Information Literacy Part 3 Part 1: | Part 2: | Part 4: | Part 5: | Part 6: | Part 7: | Part 8:
SEARCH ENGINE LIMITATIONS and why you should care
Search engines are wonderful. They make it possible to do research on the Internet. However, they have their limitations. Below are seven limitations of search engines.
#1 - OUT OF DATE INDEX
Search engines work by following links on web pages and indexing every word on each page. The problem is that they can only do this so often.
Most run 24 hours a day 7 days a week, but they can only index so many pages per hour.
On the web, pages are changing all the time as people add new pages, modify pages, and remove pages altogether.
Very often, the search engines returns a link to a page which doesn't have any of your keywords on it. This is usually the result of the search engine storing all of the words on a page, and then the page's owner changes the page, leaving the search engine with out-of-date and inaccurate information.
#2 - INCOMPLETE
Because it takes so much time to index pages on the Internet, many search engines stop after indexing only a fraction of a site. This means a earch of one search engine is unlikely to give you a complete set of pages containing your word.
If you need more complete information, you should use multiple search engines. There will be duplicates, but you will have covered your topic.
#3 - MISSING PAGES - 404 ERRORS
When a search engine indexes a page, and then the page's owner removes the page, the search engine does not remove the page from the index.
When the search engine returns one of these links during your search and you click on it, you will get a 404 Error. This isn't because of something you've done wrong, it is the server telling you that the page no longer exists.
#4 - KEYWORDS DIFFICULT TO LOCATE
The search engines will return pages that have or had your keywords on them. These pages may have a small amount of text in addition to your
keywords, or your keywords may be buried in one of several thousand lines of text. You keywords could be at the top of the page or at the very bottom of many pages of text.
#5 - INCORRECT ABSTRACTS
Some of the better search engines will give you an abstract of the page. This abstract shows you the first few sentences of the page so that you
can make an intelligent decision as to whether or not you want to visit the page.
These abstracts have the same problem as the links. Often the page will have changed, but the search engine hasn't updated the abstract.
You'd probably rather spend your time looking at new information, not the same information three times.
#7 - NO HISTORICAL RECORD
This is only a problem if you intend to keep abreast of a topic for an extended period of time, or if you are using the Internet to research your competition.
After you've used a search engine and viewed all of the results, there is no way to know when something has changed, or when new pages have
been added to the Internet that are related to your topic. You must look at all the results each time to determine what has changed.
Information Literacy Part 3
Part 1: | Part 2: | Part 4: | Part 5: | Part 6: | Part 7: | Part 8:
SEARCH ENGINE LIMITATIONS
and why you should care
Search engines are wonderful. They make it possible to do research on the Internet. However, they have their limitations. Below are seven limitations of search engines.
#1 - OUT OF DATE INDEX
Search engines work by following links on web pages and indexing every word on each page. The problem is that they can only do this so often.
Most run 24 hours a day 7 days a week, but they can only index so many pages per hour.
On the web, pages are changing all the time as people add new pages, modify pages, and remove pages altogether.
Very often, the search engines returns a link to a page which doesn't have any of your keywords on it. This is usually the result of the search engine storing all of the words on a page, and then the page's owner changes the page, leaving the search engine with out-of-date and inaccurate information.
#2 - INCOMPLETE
Because it takes so much time to index pages on the Internet, many search engines stop after indexing only a fraction of a site. This means a earch of one search engine is unlikely to give you a complete set of pages containing your word.
If you need more complete information, you should use multiple search engines. There will be duplicates, but you will have covered your topic.
#3 - MISSING PAGES - 404 ERRORS
When a search engine indexes a page, and then the page's owner removes the page, the search engine does not remove the page from the index.
When the search engine returns one of these links during your search and you click on it, you will get a 404 Error. This isn't because of something you've done wrong, it is the server telling you that the page no longer exists.
#4 - KEYWORDS DIFFICULT TO LOCATE
The search engines will return pages that have or had your keywords on them. These pages may have a small amount of text in addition to your
keywords, or your keywords may be buried in one of several thousand lines of text. You keywords could be at the top of the page or at the very bottom of many pages of text.
#5 - INCORRECT ABSTRACTS
Some of the better search engines will give you an abstract of the page. This abstract shows you the first few sentences of the page so that you
can make an intelligent decision as to whether or not you want to visit the page.
These abstracts have the same problem as the links. Often the page will have changed, but the search engine hasn't updated the abstract.
#6 - DUPLICATE INFORMATION
The search engines can index a page multiple times if the page has alias addresses. Addresses such as:
http://www.bluesquirrel.com
http://www.bluesquirrel.com/
http://www.bluesquirrel.com/index.html
are the same page, but the search engine indexes it three times, once for each address.
You'd probably rather spend your time looking at new information, not the same information three times.
#7 - NO HISTORICAL RECORD
This is only a problem if you intend to keep abreast of a topic for an extended period of time, or if you are using the Internet to research your competition.
After you've used a search engine and viewed all of the results, there is no way to know when something has changed, or when new pages have
been added to the Internet that are related to your topic. You must look at all the results each time to determine what has changed.