Google lies about little words?!

[Sillysoft]

If you do a google search for information on zombies (http://www.google.com/search?q=information+on+zombies) it says "on" is a very common word and was not included in your search. However, if you do a search for information zombies (http://www.google.com/search?q=information+zombies) you get totally different results. Which would mean that they are not ignoring the "on". I suppose they are not searching for the word "on", but having it there or not still effects the results of the search.

I thought it was interesting.

[botman]

Heh I never knew.

Oddly enough, it finds more results without "on" than with it too.

237'000 to 244'000.

Of course, the next question is just what were you hoping to find out about zombies in the first place? :confused:

[Indiepath]

"zombies information" gives less results. I'd bet google has some kind of mechanism that it searches first for "zombies information" then it also checks pages where "zombies" and "information" both are located... that could explain why "information zombies" gives more results than "zombies information".

Interesting though...

[serg3d]

It seems to me that for "information on zombies" Google looking for semantically connected words _information_ and _zombies_ ignoring _on_ and for "information zombies"
it made semanitcs analises of the search term, and desided that you want information on zombies and produce information on zomies
So they not lying, they really ignoring "on", but they also trying to guess what do you want

[Mike Wiering]

I think serge3d is right. You get exactly the same results if you look for information for zombies (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=information+for+zombies&btnG=Search) or information in zombies (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=information+in+zombies&btnG=Search).

[otaku]

This sounds so much like a game idea I had back in 2003 that never made it beyond prototype due to other commitments. The title was “The Zombies of Aisle Four at the Midnight Special Bookstore” and it entailed zombie customers staggering towards you, , arms outstretched, surrounded by a cloud of orbiting dollar bills that you, as the clerk, had to deplete by throwing books and other items at them. If you hit them with enough expensive books they would collapse with a squelch. “Information Zombies…”

[Sillysoft]

Sounds like a hilarious game.


Of course, the next question is just what were you hoping to find out about zombies in the first place? :confused:I actually noticed that somebody had found my site by searching for 'information on zombies', and then did the search myself to see. I have the first place position for the popular 'information on zombies' search. :rolleyes:

And then I was playing around a bit and noticed the thing with/out 'on'.

[Bluecat]

All this talk about zombies... Hmmmm... Have you guys been looking at my harddrive?!?!

[BantamCityGames]

Surprisingly enough I get a few hits to my site every month from someone searching for zombie games... I guess I mention the word zombie alot in the Werlin hints page haha. :p

[Nemesis]

Not 100% sure on this, but if you want the "on" to be included try searching for "information on zombies" including the quote marks at either end of the string. This will obviously limit the search to pages that contain those three words in that exact sequence.. effectively treated as if it were one big word.

Common words on their own like "on", "in" and "the" are indeed ignored if you specify a number of words without surrounding them in quotes.

On a related note, it is sometimes a real challenge to find suitable search criteria. The next step for Google would be to try semantic alternatives to keywords e.g. include search results for "undead" and "knowledge" besides the original keywords.

I think this is something that Tim Berners Lee is looking at lately.

[Peter Wayne]

I find this topic quite interesting. I never actually use words like "on" "the" "a" ect, in search engines. I just never really thought about it. I guess on a subconscious level those words are irrelevant so i dont use them. However I do use them if it's a quote or something that you need those words in.

Either way it's something to think about.