Search Engine Comparison
October 31, 2002

What information I was looking for:
In this assignment, I will be using three different search engines to seek out information pertaining to the design of java servlets. I want to find the best possible information on how to build a java servlet, along with relevant examples of some prewritten servlets.

My knowledge of the subject:
I have a decent knowledge of the subject. I know what purpose java servlets serve, and I also have a general idea of how they function. However, I have never written a servlet and would not know where to begin if I was assigned the task of building one at this very moment. Hopefully this search will remedy that situation :)

My query:
I will use the search string "how to build java servlets" to start off my search. If I do not recieve good enough results, I might also use "java servlet examples" as a secondary search.

Search terms:
The key search terms for this assignment are

I will be using Google, AskJeeves, and AltaVista. I have chosen all three because they are very well known engines that are used by many people. Google happens to be the one I currently use the most. AskJeeves has a nice interface in my opinion, and I used to use AltaVista a long time ago.

Features I might need:
There are no special features that I would need to perform my search. Technically, I should be able to get what I need using the query from above.

Results:
For both queries mentioned, Google returned well over 50,000 results. For the main query, links to Sun's (inventor of java) website appeared at the top of the list while more relevant queries piled up right behind. Where Google really shined was with the "java servlet examples" query. All of the first 10 results were excellent sites featuring full servlet examples and tutorials.
For the first query, AskJeeves first two results were the same as with Google. They were both links to Sun Microsystems website. However, unlike Google, the following results were not near as relavent. Also, I noticed AskJeeves does not tell you how many results it found...a feature I would have liked to see implemented. For the second query, Jeeves returned many of the same results as Google.
Using the first query, Altavista was all but useless. A large number of pages were returned, each a great java reference. However, very few of the results contained specific information on Java Servlets, and most that had the information had to be searched in order to find it. The second query had better luck...with many of the same links being returned as with the previous two search engines. However, after the performance of the first search...I don't see any reason to use Altavista...ever!

Which features of the engines did I use:
I did notice that Google appeared to have the most comprehensive set of advanced features when compared with the other engines. However, I did not utilize any of the advanced search functions. One thing that was useful was Google's web cache. For any of the results returned, Google allowed you to click on a cache link which would bring up the desired page with all of the key search words highlighted. This allowed me to move directly to the relevant information on the page, instead of having to read through everything on the page that had nothing to do with what I had searched for.

Did I find what I wanted:
Using the first two engines I was able to find exactly what I wanted with no difficulty at all. Though there was plenty of useless information returned along with useful stuff, both did a very good job. Google, specifically, did the best job of returning relevant pages. Altavista, on the other hand, was somewhat of a disappointment. A long time ago it was the most prominent search engine on the web. I was surprised at how much more efficient the newer search engines were in comparison. My final conclusion from this assignment: While there are some good search engines that are worth using out there, I should probably stick with Google as my main searcher. Of course, should Google fail to give me what I desire, I know that there are other sites that can fulfill my needs...and there is no reason to panic!