Whilst looking into why I could not get a particular site indexed by Live, it quickly became apparent what a troubled Search Engine Live actually is.
I always thought Live’s results came back pretty relevant to the search – from my own perspective. What I did not know was the sheer number of sites and pages that Live Search does not list for varying reasons – either:
- Not indexed at all
- De-indexed for no apparent reason
- Only partially indexes sites, leaving out masses of information - one particular complainant on the forum points out Google has indexed over 5,000 pages, Yahoo over 10,000 and Live ? - A touch over 300 pages indexed.
Now all Search Engines have their own rules and guidelines for getting listed, or why they will de-index sites, and on the whole these are pretty straightforward. Google even gives an option to ask for reconsideration of delisting once you have rectified problems. Live seems to randomly list, de-index and leave out information for no apparent reason, and gives no hint of how to rectify. Google can be frustrating, but at least seems to work to some degree of rationality.
So, where does that leave us? Live search results are looking like there are big holes in them- When I search for a product, service or information I want the widest search possible, filtered into the most relevant results. I am then confident I am missing as little of the information as possible – not perfect, but a comfortable way to search. If I want to search for a Gym in my local area, I don’t want to find the results don’t give me the closest one that has all I require because the owner cannot get his site listed.
Also when searching for a products, I want the widest possible search, to enable me to get the best deal at the best price - and that isn’t going to happen when the Search Engine has only 6% of the possible results from a particular site listed.
It seems I am not alone – Live has now dropped off the Hitwise List of Leading Search Engine in the UK
Google has almost 90% market share, Yahoo and Ask (powered by Google) make up 5% between them and Live? Sinking without trace, and if they don’t get their act together soon they will follow Cuil into the depths of irrelevancy, with less than 0.00% market share.
It may already be too late – with 90% market share in the UK, and all the new technology and increase in the amount of algorithms that will be applied to searches, and Personalised and Universal Search on the near horizon, including Video, Soundtrack and Image search (which Google assert will also make life harder for spammers), there may be no way back for Live.
The Upshot? Enough is enough. I have wasted enough time on Live – whilst 2% of the market can give plenty of leads, the time and effort to get that is not now worthwhile.
