3.3.4 Other search engines existence awareness

“This part needs additional information and improvements and is then not finished
yet.”

Here is another issue which is actually not hitting only the competitors of
major search engines but also themselves. In order to be recognized in the world of
search engines you need very strong guarantees. This year two of them succeeds their
advertisement campaign: « Cuil » by claiming that they had a database which is 6
times more than the one of Google. It said also that their success is coming from the
fact that the company has been built by a former Google employee but actually Cuil
disappears very soon as the change of their CEO. The main reproach which has been
done is that the results given were not numerous enough which of course is seen
from a very bad eye when you are claiming that it is your main strength.

In the world of search engines you cannot be a clown. People give you
one time the floor and will not give it to you back if you do not
perform as they wish.

The other example I can give is the one of Exalead, a French search engine
which is supported by the European Union, the purpose behind is to set up an
European technology in order to face the American ones. So as you can imagine
there is a big support and a huge project behind which make me coming to the bullet
point above if you are a search engine which wants just to be correctly advertised
you definitely need very strong supports.

I today January the 7th 2009 got twice in a day the same observation
about researching information on the Internet. I was looking for two
different songs but I did not know the title as well as the singer, all I
had was some couple of words. I made then a research on Google with
the words I knew from the song and added the word « lyrics » as well in order to
specify that what I was looking for was a song. I as well added the quotes « » in
order to say to Google that I wanted the words in this strict order in order for it to
identify better the song I was looking for among the jungle of the web.
I wrote then: lyrics « freaky people » the answers I got where dealing with a singer
called « Michael Franti and Spearhead » and this on three pages in a row. I tried to
set a different request and the result was the same. Then I gave a try to GrabAll
which is a double search engine displaying Google and Yahoo on the same screen but
on two different columns. I made then the same request and got very surprise to see
the name of the Fat Boy Slim band on the first page of Yahoo. This result was on the
fourth page of Google instead. Here I have two points to make. Firstly the utility of
using a second search engine in order to control the result and secondly the fact
that Google was taking in account that I was 100% of what I was looking for.
Google was in fact giving me those results because the two words « freaky people »
are a part of a title of a song of « Michael Franti and Spearhead » but did I asked for
that? No I just asked for lyrics which have the words « freaky people ».
The second example I am going to give you is as well quite relevant of how search
engine dependency can be dangerous. I was looking this time for lyrics with « lyrics
wanna be your doll » what I did not know is that I had it wrong and it was not
« lyrics wanna be your doll » but « wanna be your dog ». The fact is that both songs
containing those lyrics exist and that Google was displaying me the songs containing
the words I just fill in whereas actually Yahoo was presenting me diverse results
including the one I wanted.
I am not writing here that Yahoo is better than Google, I am just saying that
there is a high interest to have a look around in the world of search engines, I could
have a look around all night on Google looking for my song that I will have never
found because I had it wrong since the beginning. So looking for diversity should
be the first reflex when you cannot find what you are looking for in short
attempts.