Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Can you give some examples of searches that don't work for you? I'm also a professional and an engineer and generally find a quick Google search to point me in the right direction every time.



Search for:

rsync version freebsd 9.2

First, note that the first four results (for me, anyway) do not contain the string "9.2" at all.

Second, note that google does not give you the "missing: 9.2" notifier on those in the results page.

Later results (for me, 6 and onward) do contain all of the terms. Google decided that search results that did NOT contain all of my terms were more "relevant" than ones that did.

Bonus laughs: changing the search to:

allinsite:rsync version freebsd 9.2

does change things up a bit, but results 1,3,4 and 5 still don't contain the string "9.2".


So, 5 exact matches and 5 related pages is considered poor result quality?


I have no idea why I would ever want "related pages".

I am not waiting in line with my girlfriends and searching for Britney Spears Songs. Related pages do nothing for me.

They are bad results.


Follow-up question: Are you logged in?

Google search will generally learn your preferences and get better at vending you the results you can actually use if you're logged in so it can build that search history for you.


I see what you mean. Yeah, write that blog post.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: