digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About

The Search Engine Experiment: Who Really Has The Best Results?

webmasterbrain.com — A public experiment discovering which of the top three search engines (Google, Yahoo, or MSN) really offers the best results. By taking the test you also find out which engine you personally prefer (and it's a blind test, so prejudice won't effect the outcome).

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 20, 2005

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

141 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • Manneroth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I did it 3 times and got yahoo everytime
  • testerjake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Fricking cool!

    I'm switching to Yahoo after trying this a few times.
  • omfgjeannie, on 06/10/2009, -0/+1haha, my bf is embarrassed cause he chose bing lawl. I chose google :P
  • resentment, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1 "One of the search engines isn't playing ball right now please wait a while, then try again."
  • mcletter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's very cool, I got yahoo as my most relevant, which suprised me.. But Google still leading on the graph (barely).
  • Opiate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yahoo, As always..
  • FatController, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yahoo. Yahoo!? Who'da thunk it?
  • bryan8m, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The webpage should rotate the search engines between the letters for those of us who choose to take it multiple times.
  • smap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yahoo, searched for 'http'. Google came up with "microsoft.com" =/
  • rhnet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yahoo for me! but again I was searching for exact things.
  • flower.Hercules, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I'm guessing that if you choose something you know about, then you have defeated the purpose of a search engine in the first place. The purpose is to provide the most relevant results based that you might want. If you know what you want, the only relevant results are what you want...if that makes sense. I searched for PHP, the most relevant PHP results were from php.net, as that IS PHP - however, Google was off by 1 result, and that was PHP-Nuke. If your average noob was searching for PHP, there is a damn good chance he would want PHP-Nuke and not the PHP.net site. It is specialized vs. General. It recommended MSN to me.
  • LawrenceDudley, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Kinda cool, but I'm sticking with Google: It's something I know how to use effectively, I know the syntax, and it links in with Google Accounts.
  • redmorph, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1working again
  • ketsugi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hercules: not quite. I often use a search engine (google, in my case) to look for something I don't know about, but I also often use it to try to find something that I do. With Google built into my browser and so easy to use, I spend less time bookmarking things, and simply search for it when I need to.

    For example, I know there's a site out there with the Yahoo! Japan Hard Gay video clip, but I don't remember the URL and I haven't bookmarked it anywhere. So I'll google it. Piece of cake (usually).
  • jdelamater, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They don't rotate it every time. The times I tried it, Yahoo! was brand X. Amazingly, Yahoo! was also the most relevant for me. I still like Google, though.
  • zweben, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I got Yahoo 3 times in a row. Surprising.
  • redmorph, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1>> The webpage should rotate the search engines between the letters for those of us who choose to take it multiple times.

    nullbit (webmaster) tells me they now do rotate for every search without hitting refresh
  • terrya64, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I did it three times with three different results.
  • DullesGuy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Google... why am I not surprised?
  • iced, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0search for the darkside of the internet, Windows CDkey, cracks.am and MSN comes up with Buy Windows SP2

    Google rulez, Yahoo Getting closer and sucks filter results

    If MSN even get top search engine, will never be able to find exploit for MS products even again
  • Olle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0And the results:

    http://www.webmasterbrain.com/seo-tools/seo-experiments/the-search-engine-experiment/test-results/
  • LoneStar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0and Google wins again.. i searched about ten times on subjects i know and google keeps winning
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Consistently Google. IDK what you MSN people are talking about.
  • siouxmoux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I still get the best results from Google and yahoo.
  • dementedd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I get google every time
  • haxr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0everyone pick brand Z
  • longman2g, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0google worked best for me, and looks like most others
  • fletcher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0google
  • vostek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Looks like Google is on top now overall, and it was my most relevant search. NO big suprise.
    More improtantly, what this illustrates is that among these top three search engines, there is no clear loser or 'bad' search engine. Google really isn't that far ahead in Global domination of information.
  • azzwipe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I picked Google. Dunno why, but I'm kinda glad I did.
  • pat1006, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0yahoo works best for me.
  • ting, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Google for me. But for tricky searches I normally use answers.com.
  • chosenone-, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Google.
  • ThugG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0msn for me
  • glitchbit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@facka

    correction their results are now showing Google IS the Best
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ballsack
  • oldcyborg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I had MSN coming out on top. I know some really irrevelent things, so I put together several really weird stuff, like Biggus Dickus(Life of Brian), and barf John Candy, which got me Spaceballs(MSN again). I have used Google for so long, that I am loathe to give it up. Search engines, after all, give you the results of what you type, not what you think. I am used to changing words to finally get what I want.

    I would have to say that they all do a good job, in my opinion.. Relevance, of course, is only in my mind!!!
    Cyborg
  • Dash-2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0the guy said that google wouldnt win.. but hmm.. THEY ARE!
  • glitchbit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0oh nvm I guess you meant was when you saw which was about the same time as me lol 40%
  • Linuxrocks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0For me they found pretty close results.
  • stoops, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I got MSN, cool.

    stoopified
  • glitchbit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0no digg, I can't get it to work with more than one word and even with the one word google came out more relevant lol, that normally is not the case, but when you learn how the search engines work you quickly or maybe I quickly learned how to get the best and most efficient results from google. You have to think in keywords and unique words and with the - sign I just discovered which omits results with particular words it makes me love google even more.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0only google brings up anything of relevance when searching "ballsack"
  • hiro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yahoo each time, very surprised and Google demoted from my toolbar as it was the least relevant each time
  • corcad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hmmm, MSN for me as well. I'm surprised.

    +Digg
  • microstuck, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Google Rocks!!

    I can't believe that i ve bn using Yahoo all these days.

    M$N did well, But Evil corporations should be disqualified ;)
  • npacheco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0doesnt work
  • dvdcr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well... MSN ROCKS! :)
  • reefsurfer226, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0google won for me. and its in the lead with 41%
  • carcus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i picked sushi as a topic since it is pretty vauge and something i know quite a bit about. google wins!
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 100 of 141 discussions

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...


© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.