Step aside please Google

Hey that's pretty good

Submitted by skunk on April 1, 2002 - 10:16.

Unlike google this engine doesn't necessarily search for pages containing the word(s) you typed in. I tried out quite a few terms - "css", "php" etc and the results were excellent - the whole community idea meant that the sites listed at the top were the sites that were judged most relevant by the community of sites concerned with that term. I've been using google as my only search engine for months but Teoma was impressive enough to be added to my Mozilla search shortcuts.

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Step aside?

Submitted by aericks on April 2, 2002 - 16:48.

I think your title is a bit much. Step aside? I don't think so. (Well, I certainly hope not.) Google's history of being a great search engine plus their obvious committment to usability, providing a great service and being very accessible will keep it at the top of the pack, I think. First one to do a pop-up ad loses.

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Google is still the clear winner.

Submitted by marlene on April 2, 2002 - 19:33.

I applaud Teoma for using authoritative link references as a major technique in calculating results, and for its spare and clean results pages. BUT...

Some of the downsides I see in Teoma's results:

1. Teoma doesn't cache the pages it crawls. Now it's obvious that Google's caching is great when a page has been changed or removed on the original site, 'cause you can usually still view the cached version.

2. The other plus is that by caching the results, Google can give you a snippet of text from the page containing the searched word, thus giving the description context. Teoma still falls back on the tired old method of just picking up the first 20 or so words on a page, which without a meta-description could be anything.

For example, a search for "JSP" on both Teoma and Google yielded the same first result. Let's compare the descriptions:

Teoma's description:
"Java Technology Home Page Help pages A-Z Index The Source for Java Technology Downloads, APIs, Documentation Java Developer Connection..."

Google's description:
"... JavaServer Pages TM (JSP TM ) technology allows web developers and designers to rapidly develop and easily maintain, information-rich, dynamic web pages that ..."

I prefer the second description.

3. Google allows you to search within the results, for better fine-tuning of your search. I think Teoma's attempt to help you narrow your search by suggesting alternatives is admirable, but it's also limiting because the list is only (in this case) 5 items long. In comparison, Google provides a category link within each result which, when clicked, gives you a much more comprehensive set of resources to further your search, with short descriptions to assist.

For example:

A Teoma alternative link for "JSP" (under "Refine - Suggestions to narrow your search):
Lowrider Euro
[No description, I don't know what to expect. No listed URL to help me make sense of the suggestion either.]

A Google alternative link for "JSP" (under "Category: Computers > Programming > Internet > JSP"):
JavaServer Pages - http://java.sun.com/products/jsp/
Sun Microsystems official JSP specification home page.

The second is more helpful to me. Teoma's lack of descriptive helpers continues in their "Resources - Link collection from experts and enthusiasts." In many cases I have no idea what to expect.

4. Teoma's layout doesn't fit at 800x600 (on my Mac, anyway). Google's fits at 640x480. I don't usually surf at full screen, unless forced to, and I often prefer to surf small.

5. Google shows the full URL in the results. Teoma truncates the long ones. Sometimes I find the full URL really helpful.

6. Teoma has indexed at least some of the evolt.org site, but apparently not all. I searched for an article I posted on evolt.org a while back, "Accessibility: More than the Right Thing to Do." Google searched the phrase (I included quotes) and came up with 104 results, many of them links to my article. Teoma came up with none, despite the (relative) abundance of links. When searched as a non-phrase, Google found more accessibility-relevant articles than Teoma, and ranked the relevant ones higher. Granted, Google's been around much longer, so this particular point may be rendered irrelevant before too long.

In closing, I'd like to also mention that like Teoma, Google too uses "authoritative" links to pages as a primary source of result placement. While heavily weighted by this device, Google's complex (and closely guarded) algorithm goes even further to try to return the most relevant results. If you're interested, read more about Google's page ranking methods.

Also, Google has a lot more to offer through the images, groups, and directory tabs. And have you ever tried catalogs.google.com?

Still, in the end it comes down to what works best for you.

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Thanks for the link :)

Submitted by Spyder on April 2, 2002 - 19:43.

I've been a fan of google for ages (and still am) but this looks really promising. The categorised sub groups are really handy too... Now all I need is for someone to make a google+teoma bar for IE and I'll be happy :)One thing I don't get is why they are using ASP to display the results... yuck!

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it looks like you have to pay to get listed

Submitted by deahall on April 2, 2002 - 20:44.

See http://ask.ineedhits.com/

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Seems to be a trend.

Submitted by marlene on April 2, 2002 - 21:33.

Perhaps they're requesting payment to be more prominent in the results? If so, it's smarmy. Artificially improved placement in the results would certainly be worse than the "sponsored links" on Google. Humpf either way.

Side Gripe
The notion of a trend comes to mind because now when posting your resume to CareerBuilder.com, you can pay to have your resume given higher relevance when an employer searches for your skills. I quote:

"Search results on CareerBuilder are sorted by upgrade value. Listings with the highest upgrade appear first. Free listings appear last. With 2,500,000+ resumes to compete with, it's clear that upgrading can increase your visibility exponentially."

Not only is the statement, "it's clear that upgrading can increase your visibility exponentially" completely unsupported by any actual statistical data, but the whole notion is pretty sickening.

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Google is Still the King

Submitted by TragicGod on May 10, 2002 - 09:03.

Until this new search engine get out and about Google still stands as one of the best and most popular search engines in town. But personally im going to make this new site my homepage. The results i get with normal keyword searches are awesome.

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