] HipMojo.com » Head-to-Head Search Results: WikiaSearch (Wikiasari), Google, MetaMojo, Ask, AOL, MSN, Yahoo!

Head-to-Head Search Results: WikiaSearch (Wikiasari), Google, MetaMojo, Ask, AOL, MSN, Yahoo!

I’m not sure if TechCrunch’s screen grab of a search result for Wikia’s potential Google killer is legit or not, but it’s a results page for Toyota Camry, I could not help but compare search results for Toyota Camry and see which one was best:

- From Wikia Search (via TechCrunch) - you only see the Top 3 results.
- From MetaMojo.com (this is our domain-specific, vertical search engine)
- From Google
- From AOL - this puppy returned no [organic] results (?)
- From MSN
- From Ask
- From Yahoo!

The only thing I’ll say is that our budget is a fraction of theirs, and ALL of the results are essentially similar.  If one better, sure, but that depends on the individual user and what that person is looking for at the time, “relevance is subjective.”

I am very impressed and happy with MetaMojo.com’s result, and I feel that auto is not even our best category, I tend to like music, health quite a bit.

I’ll also say that ours is the best at vertical, contextual result, and if indeed 2007 is a year when vertical search is to take off, then we’re well positioned.  I personally welcome more innovation.  I have been working on a lot of bells and whistles and we’ll be rolling them out over the next weeks.  I do not really think anyone would cease going to Y! or G and come to MetaMojo, I simply think it’s a good piece of our overall company’s portfolio; at the very most, it sure is complementary to what the major search engines are doing.

Anyway, good luck Jimbo, if you intend on “killing Google,” you will need it.

If nothing else, competition is always a good thing and this only improves search results, which are always hit or miss depending on your state of mind.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Posted By: Ashkan Karbasfrooshan | Dec 23rd

9 Responses to “Head-to-Head Search Results: WikiaSearch (Wikiasari), Google, MetaMojo, Ask, AOL, MSN, Yahoo!”

  1. Music Guide Says:
    December 24th, 2006 at 1:32 am

    Putting in the human factor to search engines will only make the SERPs worse. Another thing for black hat SEOs and spammers to play around with.

  2. NitinK Says:
    December 24th, 2006 at 4:09 am

    I have to agree - the results all seem similar, which is impressive for MetaMojo, considering that one of the others is Google. The first result, both on Google and MetaMojo, is toyota.com/camry, which is the most relevant and likely what the user wanted in the first place. Looks like you guys are on the right track!

    On the Wikiasari approach, I think it’s a cool idea, but getting and keeping a large number of volunteers actively working on the results, for a for-profit company seems problematic at best. Anyway, I wish them luck!

  3. NitinK Says:
    December 24th, 2006 at 4:18 am

    You’re right - the results are pretty similar, which is impressive considering that one of them is Google! The first result is toyota.com/camry on both MetaMojo and Google, which is probably the most relevant and likely what the user wanted anyway.

    For the Wikiasari approach, I think it’s a cool idea to use human power to rank pages. However, getting (and maintaining) a large volunteer group to work on this project for a for-profit organization should prove a challenge!

  4. froosh Says:
    December 24th, 2006 at 10:15 am

    Thanks Nitin, considering you write an interesting blog on search and software in general, that’s a nice compliment coming from you.

    The bottom line is that perfect search is an endless chase: I am not too sure that the best result is indeed toyota.com/camry. It might be for some, but not all. Some searchers might want somewhat unbiased car reviews (where MetaMojo.com excels), others might want a user-created review, others might want store locations or used car prices.

    The problem I’ve noticed is that when the query is of a corporate/commercial nature, Google and company tend to return the same website but from different countries. For Audi for example, on the first page you get Audi.com, Audi.ca, Audi.co.uk etc. We get the idea… but how is that useful/relevant?

    All to say, thanks for the kind words.

  5. NitinK Says:
    December 24th, 2006 at 2:17 pm

    Thanks, Ashkan! I apologize for the duplicate comment - somehow I thought I lost the first one.

    There’s a good discussion on this topic going on over at the RoughType blog, at this post. To me, the biggest issues seem to be: (a) how will the Wikipedians keep the results clean and spam-free as gaming efforts increase, and (b) how will they scale up the efforts of volunteers for a for-profit organization.
    [See Eric Goldman’s post for a contrarian view about Wikipedia.]

  6. jack phelps Says:
    December 25th, 2006 at 12:02 pm

    Isn’t a better benchmark the search results from terms in the search zeitgeist (whether the google version or not)? Or at least some query designed to mimic search habits? If I wanted info on a camry, I’d search for camry dealers, or camry reviews, or something. Even the dudes who think the best way to find porn is to google for “britney spears naked” understand how to qualify the name with a meta term. As a search engine exec, do you have a benchmarking rubric?

  7. Rex Dixon Says:
    December 25th, 2006 at 12:06 pm

    According to Jim Wales - http://rexdixon.wordpress.com/2006/12/24/techcrunch-was-wrong-about-wikiasari/

    I dunno, we shall see.

    Rex

  8. froosh Says:
    December 25th, 2006 at 12:13 pm

    Jack,

    First off, Merry Xmas. Hope you are enjoying the holidays.

    You make an excellent point, surely Toyota Camry is not a representative query (end neither is the Zeitgeist since Top Queries are cleaned up etc.). The reason I used that was because that was the query of the screen grab in question that Tech Crunch reported (erroneously apparently).

    This week I’ll be publishing a Search 2007 post that will actually touch base on what you bring up (it will tie in opportunities on vertical search as well).

    Regards

    Ash

  9. jack phelps Says:
    December 25th, 2006 at 12:50 pm

    Cool stuff. Happy holidays to you as well, and since I didn’t mention it before, I love the various mojo sites.

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