Google vs. Ask Jeeves
Already establishing its name as synonym for searching on the web in
several web communities (googlen = searching the web), Google has a
well-deserved reputation as the top choice for those searching the web all over
the world. Google is a crawler-based service that provides comprehensive
coverage of the web along with great relevancy. It is currently available in
more then 50 different languages.
As the following figure shows,
Google is
Figure 1:
The most popular
search sites in the
KEY:
GG=Google,
YH=Yahoo,
MSN=MSN,
AOL=AOL,
AJ=Ask Jeeves,
OVR=Overture (GoTo),
IS=InfoSpace,
NS=Netscape,
AV=AltaVista,
LY=Lycos,
ELINK=EarthLink.com,
LS=LookSmart,
Besides finding web pages, Google offers several additional services. By
using buttons located above the search box, one can specify if he is searching
a web page, a comment made in a Usenet newsgroup, an entry in the human-compiled
information provided from the Open Directory or locate news information. Additionally
Google offers a wide range of features such as caching links, excellent
spellchecking, translation, transformation of all kinds of documents into html
files and a lot more.
Gaining reputation as the natural
language search engine, Ask Jeeves became popular in 1998 and 1999 as the
searchengine that let you search by asking whole questions and responded with
what seemed to be the right answer to nearly everything.
In reality, it wasn’t the technology
that made Ask Jeeves perform so well, but the large amount of editors that were
working beind the sceens. Today, Ask Jeeves depends on crawler-based technology
to provide query results. These results come from the Teoma search engine which
was bought by Ask Jeeves in 2001. Ask Jeeves also owns the Direct Hit service,
but results from Direct Hit are no longer offered to the public directly
through the Direct Hit site.
Just like Google, Ask Jeeves offers
the options to specify the search area: with Ask Jeeves, the user can search
for web pages, pictures, news and products (Google offers product search under
the name froogle.com). Additionally Ask Jeeves offers a ranking of
the top queries of the previous week and a kids section.
Comparison
Methods of searching
Google gives highly relevant results at high
speed. This is due to its complex text matching algorithm, the Pagerank system and
the speed at which Google lists your site. The Google ranking algorithm
consists of two main parts:
The first is its text matching system, whereby Google tries to find
pages relevant to what the searcher has entered. Google also considers keyword
density in the body of a page for determining relevancy.
The second and maybe most important part of the algorithm is the
patented Pagerank system. Pagerank works on the basis that if a website X has
been linked from a website Y, X must have some good content and therefore
Google will count the link from Y as a vote X. (Link popularity on Google can
be checked with the Google toolbar).
This setup enables Google to provide good
results if the query is exact.
Ask Jeevis on the other hand relies
on the relyies on results provided by Teoma. The underlying technology is an
extension of the Direct Hit algorithm. This algorithm goes beyond traditional
keyword and text analysis and seeks out hubs and relations connected to your
query terms. Basically it searches through a social network of related content
that forms a community about the query topic.
This
community-seeking behavior is query-specific and happens in real time. Whenever
a query is made, Teoma also looks for a community behind that quarry. Ask
Jevees then displays these related “communities” in an extra field.
Compared to Google, Ask Jevees
strength lies in unspecific queries.
By providing the opportunities to
brows to related communities, Ask Jevees offers the user the possibility to
narrow down the results.
Examples
To make a practical comparison, I
decided to test both search engines to find “the Anarchist cook book” in a
downloadable form and a serial number for the computer game “Command &
Conquer 2”.
Query “the Anarchist cook book”
1.
Google
As a long-established Google user, I expected to find
a downloadable version of "the Anarchy cook book” quiet fast. However I
was hit by a bunch of sides that abused the Google ranking system. The first
ten pages that I opened where completely useless, so I decided to go follow
some later links. After checking out three or four more pages I was finally
able to acquire a copy, accessible here.
2.
Ask Jevees
As a
Google biased individual, I expected to have sever problems finding “the Anarchy
cook book”. However I was pleasantly surprised. After typing in the search
query, Ask Jevees offered me to correct my query to “the anarchy cookbook”. I
accepted the correction and got a list of links. The first list of results
provided me with some promising links, which however proved to be outdated. Relying
on the community bare, I chose a community called “anarchy cook book free
download”. The first results that I choose already lead me to a side where the
file could be downloaded. See the results here.
Query “Command & Conquer 2 serial”
1.
Google
After typing in the query, I was immediately able to
identify the third link offered as suitable result. Checking out the page I
actually found what I was looking for, however at the cost that the side tried
to install a war dialler on my computer.
2.
Ask Jevees
Ask Jeves was actually not able to supply me with the required
information within 10 minutes. In this case, the results were all inappropriate
and the related communities only redirected me to other pages about the game
itself.
Conclusion
I personally think that Google is currently the
best search engine available, if you know what you are looking for. But, if you
do not know exactly what to look for, Ask Jevees community system is quiet
helpful. Further more I have to mention that, in my opinion, Ask Jevees is
easier and results are more intuitive. Google is able to supply much more
specific results; however the user has to have a minimum amount of knowledge on
internet searching to distinguish fake from real results.
Open
Directory Project vs. Yahoo Directory!
Open Directory Project
The Open Directory
Project (ODP) powers the core directory services for the Web's largest and most
popular search engines and portals, including Netscape Search, AOL Search,
Google, Lycos, HotBot, DirectHit, and many more.
ODP is run by the Netscape Communication Corporation. It is administrated
by a view people responsible for systems engineering development and community
management, direction and editorial policies. Basically, ODP is a
self-regulating community of web-users. A bunch of ODP volunteer editors
manage the directory's growth and development through a system of self-governance
and checks-and-balances. This ensures the quality of the directory. The great
thing about ODP is that it is a volunteer managed initiative, Netscape only administered
it as a non-commercial entity.
Yahoo Directory
Launched
in 1994, Yahoo Directory is the web's oldest "directory," a place
where human editors organize web sites into categories. Actually Yahoo was the
first place that I used to search in the internet back in 1996. Yahoo Directory
is a standard commercial web directory that is part of the Yahoo portal. t
maintains its own independent "directory" of web sites, which are
compiled by its human editors. There is actually nothing else to tell
about it.
Comparison
In general, Yahoo Directory
as well as ODP are subject-based guide to web sites and web content and do not really differ allot. While Yahoo is developed
and managed by paid staffs, ODP was founded on the thought of open source. The
initial thought was that directories with small staffs can not handle the exponential
growth of the Web. Therefore ODP is developed and managed by a constantly increasing
amount of net-citizens who consider themselves as experts in different areas. Yahoo
on the other hand is, as already mentioned, a commercial directory.
Biside of that, there is really no difference between those two; both
consists ocf categories and subcategories, both are offered in several
languages and both can be really helpful.
Examples
To make a practical comparison, I decided to try to find the current weather in
- ODP
Weather was displayed as a
subcategory right on the starting page of ODP.
Following the link I found several pages offering weather forecasts for
all over the world. I choose the CNN weather forecast side and this was the
result:
|
|
Sunny |
- Yahoo Directory
|
CURRENT CONDITIONS
Rel.
Humidity: 48% |
||||||||||||||||
On Yahoo, weather wasn’t
displayed on the starting page, so I used the implemented searching function.
It leads me to the subcategory weather, which is part of the main category News
and Media. Here again I had a huge list of different links offered, here
however was a small difference. Instead of only providing short side
descriptions, Yahoo starts the page with a small section of the most popular
picks. Additionally, Yahoo Directory marks specific good pages reviewed by
there staff whit a little symbol (![[*]](Task3-Dateien/image025.gif){kind=small}
).
I again choose the CNN
weather forecast and I again received the same answer.
Conclusion
In my opinion there is no real difference between both search engines.
Yahoos additional services are usable, however ODP seem to have a wider range
of pages. Furthermore, because Yahoo is a commercial service, people who pay
are listed first, so Yahoo is biased. However, with regards to efficiency, No
of these minor distinctions makes a huge difference.
Web.de
Web.de is a free
German portal. Consequently it is offered only in German. Web.de offers the
possibility to search the internet in German or English, trade e-mail massages
with freemail.de or access news. Additionally Web.de offers a wide range of
extra,
MSN.de
The Microsoft
Network portal (MSN.de) is a free Web portal that offers a starting point in
the internet, with localized versions available globally in 34 countries and 18
languages. MSN offers a the possibility to search the Internet with MSN Search,
trade e-mail messages with the MSN Hotmail, share instant messages via the MSN
Messenger, or access news, information and entertainment on various MSN
channels. MSN also offers extensive customization options, enabling people to
easily select the information they care most about and view this
information in a single, customizable Web page with the My MSN page.
Comparison
Comparing Web.de and MSN, the most obvious thing
is the difference in the target groups While MSN is trying to reach a global community;
Web.de only targets the German web-users. To be able to make a fair comparison,
I will now use the German version of MSN (MSN.de).
Both portals offer such a huge amount of information
and additional services, that it is to extensive to be covered here. However,
despite the fact that the German portal of MSN is only a branch of MSN, it
offers quiet impressive service coverage for German users; starting from a
horoscope and ending at the possibility to find old school mates. Still, Web.de
offers even more. Both portals offer limited free e-mail services, accessible
either through the webpage or via POP3. Additionally both WebPages offer the
option to buy extra storage room for e-mails. In addition to that, Web.de
offers a large amount of extra services to it’s Web.de Club members. These
services contain such things as PC to phone calls, automatic synchronisation
between freemail.de and Outlook, and on, One advantage of MSN is the MY MSN
service. It offers the user the ability to customise his personal MSN starting
page in terms of colour and content and layout.
Conclusion
For the user who is only interested in e-mail
services, both portals are sufficient. For individuals who actually want to use
the news service offered, I personally would advise MSN. The possibility
personalise the My MSN starting page is quiet useful. For Germans I would
advise Web.de, because the services offered her are more sophisticated then the
services offered by MSN.
Search
engines vs. Directories
For comparing different manners of searching the
web, I will focus on subject directories vs. search engines. Portals just
represent the possibility to specify if the search should take place in a
search engine or a directory and I therefore do not consider them as relevant.
Focusing on search engines vs. directories, a
clear distinction can be made:
For general searches concerning common topics, search engines are less
suited. Directories are better in locating sources of relevant information.
They give better directions and list several sites related to the topic of
interest. But, due to the fact that their main purpose is to categorise web
pages, their search routines are often less developed. Furthermore the content
is limited to what is in there directory.
Consequently, to retrieve specific information from the web directories
are inappropriate, Search engines provide fare better results due to the fact
that they often search the content of sites themselves. Furthermore, search
engines usually cover more pages, often also those which are less frequently
visited.
There for it can not be stated that either
search engines or directories are better. It always depends on the kind of
information that is searched.