Re: Altavista better than Google for genealogy searches

On Thu, 15 May 2008 15:04:36 +0100, Martin Brown
<|||newspam|||@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>Commercial players all know the basic ranking tricks so if you put a 
>place name into Google the first page will often include property in X, 
>florists in X, hotels in X and if you are really unlucky lapdancing 
>clubs in X (never mind that X may be a hamlet with just 6 houses).
<snip>

>It is always worth trying different search engines if you don't find 
>things or get too much chaff with your favourite. Google and Altavista 
>are sometimes complimentary. No one size fits all solution exists for 
>what is at best an ambiguous search problem in a vast sea of indexed 
>data. Judicious use of "+" and "-" with keywords helps.

Indeed one size doesn't fit all: while Google may be good for lapdancers,
Altavista seems better for genealogy. 

My point is that phrases like "Google is your friend" and "go and Google
for
it" (which one often sees in genealogy forums) imply that "one size fits
all",
yet may not be the best advice to give to genealogy newbies. 




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Steve Hayes
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