3 ms·

I suspect search engines are an outdated concept for at least the largest of sites, who will generally, but not always, have better ways to directly search thei

I suspect search engines are an outdated concept for at least the largest of sites, who will generally, but not always, have better ways to directly search their own content. The remainder of the search problem seems to just be collecting relevant trafficked sites for listing in results. Today Google et al seem to be doing this BY HAND. And it's not even obfuscated. Recently, for the first time in my life, the wizard behind the curtain seems to have been exposed. I feel strongly that one could probably start a small index that catered to a fairly large audience. And honestly, for other queries, just tell the user to search that site directly. I think you could even market it to users as not a technical limitation, but behavior that should be considered fuddy-duddy. Like, really, you're going to search me? You know they have their own search right? Even Yellow Pages faded into obscurity eventually.

ur-whale 4y ago
> the largest of sites, who will generally, but not always, have better ways to directly search their own content. I have the exact opposite experience. To wit: searching HN via the algolia link at the bottom is way worse than searching on Google with a site:ycombinator.com restrict. Same thing for YouTube, where the search engine is tuned for maximizing watch time and strictly not to return what you're looking for.
- not2b 4y ago
  I would agree; I've almost never seen a site that provides a better way to directly search its own content than the major search engines provide. Wikipedia might come closest because their search compares the user input to article titles, and that's often helpful (mainly because the article titles are chosen to describe the article content, and aren't clickbait). But pretty much anything else uses a search approach that is far inferior to what Google or Bing provide, and it won't find what you want.

ur-whale 4y ago

> the largest of sites, who will generally, but not always, have better ways to directly search their own content. I have the exact opposite experience. To wit: searching HN via the algolia link at the bottom is way worse than searching on Google with a site:ycombinator.com restrict. Same thing for YouTube, where the search engine is tuned for maximizing watch time and strictly not to return what you're looking for.

not2b 4y ago
I would agree; I've almost never seen a site that provides a better way to directly search its own content than the major search engines provide. Wikipedia might come closest because their search compares the user input to article titles, and that's often helpful (mainly because the article titles are chosen to describe the article content, and aren't clickbait). But pretty much anything else uses a search approach that is far inferior to what Google or Bing provide, and it won't find what you want.