Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Google is not AskJeeves

Yes, there really is a book called Google for Dummies. This is because not everyone knows how to use Google, and not everyone understands that you don't actually ask it questions or feed it complete sentences or clauses. I know this because, thanks to the good people at Site Meter, I can find out what search terms are leading people to Mah Rabu. Here is a sampling, all from Google, and all (obviously) not in quotes:

  • Can you have a funeral on Purim?
  • What does Reuven mean?
  • What is an unaffiliated Jew?
  • why can't jewish people turn on and off their stove on sundays
  • is God really talking when there's thunder?
  • does duane reade sell their chametz
  • what is the difference between zav and
  • why do action and reaction pairs of forces never cancel each other?
  • how to compromise on issue of gender identity
  • is arne duncan jewish
  • about rav shimon ben lakish also known as reish lakish
  • why was Nisan 27 chosen as Yom Hashoah
  • articles about keeping a kosher kitchen what it means and how to implement it

4 comments:

  1. Even though it's not the best way to search using Google, natural language questions frequently give good results. The reason is that the articles are pretty much ignored and the rest of the words are the ones that are relevant to the search.

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  2. They also could be looking for pages that have those questions more-or-less verbatim.
    Like a FAQ page or something.

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  3. Steg- that's why they need the quotation marks...

    And BZ- I think this post made me lose what little faith I had in humanity.

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  4. now you need to post the answers to these questions... inquiring minds of the world obviously want to know.

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