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February 11, 2005'Pizza in Redmond'
Some of the MSN Search advertising banners and transit signs around the main Microsoft campus in Redmond are tailored to the area, including this one, above, that shows a search for "Pizza in Redmond." After seeing that sign, I couldn't resist plugging that phrase into the MSN Search engine and a few other big search sites, just as an experiment to see how the results would compare. Looking at each of them, it's pretty easy to conclude that the other three provide more useful results than MSN Search does for someone looking for pizza in Redmond. Click through these links to see for yourself: But then I looked more closely and realized that the advertising sign was promoting the "search near me" feature in MSN Search. So I readjusted my settings to put my location in Redmond, and did a simple search for "pizza" under that geographic constraint. The first non-sponsored result? Janitorial supplies. Not wanting to rush to judgment, I also tried a search for the full phrase, Pizza in Redmond, under the Redmond geographic constraint, even though that would seem redundant. The first non-sponsored result was the resume of an aspiring computer programmer whose past experience included a stint as a delivery driver for Papa John's Pizza in Redmond. Just to be complete, I also tried the search under the Redmond geographic constraint with quotes around the phrase. Not much better. Of course, the real kicker is to try the "pizza in redmond" search in Google's new Google Maps beta site, which is specifically tailored for geographic searches. Click here for the result. Posted by Todd Bishop at February 11, 2005 01:07 PMComments
At Google Maps, "pizza in Kirkland, WA" is missing Pagliacci's, which has two Kirkland locations listed at http://www.pagliacci.com/locations/delivery/ And if you try "Fast food in Redmond," Google Maps comes up with places in Everett, Seattle, even Bremerton - but nothing in Redmond. Of course, they're not advertising these queries... Posted by: Anonymous Coward at February 11, 2005 02:34 PMPerhaps 'coffee in redmond' is an attempt to marginalize the total market dominance of Starbucks... (or did they consider the 30+ entries as just search term noise!) Posted by: Steve at February 11, 2005 10:37 PMRather than "find it at msn.com", it should say "find it at search.msn.com" o_O Posted by: KimmoA at February 12, 2005 11:21 AMTried the "pizza in Redmond" search on www.DogPile.com and the first page results were successful. I use this search engine religiously. Posted by: RSmith at February 12, 2005 01:26 PMIs it just me or does that MSN on the liscence plate seem wierd too? Posted by: bill gates at February 14, 2005 10:45 PMHa, Yahoo's top result in the search you linked is, as of now... this page. And this page is 4th on Google. Posted by: Jamie McCarthy at February 15, 2005 06:21 AMTry the "pizza in Redmond" search on epilot.com, local direct. You'll get great results. Although you do get some stores in Bellevue. Posted by: Red at February 15, 2005 09:26 AMI got something weirder. I have an MSN account for the messenger, and in my profile I have my location as "Olympia". Apparently, I'm signed in, because "pizza in redmond" gives me Oly-centric results when I click on "near me". Thus, shouldn't these vans stay in bloody Redmond to work right? Posted by: matt hickey at February 15, 2005 10:18 AMI think you must have decided msn search was awful before you used it. "The first non-sponsored result" (Twin Supply) is a restaurant supply bussiness with quite a selection of pizzeria equipment. Are you saying that "Pizza in Redmond" should only come up with pizza resturants? Posted by: anon at February 15, 2005 01:59 PMI'll say it Anon.. Searching MSN for the words "Pizza in Redmond" should only come up with pizza restaurants. That because of the ad on the bus. It has an illustration of a slice of pizza. Not a pizza cutter or pizza pan. Posted by: Matt Pierce at February 15, 2005 04:54 PMThis just goes to prove that no search engine is perfect and will give you the result you are looking for every time. However, I find that Google and Yahoo are just way out in front when compared to Microsoft. Give MS credit--they are trying. But Microsoft's answers are not the panacea it always thinks they are. When I am looking for Pizza in Redmond, I certainly am not looking for a janitor, unless its because I spewed the pizza. Posted by: MSN Search still sucks at February 16, 2005 09:59 AMI think MSN should fire whoever designed that bumper sticker. What's with the position of the outlined pizza (which by the way, looks more like an arrowhead) over the top of a main communicating graphic? The result is you can hardly tell the pizza is a pizza and that the search field is a search field. Posted by: melissa at February 16, 2005 10:24 AMyou could just use a yellow page site and get what you want just about any time - http://www.superpages.com And for more fun with Google maps, look at this: you think that forth place is great? the Google search has a Google-local entry at the top of search page followed by no less than five links to discussions about this controversy number six is an actual pizza place located in Redmond (papaspizzaplace.com) and then another link discussing this. this seventh entry appears to be the first News-Media link Posted by: ben christy at February 23, 2005 08:15 AM |
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