Legal Research

Which Search Engine is Better?

I've talked about some of the research that has been done about whether Google is really as good as its market share would imply.

Here's the research methodology that gives some interesting results. Take all three search engine results (Google, Yahoo!, Bing/MSN) and anonymize them. Show people the three sets of results and ask them which one is best for them - just rank them.

Here's another research methodology. Take all three search engine results (Google, Yahoo!, Bing/MSN) and show the results under each brandname - show Google as the brand for all three, Show Bing as the brand for all three, etc. Ask people to rank their preferences. Now mix it up.

Check out these links:

Which Search Engine Do You Choose In The Blind Test? [Washington Post - TechCrunch]

"Have you tried out this blind search tool yet? It provides results from Google, Yahoo and Bing in three columns but doesn't tell you which column is which search engine. You then tell it which one you think shows the best results, and you then see which answers are from which engines. I keep choosing Yahoo as the best results."

Shocking Search News

"This search tool strips out all the branding, so you?re forced to really think about which results you like better. And early results showed a much more even distribution than Google?s 70% market share would suggest: Google: 44%, Bing: 33%, Yahoo: 23%. The score keeping feature was removed when people found a way to game it, but you can still run the test against yourself and see which search engine you really like the best. Too bad the one I seem to like will shortly be mothballed. The tool was created by Michael Kordahi, a Developer Evangelist at Microsoft."

Anyway, I always say that Google is really really good at selling ads. Does that matter to you?

It's time to decide with one of these engines disappearing soon (Yahoo!). Things are also heating up on the Google front too.

WOW: Google to Launch a New Version of Google Search

Google Caffeine: A Detailed Test of the New Google

This is very interesting and they're heading for real-time search to compete with the trend. It's just under construction right now but watch for search to heat up with only two real competitors.

Watch Out Twitter! Facebook Launches Realtime Search

When your students return to school in September (maybe August), what's your advice going to be...?

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on August 11, 2009 (boomark / email).