The Pandia Post Newsletter No. 7

March 2001

The Pandia Post is the newsletter of the Pandia Search Central, your online guide to Internet searching.

EDITORIAL

More changes in the world of Internet searching

The world of search engines and directories is changing at a rapid pace, one major reason being the fall of the online advertising market. Yahoo!'s stock is in free fall and its CEO has resigned. Although the site is dominating the portal and search site market, it finds it hard to make money from all these visitors. Some observers say that the lack of revenue may be the end of Yahoo!. We do not think so, but we would not be surprised if Yahoo! becomes part of a major merger or takeover.

The Disney company pulled out of the portal/search engine market earlier this month, as it closed its Go portal. This also meant an end to the good old Infoseek search engine and the Go Guides Directory. Yes, there is still a site at http://www.go.com/, but this is nothing but a one-page gateway to Disney's other sites. The pay-per-click search engine GoTo, Go's old "enemy", now powers the search facility. In 1999 GoTo defeated Go in court, as Go had started using a logo very similar to GoTo's own.

AltaVista has given up its attempt to become a major portal, and is again focusing on what it knows best, that is: searching. It has started using its large 500 million pages database on the regular search site, and added new news and shopping search engines.

There are also a few changes at Pandia:

We have removed the Go/Infoseek and Deja.com (see article below) Q-cards. On the other hand, we have added a new Google card, with search query syntax rules and terms, some of them undocumented at the Google site.

Furthermore, we have redesigned our popular Powersearch all-in-one gateway to search engines and directories. The goal has been to make the resource centre more accessible and easier to navigate.

The Powersearch link collection has been divided into several sections containing specific search resources:

• General search engines and directories
• Search engines for FTP, MP3 and images
• Reference resources
• Online Radio Stations
• Discussion groups and Usenet
• Online books
• Business
• Shopping
• Sites for specialized searching
• Search Sites for kids

We have also made a new site map that should make it easier to get an overview of the content of our site. You can access this map by clicking on the "Search this Site" link in the left margin of any page. The sitemap page also includes a search form that can be used to search the Pandia site itself.

GoTo replaces Infoseek at Go: http://www.pandia.com/sew/index.php
More changes at AltaVista: http://www.pandia.com/searchworld/2001-11-altavista.html
Another new look for AltaVista: http://www.pandia.com/searchworld/2001-09-altavista.html
Google Q-card: http://www.pandia.com/q-cards/google.html
Pandia redesigns it all-in-one Powersearch gateway: http://www.pandia.com/searchworld/2001-06-powersearch.html
Pandia sitemap: http://www.pandia.com/info/searchsite.html

We would like to apologize for the delay of this issue of Pandia Post. It was caused by a ruptured appendix, and we can assure you -- writing newsletters is the last thing on your mind after an operation like that.

At the same time, our server reached its limits, and we had to upgrade our system. We apologize if this has caused you any inconvenience. However, the new system is now up and running.

Best regards,

Susanne and Per Koch
Editors

THE PANDIA AWARDS 2001

Welcome to the first annual Pandia Award for high quality search sites! There are a lot of people out there trying to improve our ability to find information on the Net, and we would like to give tribute to some of them.

The winners have been selected by the Pandia editorial team, with good assistance from our readers. In the previous issue of the Pandia Post newsletter we asked our visitors to take part in a poll, where you could grade various search sites from 1 (lousy) to 5 (excellent). We have taken the result of this poll into consideration.

Please note that the Pandia site itself, with its various guides and search tools, has not been considered for any award.

And the winners are:

The Award for Best All-round Search Site: Google

Our poll showed that there were very few search sites that were graded "excellent". There was one notable exception: Google. As many as 57% of the respondents gave Google the top mark. We agree, Google deserves to be named the best all-round search engine of 2001. Here are some of the reasons:

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders and leaders of Google.

The Google search algorithm gives it an uncanny ability to list the most relevant sites first. The system is by no means perfect (how could it be?), but the fact that Google gives a boost in the ranking for sites that have a lot of inbound links from popular sites covering the same topic, does seem to lead to better results.

Google has also got a large database. It covers more than 600 million pages completely, and has links to some 600 million more.

Google is a master of simplicity. The home page is clean and uncluttered. It is not much more than a search form and a logo, really. There is more behind this plain facade, however. Google has recently acquired the Deja.com search engine for the Usenet, which means that Google is the only place where you can search newsgroup messages.

Our main complaint is that Google is not that good as regards advanced Internet searching. By all means, it is getting better. Its menu based page for advanced search is very useful, there are new search terms that will help professional researchers, and there is some limited support for the Boolean OR operator. Unfortunately you cannot build more complex Boolean queries using -- for instance -- brackets (nesting).

Google gets the award for its user-friendly interface, its large database and its talent for finding relevant sites.

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

The Award for Best Professional Search Site: AltaVista

AltaVista has always been good on advanced Boolean searching. Moreover, it has included a very good tutorial on advanced searching, which also includes tips to webmasters on how to improve their rankings.

There are no less than two forms for advanced searching: one for Boolean queries and one based on pull-down menus.

Unfortunately, last year a lot of searchers and researchers seemed to loose their faith in AltaVista. Webmasters complained about the result rankings, while searchers got lost in a cluttered interface.

AltaVista has obviously been listening. This year it has abandoned its attempt to become an all-round Web portal, and the site is again focusing on searching. The front page has been simplified, and a lot of non-essential features have been removed. On the other hand it is adding several so called "vertical" search engines, including pages for shopping and news.

We also appreciate that AltaVista is finally using its 500 million-page database on its main site, not the reduced version that could be accessed previously.

There is still work to be done on result ranking and relevance, but AltaVista's honest attempts to become a high quality search engine once again earns it the Pandia Award for best professional search engine. It gets the award for its strong support for advanced searching (including the NEAR adjacency operator) and its extensive guides to Internet searching and search engine promotion.

AltaVista: http://www.altavista.com/
AltaVista advanced search tutorial: http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_toc.html

The Award for Best Site on Searching: Search Engine Watch

Danny Sullivan started "A Webmaster's Guide To Search Engines" as early as 1995. In Web terms, that's ancient history, and its most of all Sullivan's long experience with search engines and directories that makes this award winner such a valuable resource. Search Engine Watch, which now incorporates the Webmaster's guide, is by many reckoned to be the Net's most authoritative guide to search engines.

The site is huge, and includes information on a wide array of topics, including search engine submission, search techniques, tools, resources, ratings and tests. There is also a very informative newsletter. A paid subscription will give you access to more detailed information.

In spite if its size, the site is fairly easy to navigate, as the content is divided into quite intuitive "departments". The large amount of information does, however, make the site's search facility a must. New visitors should also take a look at the site map.

Danny Sullivan is head of Calafia Consulting, a company that provides a wide range of Internet and World Wide Web consulting services, including search engine submission, Internet publicity and promotion, and more. Search Engine Watch is now owned by Internet.com, but Sullivan remains the editor.

Search Engine Watch gets the price for best site on searching, because of its wide coverage and good insight into all things search engine.

Search Engine Watch: http://searchenginewatch.com/
Site map: http://www.searchenginewatch.com/sitemap.html
About Danny Sullivan: http://calafia.com/about/

Best Search Engine Forum Site: Webmaster World

There are several discussion forums on Internet searching and search engine promotion that give searchers useful information on how to find relevant search facilities and how to use them. There is Jim's World's Search Engine Forum, The Search-L Discussion List, The Traffick Community, Websearch About.com and many more (see http://www.pandia.com/resources/discussions.html). Our present favourite, however, is Webmaster World.

Yes, this is indeed a forum that is mainly concerned with webmaster's attempts to get good placements for their websites in the search engine listings. Still, the discussions generate a lot of information that will be of use for professional Internet searchers as well. However, absolute beginners should probably look elsewhere.

Webmaster World has several forums devoted to particular search engines, including Google, AltaVista and Inktomi and special sections focusing on European, Asian and pay-per-click search engines.

What makes Webmaster World different from some of the other forums on the Net, is the large number of optimisation professionals taking part in the discussions. This means that it is a suitable source for up to date information on search engine development.

Webmaster World wins the award because of lively discussions that generate a lot of useful information for webmasters and researchers.

Webmaster World: http://webmasterworld.com/

The Pandia Award for Best Publication: Alan M. Schlein

Find It Online, The Complete Guide to Online Research, by the Washington author, reporter and producer Alan M. Schlein, is a treasure trove of rare and interesting search tools beyond the world of ordinary search engines and directories.

Here are people finders, mapping tools, yellow pages, government sources, public records, news resources, business tools, and much more. This is the book for professional researchers - librarians, journalists, scientists, investigators, salesmen and information managers - who are looking for detailed information on rather obscure topics. Nevertheless, the accidental searcher will also benefit from browsing this book.

Find It Online does give a short introduction to the art of Internet searching, as well as on how to use the major search engines. But there are also chapters on how to save and download results, on managing and filtering information, on how to evaluate accuracy, credibility and authority and on the question of privacy and protection. The book includes tips from search experts like Greg Notess and Barbara Quint.

Alan M. Schlein is given the Pandia Award for Best Publication on Internet Searching for the book Find it Online because of his insight into the world of Internet searching and research, and his ability to present this knowledge in a clear and informative manner.

Amazon.com on this book.

The Pandia Award of Honour: Tara Calishain

The Pandia Post will give you the essential search engine news on a bimonthly basis, but if you want a weekly update on online search facilities you ought to subscribe to Tara Calishain's informative and entertaining newsletter ResearchBuzz.

ResearchBuzz covers search engines and Web directories, data managing software, browser technology, large compendiums of information -- well, anything that a reference librarian might find useful. No wonder she has a loyal following among librarians, journalists and other information and research professionals.

She is also editor of LLRXBuzz, another weekly newsletter. LLRXBuzz provides news and site reviews of special interest to legal researchers. However, the newsletter also includes news that will be of use for all information workers.

As if this wasn't enough she recently started yet another newsletter, called ResearchBuzz Wire, for those who are interested in news from the business side of the search engine and portal world. How does she find the time?

Tara Calishain is the co-author of Official Netscape Guide to Internet Research, 2nd Edition, and author or co-author of four other books. She is the owner of CopperSky Writing & Research.

Tara Calishain is awarded the Pandia Award of Honour for her services to the search, research and information communities, and her great ability to find, assess and present news and resources of interest to Internet searchers.

ResearchBuzz: http://www.researchbuzz.com/
LLRX.com: http://www.llrx.com/

The Pandia poll

PANDIA SEARCH WORLD

Google takes over Deja.com

Deja.com, the Net's only surviving search engine for the Usenet, recently sold its shopping search technology, and it could seem that it was going to become a pure search engine once again. Given the recent downturn in the online ad market, however, it is easy to see that this could not be a viable option. There are a lot of surfers out there that need to search Deja.com's archives of newsgroups messages, but probably not enough to justify a separate site.

Enter the highly popular Google search engine. Google has bought the Deja.com database over newsgroup messages and Deja.com is history. You can now search the Deja.com archives at Google instead. At the moment you cannot use the Google Web site to post messages in the Usenet discussion forums, nor can you limit searches by date. Google says, however, that these features will be reintroduced shortly. Moreover, Google intends to include all 500 million messages entered since 1995 into the searchable within a few months.

You can read more about the takeover at http://www.pandia.com/searchworld/2001-10-deja.html
Google Usenet Search: http://groups.google.com/

SITESEEING

Search Engine Guide

Pandia is not the only site on the Net devoted to Internet searching. Search Engine Guide is well worth a visit. It contains a searchable directory of search engines, articles written by experts from the search engine industry, newsletters and news. The site's main focus is on optimising Web pages for search engine positioning.

BOOKS

Searching the Internet

The publisher Dorling Kindersley is known for its popular illustrated guides to about everything. The company has now published a pocket guide to Internet searching, written by Brian Cooper.

This is definitely a beginner's guide, and professional searchers and researchers should look elsewhere. Surfers that are not too familiar with the Web and search engines may on the other hand benefit from having a guide that illustrates the use of browsers and search facilities in such an informative way. Among the topics covered are:

• Getting Organized
• Using Internet Explorer
• Searching from the Address Box
• Using Advanced Help Pages
• Exploring Search Indexes
• Understanding Search Engines

Buy this book from Amazon.com
Buy this book from Amazon.co.uk

FINALLY...

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The Pandia Post is edited by Per and Susanne Koch, . Pandia Post Home Page: http://www.pandia.com/post/.

The Pandia Post is copyright 2001 P&S Koch. All rights reserved. Visit the Pandia Search Central for more information on Internet searching: http://www.pandia.com/

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