SEARCH ENGINE issues for e-commerce and internet marketing students

this unit is in the text "Current Issues in Marketing in the Information Age, 2nd. Edition" on page 107 - 122

This web page has audio clips - just click on the icon (like the one to the left) and you can hear Prof. Richardson's voice adding additional information to topics on the page.

turn on your speakers to hear audio clips

The Basic .Search Engines - with accompanying links

this matrix originally found at  www.blueangels.net

This site explains how the different search engines work and how to get yourself higher up on the list -covers search engine  registration and submission tips, such as using meta tags, improving placement and how to submit URLs.

During the 2nd week of February 2008, Richardson was interviewed by Matt Hartley of the Globe & Mail about Search Engine Google for an article titled "Google's celebrity, not technology, keeps it No. 1". Richardson explained why Google ranks as the No. 1 Search Engine and also provided some tips as to how websites are ranked.  witiger.com/ecommerce/articleGoogle2008Feb8th.jpg   Richardson told Hartley that "the reason Google Inc. is so dominant in the Internet search game and why competitors such as Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. are having a tough time catching up has a lot to do with Paris Hilton" !!!! Richardson explained "While Microsoft and Yahoo were busy building out their portal offerings - adding everything from celebrity gossip links to stock tips to their Web home pages - Google concentrated on building a better search engine. By remaining focused solely on search, Google was able to create a sophisticated technology which favoured popular sites that users deemed useful. In effect, as more people used Google, the better its search technology became.

Richardson told Hartley this situation "...led to a self-perpetuating process: Google was able to remain the best search engine simply because it was the best. It wasn't long before Google became synonymous with the practice of digging up information online. "Paris Hilton is famous because everyone thinks she is famous,"" pic to the right is "Paris Hilton" the place, as opposed to the person who, in the opinion of WTGR, needs no further free publicity.

Search Engine mergers and alliances 2008

UTM student Zane W in MGD 415 was one of the first students (early Feb 2008) to email a note about the possibility that Microsoft may buy up search enginer Yaho, and what might be Gogle's reaction. Zane said in his email "I'm sure everyone was shocked about the news on Friday, that Microsoft had made a bid to buy Yahoo, for what is a seemingly ridiculous 45 billion dollars. Personally what I find more interesting than anything in this issue is the response which Google had"   Zane explains "...Google had, claiming with Microsoft's past, if Yahoo! accepted it would somehow catapult Microsoft into an Internet monopoly. I find that claim to be very hypocritical seeing that even if Microsoft acquired Yahoo!, Google would still have a huge lead in the Internet search market (75% of the online search and advertising market, compared to a combined 20% total for Microsoft and Yahoo!). Google should be the last company speaking out  and accusing others about Internet monopolies. Google also claimed it would "kill the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation". I would argue the opposite, I fail to see how Microsoft buying Yahoo! would hinder Google's ability to continue innovating and somehow close off the Internet, unless Microsoft makes the huge mistake of using Internet Explorer to somehow cripple the services which Google offers (highly unlikely, unless Microsoft wants to lose even more market share to Firefox). If Microsoft decides to not be open or innovative, it would be a plus for Google, and if they chose to be open and innovative it would push the internet in a positive direction. As a consumer, I want Yahoo to accept Microsoft's offer because I believe it will drive both companies to be even more innovative, and ultimately offer me with superior services from both parties."

Search  Engine  Basics 2004 UPDATE

1.- you can now type in a V.I.N. (Vehicle Identification Number) and google will look up that car and connect you to www.carfax.com allowing you to order the complete  CARFAX Vehicle History Report.   So I did it for my Jeep, and if you click on the screen capture to the left you can see part of what they sent to me - it was actually an 8 page document detailing all the things that could have been reported on the vehicle - in my case - everything was OK

Search  Engine Basics 2004 UPDATE

2.and - you can now do Flight Tracking.  Enter an airline name or code and a flight number (e.g.: UA 44) and you'll get two links to flight  information, from Travelocity and fboweb.com. By Chris Sherman, Associate Editor at  searchenginewatch.com  says "this feature  works well... It only appears to work for major airlines, however" Cherman says "Yahoo seems to do a better job of tracking more airlines than Google (it found information on the  Frontier and ATA flights that Google missed), but it accepts fewer variations on airline names or codes.

Search  Engine  Basics 2004 UPDATE

3.Universal Product Codes Chris Sherman, Associate Editor at  searchenginewatch.com  says "Want information about a specific  product? Enter its Universal Product Code (UPC), the number on the bottom of a bar code displayed on product packaging into the Google search box (e.g.: 074101420241). If the product can be found, results include a link to the UPC  Database for more information. Witiger tried this with the UPC code from his new mini-digital camera Typed in "815251000743" and got several hits with pages about the camera eg. http://www.coolstufftoown.com/view/B000087HX1/Cameras/502394 or  http://www.epinions.com/SiPix_StyleCam_Blink_II_Digital_Cameras/display_~full_specs

Search  Engine  Basics 2004 UPDATE

4.  telephone area codes You can now type in Area Code Information and get maps etc. but it only works for United States area codes

Search  Engine  Basics 2005 UPDATE

5. and  Associated Press ran a story in first week in October 2005 about University of Toronto backing Yahoo's efforts to create an online library.  Michael Liedtke, who wrote the piece for AP, explained that Yahoo announced plans to provide digital versions of books, academic papers, video and audio material which is voluntarily submitted by publishers and authors. The structure within which this will happen is called the Open Content Alliance www.opencontentalliance.organd University of Toronto is one of the partners backing this. The Search Engine "business" is becoming highly competitive with Google having outpaced Yahoo! in recent years but Yahoo! is fighting back hard with this new strategy and is trying to gain some good public relations in the face of the bad public relations that Google has been getting. Google has a one year head start on scanning and indexing books but they have received bad press because Google said they would do this with, or without the author's consent. has received negative publicity by saying it will scan in all the major books in the world and allow the text to be searchable - which has thousands of authors and publishing companies screaming about intellectual property rights. Why buy a book if you can print the pages off Google's site? Googles initial plans are to index millions of books from three major university libraries, Harvard, Stanford and Michigan - unless the copyright holder notifies Google by Nov 1st, 2005 about which volumes should be excluded. This "opt out" provision has a lot of publishing companies very upset and they content that Google is in violation of many copyright rules and regulations.

Search Engine  Issues with aerial imagery

6.  maps How good are these aerial photos?  well, it depends. Some people are pretty impressed, but it depends on whether the region of the world you are looking at is updasted regularly, or not Looking at the one for Seneca College, (below)  and the one for UTSC (below) , you can see both are a couple of years out of date because the buildings that were erected in 2003 are not visible - even though Google shows the image in 2007. This date discrepancy suggests Google might be buying satellite imagery that is a few years old. This has implications for people trying to apply such images in military or intelligence circumstances.

Google's aerial photo of the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus looks like it was dated in 2003. It doesn't show the completed construction on the Management building in 2004 or the Academic Resource Center in late 2003

Google's aerial photo of Seneca College (as shown on Google in Sept 2005) doesn't show the completed C wing which was done in 2004. It appears to be at least a year and a half or 2 years out of date.

Search Engine  Issues with aerial imagery

6.  maps In 2005 Google launched some controversial features, such as google map, which allowed viewers to see aerial photographs of every part of the world. This was interesting for many people, but also troublesome for others, particularly security minded people who were worried that such images could be used by terrorists. In 2005 witiger.com showed students how it was possible to view aerial photographs of Buckingham Palace.

When people complain about Google revealing information that is vulnerable, can any examples be provided? Yes, - to the left is Google's map of downtown London, England, which simply shows a green blank spot to the west of St. James

On the aerial photo view, you can clearly see Buckingham Palace, the home of the Queen of England and the head of state for Canada.

Search Engine  Issues with aerial imagery 2007

6.  maps   In early 2007, one of the stories in the media about Google was how the government of India was asking Google to show less detail for the images showing certain locations in India. Canada's CBC reported Feb 5th, 2007 "India wants Google Earth maps blurred" CBC said "Google is in talks with the Indian government over high-resolution images of the country shown on its Google Earth service. Indian defence officials raised security concerns last year with the internet search engine about the satellite imaging program's level of detail at sensitive locations." The Times of Indiasaid Sunday the government is asking for images of sensitive locations to have a resolution no greater than 25 to 50 metres per pixel. The base resolution of Google Earth is 15 metres per pixel, while some cities in North America have resolutions of less than a metre per pixel. The CBC explained "It's not the first time a government has asked Google to blur images because of security concerns. Australia, Russia, South Korea and Thailand are all reportedly demanding the company blur sensitive images."

Search  Engine  Basics 2006  UPDATE

7.  additional features  www.google.ca/intl/en/help/features.html   In a survey of students in 2006, most admitted they had not seen this page on Google that specifically identifies all the additional features available - beyond just searching. If you haven't checked this out, you should. ..

Search  Engine  Basics 2007  Videos

8.  http://video.google.ca/ One of the kewl things that Google has done is allow you to search for videos on the web, whether they be .mpgs or .avi etc. - there are millions online by 2007.  For business and marketing students, you can see some such as the  2006 World's Funniest Commercials segment which is quite long, but very funny  http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-1572146148483250059

Search  Engine  Basics 2008  Videos

9. Street View images as part of Google Maps  http://books.google.com/help/maps/streetview/ provided by Seneca student Katrina in MRK 619 in Feb 2008 Developed by Calgary-based Immersive Media  www.immersivemedia.com

Search Engines the possibility that the technology effects the particular political regulations

. "Watchdog revisits Internet oversight" Written by Rita Trichur, featuring an interview  w Prof. Tim Richardson, originally published in The Toronto Star 2008 May 16  www.thestar.com/Business/article/425899 The CRTC - Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission  Trichur explains that the CRTC released a report that dealing with issues due to the large volume of broadcast media (video and audio programs) that have been posted on the Web in recent years (2006, 2007 and 2008) Basically, the bottom line is the Canadian government is worried about the thousands of people who take small video clips of stuff and put it in YouTube. In typical Canadian fashion the government is worried about promoting "Canadian content" and also what happens if people take clips of Canadian shows and put them on the web, without paying royalties etc. The journalist who wrote the story, Rita Trichur, said "Critics questioned the CRTC's motives for reopening the new media file after nearly a decade of taking a hands-off approach." Trichur added '"It's typical Canadian government – peace, order and good government – other people are doing something so let's try to control it because if we don't, oh gosh, they may try to do something interesting," said Tim Richardson, an electronic-commerce and technology expert at the University of Toronto. He [Richardson] added that any effort to regulate the Web is likely to be stymied by practical considerations, including the role search engine rankings play in determining where people surf online.'

Self Googling

KEY POINTS In January 2004 Prof. Richardson was interviewed by The Toronto Star about a story related to Self Googling - - if you search google with your name to see if the WWWeb has content about you . "Google's search engine of shame" Written by Christopher Hutsul, featuring an interview  w Prof. Tim Richardson, originally published in The Toronto Star 2004 Jan  13th "...many of us in the Internet generation have left a digital trail on the World Wide Web. There's a good chance that a random smattering of your personal information is dangling out there for anyone to peruse..." "This generation wants to know everything about everything ..." says Tim Richardson, professor of Internet studies and e-Commerce at the University of Toronto and Seneca College. "And people don't realize that sometimes their postings on message boards or in chat rooms can last four or five years. "If your lifestyle changed, and you'd posted something inappropriate in 1999, well that's still going to be there." How can we clear our good names? "According to professor Richardson, we'll have to just wait it out. Or, with some Web know-how, we could take matters into our own hands." "If you wanted a page to not be found, all you have to do is create a bunch of newer pages that say something positive, or post them on a message board ... and the search engines are going to return the freshest pages at the top," says Richardson. "The unwanted pages get bumped to the back of the list." permission to quote given by Joanne MacDonald, TORSTAR Syndicate Sales, in an email 2004 Dec 09

advanced technologies revealing privacy vulnerabilities

CBC journalist Paul Jay wrote an article titled "Hitting the target: Increased personalization of ads here to stay, despite privacy concerns" The article ran on cbc.ca in the first week of October 2007 and quoted extensively from an interview given by Prof. Richardson  The basics of the story is, as Paul outlined in the first sentance "Social networking sites and advances in mobile technology are giving advertisers an unprecedented ability to focus their pitch to a very specific focus group: you."   "Increasingly, sophisticated mobile handsets are incorporating Global Positioning System satellite technology to provide users with mapping information. Tying mapping data into advertising is a natural move, said Richardson." While such a capability may be possible Richardson says "People become a little nervous if they think you know too much information about them," read the full article at  www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/hightech/personalized-ads.html

advanced technologies revealing privacy vulnerabilities

Google's detailed streetscapes raise privacy concerns written by journalist Carly Weeks for CanWest News Service 2007 Sept 11th Weeks' story, carried in the National Post,  http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=9e53df0f-3211-4cde-837c-90a6bb4d561d&k=49986 states that "...Canada's Privacy Commissioner has raised concerns over a new Google program that lets users view and zoom in on street-level photographs that are so clear and precise, they can pinpoint an unknowing bystander and their exact location with the click of a mouse button. Google's new Street View application uses photographs captured at an earlier date to let computer users navigate through city streets and neighbourhoods in major cities quickly and easily." Weeks' says that "... the program, which relies on pictures taken without the knowledge or consent of people in them, seems to violate many basic rights of citizens and poses a serious threat to personal privacy." according to Jennifer Stoddart, Canada's Privacy Commissioner.

advanced technologies revealing privacy vulnerabilities

Google's detailed streetscapes raise privacy concerns Apparently there is a Canadian angle to this Google story. A Canadian company in Alberta  immersivemedia.com was the firm contracted by Google to video many of the city street scenes. On Immersive's website you can see (Sept 2007) an number of examples of how the camera works and the detail that is recorded.  Weeks points out "the privacy commissioner is concerned that if the service is expanded into Canada, it could violate [Canadian] federal privacy laws designed to protect citizens from having their personal information easily accessible. The street-view application "does not appear to meet the basic requirements of knowledge, consent, and limited collection and use" of personal information that is set out in Canada's privacy laws, the commissioner wrote in her letter to Google's chief legal officer David Drummond. "

advanced technologies revealing privacy vulnerabilities

Google's detailed streetscapes raise privacy concerns student Zane W. in MGD 415 at UTM in March 2008 found a good example of how the detailed images in Google's detailed streetscapes can catch some "interesting situations" Zane emailed to say "Here is a link I came across, reminded me of different ways people are using the current technology and also the rights these new technologies may be infringing on. It is an apparent drug deal caught by the street view cam in Google maps."   Below is a screen capture you can view if the Google link is no longer active

This is some information from an article in Forbes.com online magazine, about how Google works.
This story was found by Kenny W. in BCS 555 Oct 2002
 

Clicking on the screen capture will take you to a page that explains the process by which Google provides returns on a search, noting the:  - Google Web Server  - Index Server  - Snippet Server

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ONE/Northwest (Online Networking for the Environment) is a non-profit organization based in Seattle, providing technology assistance to conservation activists and organizations in Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Yeas ago they put up a web page that advised their constituents about using search engines. The page is still there at http://www.onenw.org/bin/page.cfm?pageid=53 and useful to review.

ONE/Northwest says
"Finding information online can be difficult and frustrating.  This article tells you more about search engines, and which ones you should use to find specific types of information more easily and efficiently."

a screen capture made in 2003 from their site http://www.onenw.org/bin/page.cfm?pageid=53
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5 tips for using  from  www.onenw.org

 www.onenw.org explains
1. "Google always searches for all the words you type in. You don't need to use a + sign or "AND" in your queries."
2. "Google supports searching for phrases in quotation marks." For example, to find Prof Tim Richardson, you'd search for "Prof Tim Richardson" rather than Prof Tim Richardson. This would find every page that had the phrase "Prof Tim Richardson" rather than the individual words "Prof"  "Tim" and "Richardson"
3. "Google supports the Boolean "OR" operator. For example, to find sites that relate to Denis Hayes OR Earth Day 2000, enter "Denis Hayes" OR "Earth Day 2000"
4. "Google allows you to EXCLUDE terms from your Web searches by preceding them with a minus sign ("-"). This can be extremely helpful as you attempt to focus your searches. For example, to find pages that discuss Senator Slade Gorton but not Gorton's Fish Sticks, try searching for Gorton -fish"
5.  "Google's database stores cached copies of many pages, allowing you view them even if the original site is down. This is extremely useful for finding older information."
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Search  Engine  Alternatives to Google and Yahoo

Rachel Ross, who together with Tyler Hamilton, does many of the IT related stories for the Toronto Star, did a great piece in early August 2004 about the alternatives to using Google and Yahoo. This is useful to keep in mind because sometimes a person working in a narrow field of business or science may find it difficult to find information using a popular search engine because the results would not be specific enough.   2004 Aug 2nd Rachel Ross Toronto Star "Web Portals of Every Sort" Ross writes "...lesser-known search engines can provide an open door to the digital world. Many aren't just good Google substitutes — they can, in certain situations, be far better than the big guys." Ross explains "Not all search engines are created equal. The way results are collected and displayed can make a big difference to the speed of your search. Each of these sites provides a novel approach to scanning the Web." Ross then goes on to describe some of the other Search Engines that may be of interest to people that cannot find what they are looking for using Google and Yahoo. permission to quote Ross given by Joanne MacDonald, TORSTAR Syndicate Sales, in an email 2004 Dec 09

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Search  Engine  Alternatives

2004 Aug 2nd Rachel Ross Toronto Star  www.kartoo.com Ross says "The Kartoo search engine is all about aesthetics and personalization. Instead of presenting search results as a simple list in order of relevance, Kartoo displays them as a loosely organized flow chart. Roll your mouse over a particular Web site and lines appear connecting that Web site to the sites to which it links." Ross advises that it is best if you have a fast connection speed cause the graphics can slow things down. permission to quote Ross given by Joanne MacDonald, TORSTAR Syndicate Sales, in an email 2004 Dec 09

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Search  Engine  Alternatives

2004 Aug 2nd Rachel Ross Toronto Star http://vivisimo.com Ross says "Vivisimo is a bit like a mix between Google and the old Yahoo directory approach. Results are displayed in the typical list format but are also displayed along the left hand side of the page in clusters. A search for the word "oatmeal," for example, will organize the results in sub-categories such as recipes, soap, peach, bread and Quaker. ...Each listing also includes information on how that site is ranked by mainstream search engines such as Google, Lycos, MSN and Looksmart." permission to quote Ross given by Joanne MacDonald, TORSTAR Syndicate Sales, in an email 2004 Dec 09

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Search  Engine  Alternatives

2004 Aug 2nd Rachel Ross Toronto Star http://lii.org Ross explains "One of the problems with researching a subject online is it's hard to tell if the information you find is accurate. The Librarians' Index to the Internet, orLII, has a motto: "Information you can trust." Its searchable directory only contains Web sites that have been personally approved by at least two librarians. Each listing is also annotated by one of the people who felt it was worth including."   KEY POINTS When witiger tried using http://lii.org/ for some common e-commerce terms, it did not return satisfactory results the way they would have shown up in Yahoo or Google, so in my personal opinion is not too favourable to this site (witiger.com) for business and marketing stuff. It is probably a good site for some things, but because of the review process by two librarians, it would mean less material goes into its index than other search engines that vacuum up everything WTGR . permission to quote Ross given by Joanne MacDonald, TORSTAR Syndicate Sales, in an email 2004 Dec 09

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Search  Engine  Alternatives

2004 Aug 2nd Rachel Ross Toronto Star Direct Search  www.freepint.com/gary/direct.htm Ross describes Direct Search as being "Maintained by renowned librarian Gary Price... Most popular search engines use automated software to scan the Internet, but these Web crawlers can't access all kinds of files. As Price and colleague Chris Sherman explain in their book, The Invisible Web, crawlers can't find some files because they simply aren't linked from other accessible files. There's simply no visible trail leading to these documents. Others files, such as the animated ones made with Macromedia's Flash software, can't be easily read by machines so their contents can't be properly indexed. ... Direct Search provides access to many of those otherwise hidden pages."   KEY POINTS Gary Price has an admirable objective - the amount of content that is being created on the web every day is growing faster than the ability of Search Engines to index it - especially content which is not HTML based. As more and more pages use image based content, it becomes more challenging for Search Engines to ascertain what it is on the page, so they can index it for subsequent searches. WTGR .permission to quote Ross given by Joanne MacDonald, TORSTAR Syndicate Sales, in an email 2004 Dec 09

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Search  Engine Alternatives

2004 Aug 2nd Rachel Ross Toronto Star   Open Directory Project www.dmoz.org Ross says we "... might not have heard of the Open Directory Project, or ODP, but you've probably used its database. With 590,000 categories, it's not surprising that the ODP database is the brains behind several popular directories, including Google and Lycos. ...Some search sites charge a fee for listings.... The ODP prides itself on its free listing service....And unlike search engines, which are managed by a small paid staff, the Open Directory Project is basically run by more than 64,000 community-minded netizens who consider sites for inclusion. ODP editors claim this is the best strategy to deal with an ever-expanding Internet."   KEY POINTS I have always found it useful to use DMOZ, but sometimes it is overloaded and refers people to Google.com when the DMOZ servers are strained. WTGR .permission to quote Ross given by Joanne MacDonald, TORSTAR Syndicate Sales, in an email 2004 Dec 09

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Search  Engine  Alternatives

2004 Aug 2nd Rachel Ross Toronto Star Ross also mentioned other Search Engines like Scirus.com for science related topics yellopet.comfor animals (mostly cats, dogs, & horses) www.woodcenter.netsearch portal for wood products, lumber, paper railsearch.com "a specialized search engine exclusively made for the railroad sector" Topix.net calls itself "the Internet's largest news site"

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Search  Engine  Alternatives

2008 In BCS 555 in November 2008 several students noted the Chinese Search Engine Baidu Student Pei Tracy W. wrote: When talking about search engines, the first reaction of people in Canada is "Google". In China, the story is quite different. Baidu, a local Chinese company, holds about 63% of market, while Google has only about 27%. (Source: Nasdap, Oct 22, 2008). Considering the population of China, people might realize that Google is not as super powerful as perceived in the search engine market. Furthermore, people might not know that Baidu was founded in 2000, but Google was not publically operational til Oct 2001.

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As a result of Tracy's contribution in early November 2008, several other students also found some interesting information about Baidu - particularly in the context of how the Chinese government puts pressure on internet information companies to hide certain information. Several students found articles and examples of how Baidu limits access to web information compared to searches in other search engines. A classic case discussed in several places on the web is the discrepancy between image and text word searches for info on Tiananmen through Baidu, versus Google.

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One of our Chinese students created a special video, which he subsequently posted on YouTube to show screen captures of the difference between Google search results for "Tianamen" versus Baidu. Click on the screen capture to see the video

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Google image search results for Tiananmen (2008 Nov)

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Baidu image search results for Tiananmen (2008 Nov)

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Google vs. Baidu commentary from 5th semester Seneca students in BCS555 Nov 2008. Screen captures and commentary showing the differences between google.com google.cn baidu.com for searches on the word tiananmen commentary is in English and Mandarin thanks to Sam G., Shadi B. & Pei Tracy W.

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Go to this web site at Central College and see examples of Internet Directories Search Engines + Glossary of Internet Terms   www.matisse.net/files /glossary.html - includes link to  Matisse Enzer's Glossary of Internet Terms   www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html

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What's the difference between directories versus search engines, ?  read  http://www.computerguru.net/learn/NavNet32.htm http://www.computerguru.net is run by Tom Peracchio see  www.computerguru.net/Qstguru.htm "Directories or Index Sites - Places To Find General Information  Directories or Index style sites organize information in some kind of structure designed by a human being. Human intervention can lead to more selective resources, the down-side is the web changes so quickly that it is virtually impossible for a mere mortal to stay on top of everything. Keep in mind, just because you don't find what you're looking for at a directory or index site doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. While a directory may be a quick way to find some general information, search engines are more powerful and can help find more specific information. Search Engines - Power tools to find Specific Information Web search engines are actually databases that contain references to thousands of resources. Users are able to interact with the database, submitting queries that "ask" the database if it contains resources that match specific criteria.  A web search engine provides an interface between the user and the underlying database. The web search engine runs the search string against the database, returns a list of resources that match the criteria, and displays the results for the user. Each web search engine provides its own database, interface, and special features. In addition, because  each search engine collects resources differently, the same query typed into several search engines is likely to produce different results." Questy is Tom Peracchio who said in an email, May 2005, that he'd gladly allow the use of his resources for educational purposes. Copies of emails kept in the permissions binder.

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The place to go to see a trustworthy and reliable comparison of the leading search engines  www.notess.com/search thanks to Brian Tang in MGTD06 in Oct 2005 for advising of the updated URL on Notess site

Permission to use a screen capture, and link to notess.com given by Greg Notess in an email Dec 17th, 2004.
Copies of emails kept on file in the permissions binder.
 

Part of understanding Search Engines - means understanding how the Internet is connected; and more importantly; how many web pages are connected in a way that would make it difficult for Search Engines to find them, and index the content there. This is a good article which helps students to understand more about how the internet has web pages which are not connected together in a regular fashion, but rather disjointed all over the place.

Diagram showing how many web links go off in directions without linking to any other web pages, so they cannot link back around - and risk being cut off if the single link going out to them goes dead.

Mark Staveley, is a specialist in mobile and wireless internet development as well as a specialist in search engines. Staveley suggests looking at these sites for the purpose of understanding how Search Engines can be compared to each other in terms of how they cover the mass of content on the net as well as how they index and list various searches.

Staveley recommends looking at SSSpider™-compatible Search Engine Statistics www.kryltech.com/ssspider/statist/statist.htm Kryloff Technologies is a joint venture of Sergey Kryloff and PKWARE Inc., the inventors of the Zip data compression format. They were contacted by email in Sept 2005 for permission to link to, and use a screen capture of their site. Sergey Kryloff said "Of course, you may", Copies of emails kept in the permissions binder.

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Recommended by Mark Staveley

Steve Lawrence and C. Lee Giles, NEC Research Institute  Search Engine Coverage formerly http://www.neci.nj.nec.com/homepages/lawrence/websize98.html Lawrence and Giles make two excellent points (a bit outdated by several years) The coverage of the engines is increasing slower than the size of the Web The percentage of dead links returned by the engines has increased. Additionally, Lawrence and Giles noted on their site Search engine coverage relative to the estimated size of the publicly indexable web has decreased substantially since  1997....  Search engines are typically more likely to index sites that have more links to them (more 'popular' sites). They are also typically more likely to index US sites than non-US sites, and more likely to index commercial sites than educational sites.

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Search Engine Q&A with Tim Richardson Q. Why would search engines allow you to submit your website for free? A. So that they can increase the size of their holdings - and if they increase the size of their holdings, then they can convince users that no matter what they search for, chances are better if they search in their Search Engine - which goes to Search Engine popularity - which then allows a Search Engine to charge more for those companies that want to advertise on that portal Q. Is it important to have a huge list of sites? A. Yes, in order to convince people to use the search engine, you have to persuade them that the the information they are looking for is in your database because you have a lot of indexed web sites "Why is a search engine's database size important? Even with the best relevance ranking technology, search features, and user interface, a search tool cannot find the record that does not exist in its database. With a constantly changing Web that offers new and changed information content daily, the large search engine databases become crucial tools for finding answers to questions beyond the very general and popular content offered by portals.  While a small, selective database may be more useful for extremely popular queries and very general topics, the strength of a large search engine database is that it can find Web pages on less popular subjects, unusual products, distinctive keywords, smaller companies, small towns, and many other types of questions." Greg R. Notess  http://www.notess.com/search/stats/sizematters.shtml Q. So if people go to your search engine a lot, is that good? A. Yes, because then you can tell potential subscribers to advertising that you have a lot of visitors to your search menu page - which would then convince advertisers it would be worthwhile to buy ad space here since it gets a lot of traffic.

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Asian Search Engines

Chinese (Mandarin) language search engine - developing a reputation for its MP3 holdings which users are downloading - songwriters and artists complain that a large percentage of Baidu's MP3s are illegally pirated copies of songs - Baidu claims, in its defence, that it merely provides a search engine function, not downloading services, and therefore says it is not violating copyright claims - a detailed article discussing Baidu was broadcast by Associated Press in the first week of October 2003. Christopher Bodeen, who wrote the article on Baidu for AP, said potential lawsuits launched by American and Asian companies could turn investors away from the company's new IPO, which might hurt future developments. Baidu, founded in 2000, has grown rapidly along with China's internet population, which is now estimated at over 100 million. Baido claims to have connected with over 740 million Chinese language websites. Baido has more than 41,000 advertisers which means it is growing fast and making lots of money in 2005.

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