Search results

The World Wide Web's search engines are the main tools for indexing and retrieval of Internet resources today. Comparison and evaluation of their performance is of great importance for system developers and information professionals, as well as end‐users, for the improvement and development of better tools. The paper describes categories and special features of Web‐based databases and compares them with traditional databases. It then presents a review of the literature on the testing and evaluation of Web‐based search engines. Different methodologies and measures used in previous studies are described and their findings are summarised. The paper presents some evaluative comments on previous studies and suggests areas for future investigation, particularly evaluation of Web‐based search engines from the end‐user's perspective.

A ‘World Wide Web search engine’ is defined as a retrieval service, consisting of a database (or databases) describing mainly resources available on the World Wide Web (WWW), search software and a user interface also available via WWW. After intro ducing early Internet search engines, which are pertinent as precursors for the current range of WWW search engines, the problems of searching the WWW (link persistence, lack of integrated search software) and the resulting search engine types (keyword or directory) are analysed. Search engines of all types are then compared across their generic features (database content, retrieval software, and search interface), rather than on a search engine by search engine basis. Finally, wider information access issues aris ing from the nature of the Internet and web search engines are considered, and a general strategy for using web search engines is proposed.

Search engines exist to help sort through all the information available on the Internet, but have thus fair failed to shoulder any responsibility for the content which appears on the pages they present in their indexes. Search engines lack any transparency to clarify how results were found, and how they are connected to the search terms. Thus, problems arise in connection with the protection of minors – namely, that minors have access, intentional or unwitting, to content which may be harmful to them. The findings of this study point to the need for a better framework for the protection of children. This framework should include codes of conduct for search engines, more accurate labeling of Web site data, and the outlawing of search engine manipulation. This study is intended as a first step in making the public aware of the problem of protecting children on the Internet.

An empirical investigation of the consistency of retrieval through Internet search engines is reported. Thirteen engines are evaluated: AltaVista, EuroFerret, Excite, HotBot, InfoSeek, Lycos, MSN, NorthernLight, Snap, WebCrawler and three national Dutch engines: Ilse, Search.nl and Vindex. The focus is on a characteristics related to size: the degree of consistency to which an engine retrieves documents. Does an engine always present the same relevant documents that are, or were, available in its databases? We observed and identified three types of fluctuations in the result sets of several kinds of searches, many of them significant. These should be taken into account by users who apply an Internet search engine, for instance to retrieve as many relevant documents as possible, or to retrieve a document that was already found in a previous search, or to perform scientometric/bibliometric measurements. The fluctuations should also be considered as a complication of other research on the behaviour and performance of Internet search engines. In conclusion: in view of the increasing importance of the Internet as a publication/communication medium, the fluctuations in the result sets of Internet search engines can no longer be neglected.

The purpose of this paper is to decrease the traffic created by search engines’ crawlers and solve the deep web problem using an innovative approach.

A new algorithm was formulated based on best existing algorithms to optimize the existing traffic caused by web crawlers, which is approximately 40 percent of all networking traffic. The crux of this approach is that web servers monitor and log changes and communicate them as an XML file to search engines. The XML file includes the information necessary to generate refreshed pages from existing ones and reference new pages that need to be crawled. Furthermore, the XML file is compressed to decrease its size to the minimum required.

The results of this study have shown that the traffic caused by search engines’ crawlers might be reduced on average by 84 percent when it comes to text content. However, binary content faces many challenges and new algorithms have to be developed to overcome these issues. The proposed approach will certainly mitigate the deep web issue. The XML files for each domain used by search engines might be used by web browsers to refresh their cache and therefore help reduce the traffic generated by normal users. This reduces users’ perceived latency and improves response time to http requests.

The study sheds light on the deficiencies and weaknesses of the algorithms monitoring changes and generating binary files. However, a substantial decrease of traffic is achieved for text-based web content.

The findings of this research can be adopted by web server software and browsers’ developers and search engine companies to reduce the internet traffic caused by crawlers and cut costs.

The exponential growth of web content and other internet-based services such as cloud computing, and social networks has been causing contention on available bandwidth of the internet network. This research provides a much needed approach to keeping traffic in check.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of online loyalty and disloyalty in search engine usage by young Millennials.

Data were collected from 495 pupils between the ages of 14 to 17 years old.

The attitude towards computers is not influencing brand loyalty. The main predictors of brand loyalty are the emotional link that users develop with the search engine, the attitude towards said engine, and in particular the perceived quality of results. The best predictors of disloyalty are the level of two‐way communication, the lack of satisfaction as well as the involvement of the user with computers, while the actual perceived characteristics of the search engine are not predicting disloyalty.

Since the data were collected from one school in the UK only, the teenage internet users in the study's sample are likely to come from families with a similar profile. For further research a sample drawn from other areas, therefore, more representative of the make‐up of the population in the UK would be interesting.

Given the importance of teenage users and their expected long‐term value as internet users, this paper is contributing to the literature by understanding some of the key drivers of their loyalty and disloyalty.

The aim of this paper is to study the impact of internet search engine usage with special reference to OPAC searches in the Punjabi University Library, Patiala, Punjab (India).

The primary data were collected from 352 users comprising faculty, research scholars and postgraduate students of the university. A questionnaire was designed as the data collection tool to obtain information on the impact of the web on OPAC. The data thus collected were analysed with the help of the SPSS (version 14.0) statistical package to present the findings in percentage and ranking formats.

The study revealed that the information‐searching behaviour of academicians was changing significantly in the web environment. A large number of users explored the web to garner relevant information for academic purposes. The majority were influenced by search engines because they also used OPAC, like the search engines. It is also clear from the study that internet search engines not only affected OPAC users in developed countries, but also impacted upon the less developed countries like India. Thus, it is more a battle of survival and sustainability for the OPAC vis‐à‐vis its close contemporary the web‐search engine.

This is a pioneering work in India studying the impact of web searching on OPAC users. Keeping in perspective the approach of twenty‐first century users, the present research suggests recommendations for designing a user friendly OPAC that entails simplistic search strategies for university libraries of India and other developing countries.

The Internet and related information services attract increasing interest from information retrieval researchers. A survey of recent publications show that frequent topics are the effectiveness of search engines, information validation and quality, user studies, design of user interfaces, data structures and metadata, classification and vocabulary based aids, and indexing and search agents. Current research in these areas is briefly discussed. The changing balance between CD‐ROM sources and traditional online searching is quite important and is noted.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of various search engines and meta search engines by Indian academics for retrieving information on the web. It also aims to know whether the academics use search strategy of various search engines for retrieval of information or not, and how the Indian academics learn the various search strategies for using search engines.

The data collection instruments used for this study were a questionnaire and follow-up interviews with students and faculty members. The questionnaire consisted of various questions which were designed to elicit the use of search engines, search strategies and method of leaning the search strategies of search engines. A total of 450 questionnaires were distributed, out of which 300 duly filled copies were returned, constituting a 66.66 percent response rate. The data thus collected were analysed with the help of the SPSS (version 19.0) statistical package to present the findings in percentage and test the formulated hypothesis.

The findings of the survey show that the majority of the respondents most frequently used Google (91.93 percent) and Yahoo (43.85 percent) while Dogpile and Ixquick (35.78 percent each) were less frequently used by the respondents. 65.26 percent of respondents used the search strategy for retrieving information. The study also shows that there is a significant relationship between the respondent's profession and use of search engines (p=0.018) as well use search strategies of search engines (p=0.028). Method of learning the search strategies of search engines is also associated with the respondent's profession (p=0.008).

The results of this study have clear implications for information literacy instruction in the context of search engines. The study recommends that there is a need to conduct intensive training for students and faculty members in order for them to acquire the essential search strategies for effective information retrieval. The findings of the study will be helpful to concerned authorities to enhance the effective and efficient use of search engines by the respondents.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse if citizens’ searches on the internet coincide with the services that municipal websites offer. In addition, the authors examine municipal webpage rankings in search engines and the factors explaining them.

The empirical study, conducted through a sample of Spanish city councils, contrasted if the information that can be found on a municipal website fits with citizens’ demands. This has been done by comparing the most-searched keywords with the contents of municipal websites.

A positive relationship between the supply and demand of municipal information on the internet has been found, but much can still be improved. Analysed administrations rank the basic data of the organisation, as well as some of the fundamental competences thereof, at the top in search engines, but the results are not entirely effective with some keywords still highly demanded by citizens, such as those related to employment or tourism. Factors explaining internet ranking include the number of pages of the municipal website, its presence in social networks and an indicator designed to measure the difficulty of ranking the municipal place-name.

The results obtained from this study provide valuable information for municipal managers. Municipal websites should not only include information in which citizens are interested, but achieve accessibility standards, have a responsive web design, and follow the rules of web usability. Additionally, they should be findable, which also requires improvement in terms of the design of the municipal website thinking in search engines, particularly in terms of certain technical characteristics that improve findability. A municipal website that wants to have a good positioning should increase its contents and attain the maximum degree possible of visibility in social networks.