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Google Instant Search Released

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Re: Google Instant Search Released

#91

Post by orblivion »

barmstrong wrote: post #79
orblivion wrote: post #77

Do we really need this? Isn't the time it takes to finish a query the last problem on our hands? Or am I just a spoiled fast typer?

Wasn't Outlook good enough? Did we really need faster search in Gmail? This is gonna be one of those things you didn't know you needed till you got used to it, then you'll look back and wonder how you ever lived without it.

Well waiting for your computer to respond can be really frustrating. Having to finish typing something isn't so bad. For me anyway. So it'll help, but for such a huge infrastructure overhaul, is it really worth it?

Re: Google Instant Search Released

#92

Post by AlexC04 »

mrshoe wrote: post #84

I'm sorry, but this is a solution to the wrong problem. I switched from AltaVista to Google back in 1998, not because their search engine returned results more quickly, but because their results were much more relevant . In the past few years, SEOs have set up micro-sites on just about any topic I could possibly search for and they've managed to rank highly for those topics. Am I the only one who's sick of being take…

You've really hit the nail right on the head for exactly what I've been feeling some sort of odd, decentralized anxiety about for a while.

While reading your comment I realized that was the problem. Google kinda sucks now because of people gaming the system.

But who else is out there? I'd probably switch my search if I knew where else to try.

Re: Google Instant Search Released

#95

Post by jcl »

This change has the brilliant side-effect of coaxing users to give more specific descriptions of what they are searching for.

Before instant search, a search term was sufficient if it brought up the desired result in the first page or two, but now users will continue typing until the page they are looking for appears in the first two or three results.

Google could (for example) use this info to come up with better descriptions for subsets of ambiguous searches, improving the relevance of search suggestions.

Re: Google Instant Search Released

#96

Post by AlexC04 »

jfager wrote: post #41
dmpayton wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the live webcast they said that they use auto-complete to populate the instant results. Typing "online deg" auto-completes to "online degrees", so that's the query used to generate the instant results.

"online deg" probably isn't the best example, but there are still going to be cases where a prefix autocompletes to a different target than the final intended search, that SEOs for the final intended search will want to start ranking more highly for. Finding those cases will be part of the fun. Ask it another way: do you think a service that shows what the current google autocompletions are for every prefix of a give…

no - but I thought a really good example was when I typed in HAHA and saw that one of the options presented was:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I clicked on it because it was so much funnier than the rest of them.

Turns out: affiliate link.

Or some sort of americanized japanese dating porn or something ... couldn't really tell.

Still. I definitely agree that it completely changes the SEO game.

Re: Google Instant Search Released

#97

Post by laktek »

AlexC04 wrote: post #92
mrshoe wrote: post #84

I'm sorry, but this is a solution to the wrong problem. I switched from AltaVista to Google back in 1998, not because their search engine returned results more quickly, but because their results were much more relevant . In the past few years, SEOs have set up micro-sites on just about any topic I could possibly search for and they've managed to rank highly for those topics. Am I the only one who's sick of being take…

You've really hit the nail right on the head for exactly what I've been feeling some sort of odd, decentralized anxiety about for a while. While reading your comment I realized that was the problem. Google kinda sucks now because of people gaming the system. But who else is out there? I'd probably switch my search if I knew where else to try.

Maybe to duckduckgo.com ?

Re: Google Instant Search Released

#98

Post by btilly »

My opinion is that this is a challenge to Microsoft. "So you want to compete in search, well match this! See whether your server infrastructure can hold up!"

Having used the feature for a while, what I've found is that I basically don't finish typing. I just stop when I have good enough results. At first I found it annoying, but after I got used to it I found it very nice. Now I find myself annoyed that it isn't built into chrome's search bar.

Re: Google Instant Search Released

#100

Post by AlexC04 »

laktek wrote: post #97
AlexC04 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've really hit the nail right on the head for exactly what I've been feeling some sort of odd, decentralized anxiety about for a while. While reading your comment I realized that was the problem. Google kinda sucks now because of people gaming the system. But who else is out there? I'd probably switch my search if I knew where else to try.

Maybe to duckduckgo.com ?

i'll try it for a week and see how it feels. :)
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