, Google's still ok as a search engine and does turn up good results, expecially if the query isn't very commercial, this is just an observation, when you search for something that makes them money, i think they become just a little bit evil ;)

[urknighterrent]

Which search engine I use depends on what I'm looking for, but which searc engine I reccomend these days is "it doesnt really matter, but I use yahoo. Just skip the first few pages of results because those tend to be full of spam."

[Deliguy]

wow
I have never heard of yahoo mindset before. I must say I am very impressed. In a way that kind of answers my question. I can't wait until yahoo develops on this idea. Perhaps they will encorporate the pictures, music, and video searches into it as well.

The only thing I really see this search missing is services. I think it should sway between shopping, research, and services.

[jaydilla]

The search engine I use depends on the information I need. If I'm looking for a news article or something thats like only a day or 2 old i use MSN as they update their index so fast. But if i'm needing to find something thats not too easy to find and may be very old i tend to go with google and try different search queries til i find it. But hey this is just my experience, not saying im right about even what im bablying about. Yahoo I use them because i like to watch the differnces on all 3 engines for the same search query. yahoo is closer to google relevancy than nmsn i think.

[Deliguy]

Looking at Yahoo Mindset I too think this is the way search engines will start progressing. After all you can already see msn starting to move this way as well. This will definitely be interesting on how it affects the seo industry. People will spend less time researching keywords and more time researching "surfer intent."

[bugmenot]

As a local computer tech I get asked quite often about which search engine I use. I used to always say google as I have been an avid user of google since it's inception. For some reason I no longer have a good answer for that. However in the recent years I couldn't help but notice that my efforts in seo has changed my mind about which search engines I use and when.

Since I am always creating new websites and working on old ones it's easy to notice that among the three majors(google, msn, yahoo) they rank differently. Google prefers old well developed sites, Yahoo likes sites that are focused on one subject. MSN likes keyword rich sites that are updated often.

This, over time, has forced me to change my views on which search engines I actually use. Now when I want to find information on a relatively new topic such as political topics and recent events, I use msn because I tend to find better, more recent information, from all the new sites that have popped up out of the wood works from the event. When I need to find article style information about a wide topic I now use Yahoo because it tends to produce sites that are 100% dedicated torwards that topic(ie real estate in new hampshire). May I point out at this point that google sucks for these type of queries because it will usually put the big old sites that just happen put a little sniplet of worthless information or comment about the subject(s). I can't tell you how annoyed I am at finding amazon.com in the top ten on almost every single search I do on google. They are a good site but they aren't the world, and they rarely are what I'm wanting to find. On the other hand Google's great if I am in the researching mood. I definitely use google because it brings me the sites that have been proven to give me the best information(ie. if I'm looking for something about the civil war or that time I drank too much and caused a riot).

The way I see it is all three search engines have too many flaws to stick to just one. It's better to just use the advantages of each one when they are needed.

Whats your thoughts on this? Will there ever be a search engine that hits that happy medium target?

I use http://clusty.com/, seems to be spam free..... so far/

[artemist]

I thought that http://www.mamma.com Mamma knows all. Is the only search engine anyone uses.
Who is Google and what is Yahoo except an extension of BT? Bill Gates must be shrivelling in his cradle as his top SE people get kidnapped to work with mamma. [/url]