Dogpile.. and other search engines...


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Something I've been wondering about for a few days.. why don't more people use Dogpile? They combine search reslts from Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask; so wouldn't that yield even better results? Or, instead of giving better results, does it clutter the output with sites that arent really what you are looking for?

Just something I was wondering about. Would this be better than Google because it pulls from more resources.. or would it be worse because it pulls from "lesser quality" resources?

From what I can tell, it is the latter. A search on google for E539DEA3-BA67-4F1F-A897-5F2F4F29A063 (an adware CLSID) brings be to castlecops--a great directory for malware. On dogpile my first result is a site I've never heard of before, and castlecops didn't even make it to the first page of results.

Thoughts?

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Hey Matt,

I tried dogpile for awhile, it seemed like an okay search engine. I used yahoo for years, but, then switched to google. google works for me, I get good search results.....usually:-)

Hey whatever works.

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Hmmm, good question, Matt!

Son uses Dogpile and Google for homework, ahem I mean searching (what happened to the old fashioned library research??).

His Girlfriend acquired a Currier and Ives print titled "Belle in the Winter" and has been trying to find out information on it (no luck whatsoever on Google and Yahoo). I "Dogpiled"/imaged it and got a couple of sites that might just have at least a picture of that print--of course, the sites don't have the prints in alphabetical order, but I'm sending her those links! She can do the hunting. :) I'll let you know what she finds out!

Liz

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On the topic of Search Engines, has anyone messed with Microsoft's "Google Killer" Live? From what I've done, I wasn't too impressed. Coincidentially, Live yields similar results as Dogpile. Seems like Google just has that *special* touch to find what you want...

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Now here's something interesting. Since I started this threa, I've been playing with many many search engines. I have been repeating my search query E539DEA3-BA67-4F1F-A897-5F2F4F29A063 in all of them. As I stated, I've only like what Google produces, here. Now, I have come across IceRocket, here. It didn't look too promising; like some startup engine that will never be big. However, almost all the results found on the first page were identical to those of google. Even more, IceRocket has some tools such as page preview.

Its cool, but I doubt I'll be switching. Just read on Digg that Google is going to be redesigning their search results to include such features as: popualr pages inside this site, search this site, site preview, related image results, and image descriptions. This is all in an expandable menu. Should be pretty cool.

Brainboost is also handy. It work like AskJeeves was supposed to. You put in a question, and it spits out answers. Unfortunately, the answers are just quoted text from website. For example, if you typed "What is cake?" it would quote text from websites that say "Cake is..." This can give very good results, or something useless like "Cake is good." If you haven't checked it out, you should. It comes in handy.

Keeping the discussion going, is there anyone that does prefer something other than Google? I know for certain searches, like for video or audio files, I'll go to AllTheWeb. But other than that, I only use Google..

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I agree. I only use google for unknown CLSIDs; was just using that one as an example.

Back to search engines, has anyone tried Kartoo? It doesn't give the best results, but it does have an interesting layout. Its a graphical representation of the results. the larger ones are more relevent. When you mouse-over, it shouws what terms are closest realated to that site, and it also links similar results together. Kinda cool

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Son uses Dogpile and Google for homework, ahem I mean searching (what happened to the old fashioned library research??).

Google Scholar happened.

I find I get best results having a short list of specialized sites to search first (IMDB, Acronym Finder, etc.) and then Google for the remainder.

I use Google mainly for search features like "site:", dictionary definitions, the calculator, and its ability to provide some things directly with the results (example, example). Their ranking algorithm usually doesn't disappoint.

MSN's ranking system seems to be one of the more dysfunctional out there. For a few days, I was the number one hit for "summer of 69" (the Bryan Adams song), presumably because they give a lot of weight to .edu domains.

Edited by Aluvus
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Something I've been wondering about for a few days.. why don't more people use Dogpile? They combine search reslts from Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask; so wouldn't that yield even better results? Or, instead of giving better results, does it clutter the output with sites that arent really what you are looking for?

Just something I was wondering about. Would this be better than Google because it pulls from more resources.. or would it be worse because it pulls from "lesser quality" resources?

From what I can tell, it is the latter. A search on google for E539DEA3-BA67-4F1F-A897-5F2F4F29A063 (an adware CLSID) brings be to castlecops--a great directory for malware. On dogpile my first result is a site I've never heard of before, and castlecops didn't even make it to the first page of results.

Thoughts?

I think alot of it has to do with how well a Website is *Optimized for Search Engines* & what their *Page Ranking* is...

I've seen sites that have a *Higher Page Ranking* in Google show up in the first few pages where they may not show up until 15-20 pages later in another search engine or Vise versa..

There's a whole slew of websites that talk about Optimizing Websites for each particular search engine and what each search engine is usually looking for in *Keywords*.... I've read alot of them till I'm blue in the face and still haven't figured it out... There's even people out there you can pay to Optimize your site so you get higher page rankings and thus a better chance of getting visitors & sales..

This place comes to mind Search Engine Watch

A good example of *Keyword* Importance to a search engine, try searching on MSN for these words Exactly as they are: Funny Gamer pics

My site will show up on the 2nd result page at or near the bottom, where I will not even show up on Google or if I do I'm near the end of the search... On Yahoos search engine I prolly show up near the end also... Using those same words I show up on Page 3 at Dogpile... I am signed up with all the search engines...

My site has a Page Ranking of 5/10 which isn't to bad and an Alexa ranking around 800,000 which also is not bad (Since a few months ago it was in the millions) but would be way better if I was in the top 100,000....

I also think the reason alot of people don't use Dogpile is they have never heard of it or they are just used to what they have been using..

Edited by KeithLDick
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personally I think the page rankings system is a little skewed. in order to get a good place on the search engines you need to have specific keywords listed in a specific order, plus linkage to other well known sites. just doesn't make sense as to why they use it. but you do what you gotta do to get there.

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I've been using IceRocket for a few weeks, it's been working pretty good for me. I also like the new Ask.com I was never a big fan of the old version ask jeves but there really doing a good job also.

Does anyone use MSN search? I keep reading how MS is making improvements to go head to head with google.

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personally I think the page rankings system is a little skewed. in order to get a good place on the search engines you need to have specific keywords listed in a specific order, plus linkage to other well known sites. just doesn't make sense as to why they use it. but you do what you gotta do to get there.

I don't know about the links to other sites... But yes. Keywords are highly important. When I first started I would keep track of what people were looking for when they searched for and then hit my site. If I had no info. I would find and then add it to my site. Then add the correct keywords that would cause the search to point right to my place. I would say that keywords are about 70 per-cent of most websites success.

I would be lucky to get one or two hits in a month. But when I read up on keywords and started to play with them. Hits to my place jumped 95% in a month. And I have helped others get their sites going by helping them use keywords correctly. Funny thing is....using keywords are simple. Just not everyone knows what or why they are there.

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