Is it just me or is Google search utterly worthless?

[Speck Tater]

I have always used the Yahoo search engine out of habit and I kept hearing that Google was so much better. HA! I put in a couple of relevant search terms and Yahoo finds EXACTLY the pages I'm looking for while Google brings up 54 million pages that have NOTHING to do with my search terms.

Yesterday I was looking for the website of a company in town that has been in business for years and years. I typed in the company name in Google and it found exactly nothing. No results. Zip. Nada. I typed the same company name into Yahoo and it found the company's website as the first listing followed by two dozen sites that mentioned the company by name.

Another example: I was curious to see if the script for a particular episode of the TV series Roswell was available online so I typed "Roswell script" into both search engines. The Google results had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with scripts for Roswell, (but did mention half a dozen other, unrelated TV shows like a Smallville site, a Wonderfalls site, a Back To The Future site, etc. etc.) The Yahoo search results were exactly and specifically about Roswell scripts, and smack on target.

My short two-week research project into Google vs Yahoo has resulted in Yahoo finding every site I looked for and Google finding not one single site I was looking for. Not one!

So all the hype about Google is just plain B.S. as far as I'm concerned. Yahoo search blows it clear out of the water when it comes to actually finding relevant sites. Anybody else discover that? Or am I just nuts?

[Random_Australian]

1. ...

Results 1 - 10 of about 258,000 for it just me or is Google search utterly worthless. (0.19 seconds)

[tuvor]

2. I've been using Google since 1999.

It seems you've had many more problems in two weeks with Google than I've had since last century.

Go figure.

ON EDIT: Look what I just found through Google. (Click on "Roswell" on the left.) http://members.lycos.co.uk/transcripdfs/

[Speck Tater]

3. Truly odd

Google found nothing for me on that search, and Yahoo found me the transcript of the exact episode I was looking for first try. I don't understand., Computers are just too mysterious...

[tuvor]

4. Totally picky addendum

The words I used were: tv roswell script

Glad your tools are doing what you want them to. :)

[qnr]

5. It's you.

Seems that lots of sites with Roswell scripts came up for me - I have no idea why it didn't work for you:

[ghostsofgiants]

6. ...

:P

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

18. ....

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[billyskank]

24. ROFL

:rofl:

[barb162]

7. I like google; never used yahoo

[billyskank]

8. You're nuts

:P

Google is amazing.

Also their web site is wonderfully free of bullshit. Compare this: www.yahoo.com (lots of bullshit), or this: www.msn.com (even worse), to this: www.google.com. What a wonderful lack of bullshit.

[BikeWriter]

9. I lurves me some Google! I challenge you to...

a cowpatty duel at twenty paces. ;-)

[terrya]

10. Google is the best

I can always find what I'm looking for with Google. And it's FAST.

[ScreamingMeemie]

11. It's you. Google is my lifesaver for work so many, many times.

:hi:

[GirlinContempt]

12. It's just you

I wish I knew how you managed that.

[bigwillq]

13. I prefer Google (nt)

[Misunderestimator]

14. You work for Yahoo, don't you?

:)

[DS1]

15. That, or a bubble gum maker

;-)

[Misunderestimator]

19. Oh cool... look what google found...

Build Your Own Bubblegum Bod

:bounce:

[_testify_]

22. Chewlies!

[Midlodemocrat]

16. I do research professionally and there is no better search engine

than Google. Go to advanced search and get some search term help. You're wasting your time at Yahoo.

[electron_blue]

17. I've had the exact opposite experience

When I try Yahoo, I get zilch. Google rocks for me!

[Strong Atheist]

20. They are both good. I like dogpile as well. nt.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

21. Speak softly and sincerely apologize to Google.

You obviously did something to piss it off, because it's nice to everyone else.

[lildreamer316]

23. Unfortunately, helluva lot better than MSN.

which REALLY sucks!

[liontamer]

25. i think it's just you

when you get used to how a given search engine works, you enter in searches in ways that maximize that engine. If i were doing the same google search, i would have entered: TV, scripts, Roswell, episodes
if i were entering a company name, i would enter: "company name", industry, location

Since you're obviously more used to yahoo searches I'd stick with them, but I can never figure out what they want. I remember trying to find an album by the cranberries in yahoo and was shocked that not only did I not find the band, i didn't even find anything about the fruit.

[imperialismispasse]

26. It's definitely just you

I use Google all day for work and I've never found a faster or better search engine. Years ago I used alta vista but Google is far superior to all the other search engines available, and I've tried them all.

[Bassic]

27. Well I've always found Google to be much more accurate

And that's no contest. Google kicks Yahoo's butt, to me anyway.

[no name no slogan]

28. It depends on how you search, and what you're searching for

(DISCLAIMER: I have done search engine optimization on a professional level for web sites, and know a little more than the average web user about how they operate.)

Yahoo! and Google use different methods (or "algorithms") for ranking their search results: consequently you'll get different results from each engine.

Google typically ranks its results based on how many links a certain page has to other web pages and its popularity among web surfers. Generally speaking, the more links you have pointing to it, the higher the page ranks in its listing. So if you are looking for an episode of a TV show that not many people find popular, chances are it will show up lower in Google's rankings than in another search engine.

Yahoo, OTOH, puts more emphasis on the content of a page, and the frequency of occurence of "keywords" in the content or metadata. It factors in page popularity, but doesn't emphasise it as much as Google does.

There are literally hundreds of web-based search engines, and they all use different variations on these themes to rank and sort their results. If you can't find what you're looking for using Google, you'll probably find it using Inktomi or one of the other search engines.

[I Have A Dream]

29. I love Google. I think that it's much better than Yahoo. n/t

[begin_within]

30. I have found that Google Images is a better engine than Google web search

You get instant feedback in the form of pictures and you can quickly zero in on the site that is most appropriate for what you are looking for, rather than reading through a bunch of sentence fragments.

[azmouse]

31. I like ask.com