Chris Pirillo » search-engine

How to Compare Search Results between Bing, Yahoo, and Google

Chris — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:01:38 +0000

How to Compare Search Results between Bing, Yahoo, and Google is a post from Chris Pirillo

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You, much like the rest of the galaxy, are likely using Google as your search engine. But is Google giving you the best results? How would you know unless you compare the results between search engines? Copying and pasting searches into multiple places and manually checking the results across the board is just not going to happen. Who has the time to do that? We need a way that we can easily and effectively make sure that we are each using the search engine that is right for us and our needs.

There’s a website out there that will help surface the truth for you. You may be convinced that Google is the best, but it may not be. The way to find out is to do a Blind Search.

Type in your search terms, and let Blind Search do the work. Then, compare the results columns, and vote for the one that you felt best delivered the content you were looking for. The columns are randomized with every query. The goal of the site is simple: they want to see what happens when you remove the branding from search engines. How will you perceive the results at that point?

Believe it or not, when I did a Blind Search of my own, the best results came from Yahoo. It just goes to show that things may not always be as they seem. Open your mind – and your search horizons.

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Windows 7 Search Connectors: Twitter, YouTube, Amazon, eBay…

Chris — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:16:47 +0000

Windows 7 Search Connectors: Twitter, YouTube, Amazon, eBay… is a post from Chris Pirillo

Thanks to the power of RSS, and the flexibility of OpenSearch, Microsoft has extended the search experience within the Windows 7 Explorer shell.

I’ve been an advocate of RSS search for years (that’s what lead me to develop TagJag.com, which remains quite functional to this day). With TagJag, one can generate instant feed searches for Amazon, eBay, etc.

A few of us have created “Search Connectors” which bring the same functionality directly to your Windows 7 desktop. There’s nothing for you to edit – just download this collection of Search Connectors, then double-click the OSDX files included in the ZIP file, which currently include searches for:

Amazon’s Full Catalog
eBay Auctions
PriceGrabber
Coupons and Discounts
Online Shopping
My YouTube Videos
My Blog
The Geeks Social Network
Lockergnome

These OSDX files are worthless in any other operating system, mind you. I do wish that Apple would “steal” this idea for the next iteration of Spotlight. We almost had something like it in Sherlock (which Apple “stole” from Watson). If you have other ideas for OpenSearches / Federated Searches / RSS Search feeds to put into this download, I’ll be more than happy to keep the bundle updated as the definitive collection of Search Connectors.

Download ‘em and try ‘em for yourself.

Cuil – A First Look

Chris — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:47:15 +0000

Cuil – A First Look is a post from Chris Pirillo

Much controversy has surrounded the release of Cuil. Bloggers have lashed out at the problems they have come across. So, I decided to ask some friends what they think.

Seems to me that everyone’s missing the original value proposition of Cuil. Their original claim was that they were going to build a search index at 1/10th the cost of what Google has produced. Has anyone asked Tom or Anna at Cuil what their actual index/search costs are? I’m not surprised that Cuil’s search results are poor. It doesn’t appear that they have anything special in terms of a Page Ranking algorithm at this point, but that really doesn’t matter if they were able to achieve an index/search at 1/10th of Google’s cost. If Tom & Anna achieved anything close to this cost savings I’d think that they would be prime picking for Google, Yahoo, Microsoft. At this point, if Cuil can demonstrate an up-to-date index that scales to Google’s level at 1/10th the cost, then I’d think Google or others would start taking a look at them. Based on what (little) I know about Anna and Tom, it seems to me that their strengths are in the area of architecture and index. Anna is all about the index, she built Archive.org – Jim McCusker

Right, but why not wait and make the service a little better and then announce themselves rather than do so prematurely and get a rather negative publicity? – Hayk Hakobyan

They had to launch something, even if it returned poor results. My point is that their value proposition is in the reduction of the size requirements for the index. If Cuil has achieved anything close to 1/10th of Google’s TeraGoogle index then they have a very valuable asset. – Jim McCusker

It is a nifty layout, but there are a few things I do not like. I have a difficult time finding my own domain even when I search it by name, The results seem random and unrelated, and finally why show a image by the results if you are not pulling those images from the sites themselves? It’s cool, and Web 2.0 looking, but I can not find what I am looking for on it. Strangely it is sending me traffic… I wish I could figure out what those people are searching to find me because I can not! -Brad – Brad\

Jim, I understand the value proposition Cuil intended to bring forth. However, I still disagree as to why launch smth that gets so much negative feedback. No one expected Cuil to be equivalent or comparable to Google from the beginning – except perhaps media – but it could have been lacking certain feats but still returning truthful if somewhat lesser results. What it returns now has been called almost a random mixture of links, photos and other content. I like the design and idea, but that is all there is. – Hayk Hakobyan

I suspect that Cuil had a lot of pressure to launch. But also, my point is that I don’t think their goal was to be a better Google. Look back on the original articles in TechCrunch and elsewhere where the founders of Cuil were promoting their small index. My point is simple, if they did create a Google-compatible index/search at 1/10th the cost then they have something to sell to Google/Yahoo/MSN/etc… I’m waiting for someone in Silicon Valley to ask that question. – Jim McCusker

If it’s really about cost, lets just use the phone book. – Darian Rawson

What do you think? Is Cuil a success, or a big dream gone wrong? If you agree with many of these posters that it just isn’t “there” yet, what do you feel should be done to make it better?

The SEO Industry is Full of Snakes

Chris — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 18:13:32 +0000

The SEO Industry is Full of Snakes is a post from Chris Pirillo

Is Gada.be for You?

Chris — Tue, 30 May 2006 07:53:47 +0000

Is Gada.be for You? is a post from Chris Pirillo

I needed to do this sooner or later, so I’ve revamped our About page with the following sections, outlining Gada.be cases for eight types of users: Enthusiast, Mobile, Developer, Business, Casual, Researcher, Jobseeker, and Shopper. I’d consider this a comprehensive list, but I’m sure there are a few usage points and user types I missed. The About page also now includes an extensive list of Gada.be’s resounding credibility in the blogosphere. The reasons for pointing out our supportive features will become evident to you in the Gnomedex timeframe. Do you have a usage case for Gada.be?

Gada.be for the Internet Enthusiast

A multitude of new searches come online every day, either general or specialized. There’s no way to keep track of every single useful search engine out there. Gada.be continually adds new search engines to its mix – currently standing at 250+ separate data providers, each one providing an individual RSS feed for your query against their database.
It’s challenging not to look beyond Technorati, Google, Flickr, and del.icio.us. There is a vast world of information past this quadumvirate – but not easily accessible in one place. Gada.be allows you to look past the resources you already know, easily finding new information you had previously no idea existed.
RSS is a great way to keep track of your favorite keywords. The problem is in (a) finding all the RSS searches out there and (b) managing all of them without overloading your news aggregator. Gada.be makes it easier to locate the Web resources with valid results through a single, simple query.
With the amount of RSS search subscriptions for keywords, some items are duplicated across several subscriptions. There’s no simple filter taking what’s out there in RSS and stripping out the duplicates in a single search subscription. Gada.be hopes to funnel your search subscriptions into a single feed – eliminating as many duplicates as possible along the way.
There’s no quick way to find the feeds for your favorite search term en masse. With Gada.be, every search renders results inline – with the RSS feed for each provider clearly visible next to its title. Imagine having to visit ten separate sites and searching ten different times to get those ten feeds – or searching Gada.be once and getting all ten subscriptions up front and center.
“Web 2.0″ is about user-generated content, but what happened to user-generated revenue from their own user-generated content? Gada.be accounts will solve this gross oversight.
OPML is the next “RSS,” but few resources are taking advantage of its power today. Gada.be will help you quickly create an OPML file (on-the-fly) which contains your keyword(s) already infused into those search subscriptions. There’s no quicker, easier, or more compatible way to track and organize your favorite terms.
There’s currently no simple way to syndicate your “user-generated content” from other sites through a single feed or OPML reading list. Gada.be user accounts will help you organize and monetize your own content.
There are no indexes of search sites. If so, none of them provide direct links to the search subscriptions inline. Gada.be is creating an open index of search feeds – which nobody else is doing, including A9 (which hides some of its OpenSearch resources). We are constantly updating our list.
Search indexes can be dichotomized, or the query can be rolled into a single set of results – why use separate sites for either reason? You might remember to use a vertical search engine now and again, but are you going to remember where to go when it comes time to look? Gada.be has comprehensive general categories for you to scour at a moment’s notice.
As more social bookmarking and tagging sites come online, it will become increasingly important to unveil results from every one of them on a single page. Gada.be has been doing this from day one, and more search providers are added on a regular basis with ease. Steve Rubel (in ‘Search the Universe, Not Just the Galaxies’) says “There’s gold to be had for the provider that can scale to include every major social network. I would bank on folks like Gada.be.”

Gada.be for the Mobile User

When you’re on the go and in need of search results, you need to maximize time and minimize bandwidth. It typically takes a minimum two page loads before you can get to your results on a mobile device. Gada.be enables you to use your query as the subdomain (dog.gada.be), and specify the search category with a single letter (dog.gada.be/p).
When you search from a mobile phone, you typically use one search provider – which has a limited set of results (its own). Gada.be incorporates a few hundred search providers and funnels them into a clean interface.
Most of the Web’s search engines aren’t easily accessible from a mobile device, and certainly not through the a memorable and simple URL. Gada.be sounds strange at first, but it can be quite memorable (with a slight play on words). The more you use it, the more you see it, the more you remember it.
When you perform a search and the results aren’t what you anticipated, it takes even longer to visit other search engines from a mobile device. When you can’t find it the first time, you might give up because of this hassle. Having results from a variety of popular engines on the same page is terribly convenient. Gada.be really shines in the mobile space.
Many search services are not optimized for mobile platforms. Gada.be strips out excess markup and provides you with a quick-loading page that’s chock-full of results.
Most search URLs are long, complicated, and difficult to key-in on a moment’s notice. You can get to G-A-D-A-.-B-E by punching in 4-2-3-2-.-2-2-3-3 in a traditional cell phone keypad.
Providers would rather invest in a third-party service for results rather than roll their own for their own network of users. As such, we’re making our service supremely simple to use from any mobile device – with the same, simple URLs that work just as easily from a desktop browser.
Why use a different search engine on your mobile device than you do on your desktop? Bring the power and breadth of search results into the small screen to alleviate frustration and time wasted. Gada.be works as well on the desktop as it does on a mobile device – no separate URLs to remember!

Gada.be for the Software Developer

The amount of server-side applications built to consume and subsequently render Web data is growing at a staggering number. XML is a fantastic format, but the fetching of said documents isn’t always scalable – or readily available to be developed upon. Gada.be is built upon a memory and CPU efficient “fetch” client, running independently of the Gada.be service itself. This software can and will be licensed to partners.
How many search feeds are out there today, what can be done with the information each feed provides, and (most importantly) how can a company easily collect and organize that data? A single OPML file can do the trick, or at least provide a structure upon which an application can be built quickly. We generate search subscriptions in OPML on-demand. Upon these open XML outlines, other commercial, open source, and free Web applications may be built.
Who is linking back to your pages, and what’s the relative value of those links? We have already developed an early-stage Web service that sits on top of the same “fetch” program that Gada.be relies on. The possibilities for development are limited by imagination, not resources or inefficient data retrieval mechanisms.
Enterprise-class data retrieval systems are not readily available for the startup developer. Each information collection effort has to be started from scratch. There are no easy, efficient platforms upon which information-remixing services may be built. Gada.be intends on delivering our “fetch” software to programmers eager to see their own Web services project come to life.
Two heads are usually better than one. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our own product to the benefit of its supporters. Collaborative efforts are welcomed, especially as we continue to move forward with the integration of more Web services and APIs.

Gada.be for the Business Professional

Brand-tracking online is still a complicated process. The bevy of search services doesn’t make it any easier with the lack of filtering and consumption options. For some, the learning curve of a “news aggregator” is simply too much. Gada.be user accounts will make it simple for the average user to find and track their brands online through RSS or email digests. We’re looking through hundreds of databases for them.
Many companies are looking for a business case for producing RSS feeds, possibly delaying the adoption of OpenSearch (or similar) feeds for their database of information. Who will list them and promote their results? Gada.be will include any search subscriptions provider, so long as we aren’t already collecting the same data through another provider.
Established Internet brands are fighting for the user’s attention, and new search providers need an extra edge on getting their name and set of results in front of more eyeballs. Gada.be levels the playing field in amazing ways. One search provider is now equal to another, judged not on their interface – but by the quality and relevance of their results. Now anybody can start their own social bookmarking service or blog search index – we’ll include them alongside everybody else.
Many corporations provide their employees with some type of Internet-connected PDA, or these same employees may use such a device on their own. Gada.be was designed to return results swiftly from a mobile Web browser, including on the ever-popular Treo and Blackberry platforms.
This is the information economy. The information you uncover is valuable, especially if you found it where others could not (or knew not where to) seek it. Gada.be cross-references several hundred resources and pares those data sets down to a simple list of top results. Your co-workers, and competition, might wonder how you did it. Gada.be is your secret weapon.

Gada.be for the Casual Surfer

When you need to share a set of related links with a friend, there’s no easy way to put them all together. Then, too, the URL may be too lengthy to transmit via mailing lists and other text-based media. Gada.be gives you search results short URLs that won’t break in email.
How do you know who’s really talking about you on the Internet? Who’s linking to your blog? Relying on one or two services for that information will never give you the full picture. For a comprehensive set of results, you just can’t beat Gada.be.
Most metasearch services aren’t open. They collect results from a few search engines, but don’t give you an easy way to subscribe to those results through the original provider. What you might need is a gateway to find information or RSS search subscriptions easily – what you might need is Gada.be.
Metasearch services pick one or two vendors and stay that way indefinitely. New information providers are seldom added, minimizing the continual link discovery possibilities. The Gada.be index is constantly being updated and upgraded so that you’re always working with the freshest information.
You might use one social bookmarking service, but your friend might use another. Where can you view both sets of results for a tag in the same place – mixed in with other potentially relevant information? Gada.be splashes indexes together so you only have to visit one page to see results from more than a single provider.
Are you looking for a certain image, but can’t seem to find the one you need? There are dozens of photo-based indexes out there, but no easy way to get all of the results with the other navigational clutter stripped away. Our Photos category is one of the most direct ways to browse the images that match your search term.
It can be difficult to navigate different sub-categories of a search term. Without a clean interface, you can often get lost amid a myriad of options. Gada.be is clean and uncluttered for your sanity.
The user never wants to upgrade or remember where to go to find something – that should be the responsibility of the search provider. You shouldn’t have to keep up with the hundreds of search providers on your own; Gada.be brings new providers to users without intervention.

Gada.be for the Research Community

Knowing where to search is a common frustration; Google doesn’t have everything. Even so, having to query multiple sites with the same query is tiresome and repetitive. Gada.be gives you everything in one shot – and lets you access the RSS search URLs from anywhere via OPML.
Serendipity can be more interesting than planned direction. With information, it’s not always easy to see past a specific provider. By providing an open space through which more search providers may share the limelight, we’re offering a wealth of destinations that otherwise may have never been discovered.
If users typically only view the first ten results for a query, then why not present them with sets of 10 results per engine at the same time? The description is still there, placed inside the link’s title tag (and viewable by hovering over a headline link). This way, a quick scan down a page will give you what you need – further opportunity to dig deeper.
Tabbed browsing has been utilized by academia for several years. Being able to manage Web pages from within the same program makes it easier to save multiple bookmarks for presentations and posterity. Gada.be was built with tabbed browsing in mind. You can scroll down the list of headlines, click the more revealing ones for perusal, and save out that set of pages for later reading.
Sometimes, knowing where to find something is the most challenging part of the greater search problem. No single search engine has it all, but one metasearch service may be able to show you many of them. If you have a general category idea, Gada.be gives you a better chance of finding the relevant information than trying any one single search provider online.

Gada.be for the Job Seeker

When you’re looking for a new career path, there are likely a few online “job finder” brands that spring to mind. We’ve put all of them together under the “Jobs” category – so that with a single query, you can find and subscribe to all of the feeds that are relevant to your job search.
It’s likely that your current employer knows about all the major job search engines out there. But do they know about Gada.be yet? Probably not, so searching for a new position through our service is a way to hide your intentions in plain sight. Plus, the “boss key” is merely a category click away.
Which job search services have the most relevant results for your position? There’s no easier way of finding out than to perform a quick and simple query through Gada.be. What’s more, you can take the OPML file and import it into your news aggregator for future tracking across all the job search engines we list in our index.
Looking for a job takes time. The more results you have to choose from, the better your chances of landing a position will be. You can limit yourself to one or two job search services, or you can keep an eye on as many as possible through Gada.be.
How many job search providers have a mobile browser optimized experience? If so, can you get to any two of them with relative ease, perform the same query, and get results back before your 30 minute lunch break is over? Gada.be can do it for you quicker – we promise.

Gada.be for the Web Shopper

With Gada.be’s dedicated “Shopping” category, it’s easy to key in a product name and discover detailed information and pricing for what you’re looking for. We’re collecting ecommerce data from multiple sources and collecting those direct links for you.
Comparison shopping engines work well on their own, but why not get results from both comparison engines and your traditional e-tailers at the same time? The more you know, the more you’ll potentially save.
Making a decision to buy something online is easy to do, but what happens after you’ve made that decision should be dedicated research. You should know what people are saying about the product you intend to purchase – you should know who carries that product, too. The big brands are listed in our Shopping category, so you’re never more than a click away from familiarity – while branching out and discovering who else might fit the bill (so to speak).
Search product names, brands, prices, stores – you name it. If you’re not ready to buy, quickly flip over to the “Blog” category to see if anybody’s been writing about it (with good or bad reviews). Then, try the “News” category to see if it’s received any positive or negative press coverage recently. Gada.be is a powerful online shopping tool!
The obstacles of using a traditional (generalized) search engine is that you can’t drill down easily to what you need: a tool to help you hone your shopping choices. We’ve even created a separate Amazon category that works better (and is more comprehensive) than Amazon.com’s search form itself!

OpenSearch RSS AutoDiscovery for WordPress Searches

Chris — Mon, 22 May 2006 05:46:34 +0000

OpenSearch RSS AutoDiscovery for WordPress Searches is a post from Chris Pirillo

I started to compile a "wish list" of WordPress plugins. Turns out, many of my wishes have already come true - it just took a little digging on Google. Too bad there's not an amazingly comprehensive WordPress plugin directory / wiki (and if there is, nobody really knows about it yet). One of my wishes was for an OpenSearch feed. Turns out Williamsburger already created a plugin, with a WP 2.0 compatible version linked from his comments thread. This got me up and running with my own OpenSearch feed easily enough, but I wanted to have it actually be autodiscoverable within a search query. Without bothering anybody in my personal circle, I found the variables I needed to insert between at the top of my header.php template:

if (is_search()) { ?>
"alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title=": " href="http://chris.pirillo.com/os-query?s=" />
} ?>

There you go. An autodiscoverable feed for your WordPress searches! Try a search on my blog for a living example. Couldn't have gotten it done unless Shayne figured out what I was doing wrong within the .htaccess file. Ugh. I've gotta start learning more about Regular Expressions. FUN!

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from GoDaddy includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter code CP2 at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order.

Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.