Analyzing Search Engines

Analyzing Search Engines

ethan

1. Formulate five criteria for the evaluation of search engines

To effectively evaluate three different search engines from the perspective of an advanced web user, the following criteria were established:

1. Relevance and accuracy of search results

2. Search speed

3. Advanced search options

4. Other services

5. Site design and layout

More information about these criteria and how they were used is available below.

2. Test three search engines against your criteria

For this evaluation, the following three search engines were tested:

1. AltaVista - http://www.altavista.com/

2. Google - http://www.google.com/

3. DirectHit - http://www.directhit.com/

3. Explain your methodology

The criteria outlined in Part 1 were reached by considering the things that would be important to an advanced user. Of course, factors like Relevance and Speed are critical to such a user (particularly in a work environment). The search options criteria is particularly important to advanced users who are after a specific page and do not want to waste time 'wading' through results from a 'standard' search. The other criteria are important to most users and mean that the search engines are more usable and useful.

The search results from the three test search engines (Part 2) were evaluate according the criteria, explained it more detail below.

Criteria 1 - Relevance and Accuracy of Results

This criterion was to evaluate the usefulness of a particular sea...

Analyzing Search Engines

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