Do You Go GaGa For Google? (Update!)
Written: Aug 08 '00 (Updated Mar 08 '01)
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The Bottom Line
Best search engine in the world. Cool toolbar too. Which is why I edited it. To talk about the toolbar. Capiche?
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Before I sat down to write a review on the Google search engine, I was thinking to myself "Just how the heck are you going to write a review on a search engine that barely makes the 100 word limit?" I mean, it is a search engine. Type in a word, it finds results. That easy. But, thankfully, it did come to me how to write a review on a search engine, specifically my favorite one, Google (and no, it's not because of the name). If you want a no frills, no fancy effects, just a plain-old search engine that delivers a ton of great links, with a ton of extras that make searching easier, Google is your choice.
About Google - Google was founded by 2 Stanford University students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The wanted to make a search engine that had no frills, and delivered the results you wanted. Quickly, with no hassle. Basically, these two developed a system that dissected websites for quality, as well as the importance of them. That way, it eliminates those sites that are no help to your search. Google currently indexes an amazing 1,060,000,000 (9 zeros - ONE BILLION) pages for view. It now is also the main search tool for Yahoo as well. Also, Google is rated the number one search engine for loyalty and customer satisfaction. And for good reason.
Look And Feel - When I say no-frills, I mean no-frills. When you type in the web address, http://www.google.com, you get a little box to type your search in, with a few options which I will get to in a minute. That is it. There is no slick "My Google" type page similar to My Yahoo or something, and no free email program. This is a search engine, nothing more, nothing less. If you are looking for a slick homepage, you are out of luck with Google.
I can't deny that the site is a little bland, but I am not interested in looking at graphics, I am interested in getting results for a search. And that is where Google shines.
The Actual Search Process - There is two basic features - "Google Search", and "I'm Feeling Lucky." For the first one, you just type in the keyword or words and it will list the sites it finds. For the "Lucky" one, it finds the website that best fits your query. Like if I typed in "Epinions" and hit "Feeling Lucky", it would take me straight to the Epinions website. It is definitely nice if you know the site, but can't remember the address.
For the regular search, it brings back a ton of results most of the time. And quickly. It generates your page in less than a second most of the time. How does it do it? It uses it's internal cache (pronounced "cash" as in money) to store the pages and that allows them to toss the results up quickly. From there it takes you to the page that is current. Example - I typed in my user name for Epinions, and it tossed up my profile page, and it was dated way back in April, saying I had only written 15 reviews. I clicked on it, and it took me to my current Epinions status. Very nice!
Now, you might think that doing it this way would result in a lot of broken links. And believe it or not, not really. I saw exactly one "dead" link, and all it did was redirect me to the regular version of the site, so broken links are pretty rare. And the site is VERY current. When I typed in my Epinions user name, it even had my personal Geocities site listed, that is maybe 2 months old. A month ago it was different. So that means that Google updates their list of sites periodically, so the broken links are reduced.
There are also a few advanced options to go along with your searching duties.
Advanced Search - This allows you to iron down the specifics of your search (but most of the search engines offer this too). You can set it to find sites that specifically have a particular word, or you can have it exclude some words. Also, you can include and exclude different pages on different sites or domains. Better yet, you can set the specific language that you want your search in. After all, Si vous ne pouvez pas parler français, comment pouvez-vous lire les sites (If you can't speak French, how can you read the sites?)?
Language, Display, And Filtering Options - From here you can again set the language you want the results to be brought back in, as well as set the languages you want Google messages sent to you. There is also a setting for you to set the number of results you want brought back per page, 10,20,30,50, and 100. Plus there is a filter that eliminates x-rated sites (like Epinions. It's a JOKE okay?!) from prying eyes. It then allows you to save the preferences to a cookie, so you don't have to mess with them again unless you want to.
Other Cool Stuff - There is also a few really neat features that you can use to further your Google experience (as opposed to the Jimi Hendrix Experience).
Affiliate Program - From here, you can arrange with Google to use their search engine on your website. There are a handful of different agreements you can do with them. The affiliate one will pay you three cents for each search on your website. The drawback is you cannot customize the process, but you get paid. There is also a free one that pays nothing but allows a bit of customization to go along with it. Also, there is a Gold and Silver plan where you have to pay Google to use the search engine, but you get a ton of customization to work with. There is even a custom version that you have to call to arrange the service. It's a nice thing for those who want to have a nice search engine on their webpage.
Google Browser Buttons - This is my favorite feature. Instead of going to the Google site to do your searching, you can add links to your Links toolbar on Internet Explorer or Netscape, for quick access. All you do is drag and drop the links from the particular page that has them, and they are placed on the toolbar, permanently (or until you delete them). There are three buttons to use.
1) - Google Search - Just click this button and it will pop-up a window, and you can type in your search query and it will take you to the results. It's very nice to have, so you don't have to go to the page for the search, it will take you there itself.
2) - GoogleScout - This option will show you webpages that are similar to the one you are currently visiting. If you are at http://www.nfl.com It will show you a batch of football sites. I did notice a odd quirk when doing this - on my Epinions affiliate, The Stone Cold Truth, it gave me a ton of irrelevant pages. Must be the TSCT thing I guess.
3) - Google.com - This one takes you to the Google webpage. Plain and simple. It's a built in bookmark.
*BONUS!* - Recently, Google created a little Internet Explorer and Netscape 4.x plug-in cleverly called the "Google Toolbar." It's kind of like those above things that I discussed way back in August, but it's all in one spot. Tres cool!; the bar gives you a place for search - hit enter and you'll be taken to the usual results that Google is famous for.
Even more interesting is the little statistical stuff it gives you. A "page rank" sign gives you a bar of how the site rates in terms of importance at that current time (Epinions is pretty high up there). A "page info" button lets you see Google's cached version of the page; related links, and a backwards links option which I haven't used. It's a nice little download that is free and quick to install.
Overall - Google is in my mind the premier web searching tool right now. It may not be the prettiest site, it may not give you a nice homepage or free email, but it delivers search results fast. And that is what a search engine should do.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
awoolcott
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Location: Arizona
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2009 means more new games!
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