Yahoo < Google? Try this and post your results

I have seem people post that they have to go to yahoo to get relevent results. I came up with this test to see what the difference is here.

This is how it works. Search for something in google and yahoo. Manually review the first 5 results for each engine.

For each result you deem as helpful and relevant, give that engine 1 point. For spam, non relevant, or non helpful sites subtract 1 point. This should be interesting.

Ill start.

Search. - asbestos lawyer.

Goal: I am rewarding sites that help me find an asbestos lawyer.

Google

+1 Number 1 result has Great information, found doctors to apply too in various states.
+1 Number 2 result has Ok information, found a generic application
+1 Number 3 result has Generic information with link to lawyers pages. Can easily contact a lawyer.
+1 Number 4 result has Basic information with a separate generic app for each state.
+1 Number 5 result has Generic application with basic information below.

Yahoo

-1 Number 1 result sells google ads only, h1 says mortgage refinance???
-1 Number 2 result is the same site as number one result.
-1 Number 3 Sells big google ads, no application to be found. Has a list of misspelled keywords instead of useful information.
-1 Number 4 result is the same site as #3 which was junk.
-1 Number 5 result is a google ads only. Cant apply for anything.

Google: 5 Yahoo: 0

I want to see someone else try this and see what they come up with.

In my specific test google by far waxed yahoo. I want to see if this can be confirmed.

This was my first attempt. First search that came to my mind because i remember the days when this keyword was worth $80. If you have to try various keywords to get the results you want, please note it so we can disregard your test.

when i search yahoo for asbestos lawyer, yahoo didnt come up with the sites that you described at all, they were all relevant

-Number 1 lawyer site where you could Inquire to request a FREE legal consultation on your rights
-Number 2 result Mesothelioma & Asbestos Cancer Resource.
-Number 3 Mesothelioma Information .
-Number 4 Mesothelioma Source - Resource for Asbestos Cancer.
-Number 5 site run by lawyers and is dedicated to helping victims of mesothelioma cancer understand the settlement value of their mesothelioma cancer case.

so i dont know how you came up with those spam sites but yahoo seemed to bring up relevant sites for me

It's funny how different kinds of searches render different levels of "relevance" on the various search engines.

AIH I rarely search for asbestos lawyers. I presume that is one of Google's specialties

yeah i dont get what so many people fascination with "which search engine is better" stuff... the big 3 do exactly what theyre supposed to do, deliver web pages related to what you search for..

if two people both type the word "chips" in a search engine, one looking for poker chips and the other potato chips, and they both try it in yahoo and google, with google displaying poker chip sites first and yahoo potato chips sites first, who has the more relevant results?

well it depends on what you really mean when you type words in the search box. ive found that most searchers(especially computer illiterate ones) dont even know really what to type in the search box to find what they want

bottom line is they all deliver relevant results, which is best will always be a matter of personal opinion

Thats what I was thinking Wit & alloemseo. Probably almost totally depends on the keyword your searching for. Can go either way depending on what your searching for. I think alot of getting good results depends on the searchers searching skills, not on the engine. Marketing for these terms is entirely different though.

I know if I were looking for a lawyer of any kind I wouldn't be looking on the internet for one unless I was searching locally.

This is what I see
Y: total score -1
Number 1 site is relevant. +1
Number 2 site is completely irrelevant. Not even close to a law firm -1
Number 3 site is completely irrelevant. Not even close to a law firm -1
Number 4 site is completely irrelevant. Not even close to a law firm -1
Number 5 site is relevant. 1

G: total score 0
Number 1 site is completely irrelevant. -1
Number 2 site is completely irrelevant. -1
Number 3 site is relevant. +1
Number 4 site is relevant. +1
Number 5 site is somewhat relevant (points to sites with lawyers) 0

M: total score 5
Number 1 site is relevant. +1
Number 2 site is relevant. +1
Number 3 site is relevant. +1
Number 4 site is relevant. +1
Number 5 site is relevant. +1

Even I surprised and impressed by M performace. It would be interesting to select 10 phrases and search for them in all 3 and then post results here. It would be some interesting test!

this is my favorite: Polyphonic ringtones

watch how much times is hit-polyphonic-ringtones.co.uk subdomain on first 3 page

30 times

thats i did not see yet on google

and its very strong KW

polyphonic-ringtones.co.uk

#5 on google

#17 on Yahoo

for main domain, did not see any for hit-polyphonic-ringtones.co.uk on either...

I did see a few *different* domain names that go to the same site on both yahoo and google, is that what you mean? He has some domain names that are very close and a couple of subs on them. Seems like it slipped thru G duplicate filter, or may be I'm missing some thing here.

my mistake remove S from ringtones KW is:

polyphonic ringtone

you got 11 results from subdomains from hit-polyphonic-ringtones.co.uk in first 2 page

Goal: make the world a better place.

G Results:
1) Options for plans that you can use to contribute like long distance carriers that give a kick-back to non-proffits. While not strictly spam as we generally think of it, this is not a good result. -1
2) Build a Better World - Africa. Education for kids. +1
3) Yesworld - helping young leaders (teens & young adults) build a better world. Includes events and resources. +1
4) Christian inspiration stories. But they are more about how to deal with bad stuff than building good stuff. -1
5) "Volenteers build a better world" poster. It's just an image! -1

G Total: -1 *owch!*

Y! Results:
1) Interesting - the teacher's guide to G's second result! +1
2) Article about a program in the SW themed "build a better body, build a better world" +1
3) Whirlpool's employee recruitment site with links to programs they support... 0
4) Dewey Decimal result: "Globalize liberation : how to uproot the system and build a better world" Damn hippies! Looking for *online content* -1
5) Same site as #1, treated different. Duplicate result = -1

Y! Total: 0

MSN Results:
1) Same as G's #3 +1
2) Same page as Y!'s #5 +1
3) The web site for the book mentioned in Y!'s #4. Subversive attitude and pretty cheesy but politics aside: +1
4) Habitat for Humanity - pretty lieteral translation of the KW - actually opens to a letter by Prez. Carter +1
5) Catholic site about shaping the world to be a better place +1

MSN Total: +5

Wow... um... didn't see that coming. Anyone got a friend at G they want to forward this thread to?

search term: golf club

G Results:
1) Site that is dedicated to golf clubs. Seriously more info than I would want to know but hey everyone has a hobby. +1
2) American Golf Site. Cant find any info on the club part, only one time I can find a club and thats in a picture. However, good site about golf so we will call it a wash. 0
3) Site mostly about golf in general but does have a section dedicated to clubs. Also mentions a few golf clubs as in needing membership type clubs. +1
4) Another site about a golf club membership place (maybe picked a bad term). +1
5) Site about mostly golf, intro page goes to page that has nothing to do with the club part. I call it -1 (kinda iffy but I definately would not like going here if I was looking for golf clubs so argue with me if you dont agree)

G Total: +2 (not as great as I expected but we'll see how the others do with an ambiguous term)

Y! Results:
1) Epinions site about golf clubs. Dont like the site but it still gets a +1
2) GolfClubs.net pretty self explanatory +1
3) Site about custom clubs +1
4) Same as G#1 +1
5) Ping golf site. Have to navigate around before finding clubs. Wash 0

Y! Total: +4 (did better with the term than G did)

MSN Results:
1) About a private golf club +1
2) Golf club reviews. Ugly site but still gets +1
3) Another private club: +1
4) A different private club +1
5) Yet one more snobby club +1

MSN Total: +5

I think I picked a pretty vague term but it looks like MSN did the best job with it. I didnt really like any of the sites it sent me to though. As far as quality I would say the sites G returned were better built from a design standpoint. Really just prejudiced against Y's interface etc. I just dont like em but they return pretty good results.

Goal: online seo tutorial ;)

G says:

1) German site, good tutorial +1
2) SEO gold, not bad +1
3) Same site as #2, different page +0
4) Google comunity, it is a tut but a real small one... +1
5) links, links, links... -1

G totals 2 points...

Y says:

1) SEO guy, tuts yes but wrong page +0
2) Links yeach... -1
3) same as # from G, +1
4) evrsoft, no tuts here -1
5) some kind off weblog -1

Y totals -2 points...

M says:

1) #2 from G, +1
2) #1 from Y, wrong page again +0
3) Links, links... blegh... -1
4) more links... -1
5) Not even worth reading... -1

M totals -2 points

I'll have to declare victory for the big G

Search: Yak mating habits

Google:
#1 article that mentions yakkety-yak yak and the mating habits of the sicko gecko (-1)
#2 same article as #1, different website (-1)
#3 message board where someone was being a smartass about the mating habits of the Tibetan Yak, at least the question was asked (0)
#4 mentions Yak-Yak and the mating habits of swallows (-1)
#5 mentions the yak's hair and the habits of the guar (-1)

Total -4

Yahoo:
#1 Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human and something called the Yak Shak (-1)
#2 a different message board, again where someone was being funny (0)
#3 a script for a play where a character mentions whether or not mating habits of a Yak are suitable for discussion (0)
#4 discusses mating domestic yaks, much more on target (1)
#5 again dead on (1)

Total 1

MSN:
#1 Same article as #1 in G (-1)
#2 Same as #5 in Y (1)
#3 Bunch of nonsense (-1)
#4 A page from yak.net that mentions the mating of an umbrella and a sewing machine (-1)
#5 again discusses mating domestic yaks instead of habits of wild ones, but close (1)

Total -1

All three engines were kinda disappointing on this one. I was hoping for something that would be definately not seo'd, on topic, and informative, such as:
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/American-Bison
(found when searching deeper)

-Michael