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Search String Order Matters in Google

Question 1: Regarding search engine searches, do you think that there is a difference between dog food and food dog? That is, do you expect the same results typing in dog food versus food dog?

Question 2: When you talk to other people, is there a difference between dog food and food dog? If so, why?

I’m asking these questions for a good reason. My past experience tells me that the order of search words in a search (e.g., dog food versus food dog) has no impact on search results. I took it as a rule that order of words was not a factor with search engines. However, the order of words, such as the words in this sentence, matter very much to humans.

I just a did search of dog food and compared it to food dog using Google. As it turns out, order does matter. This is completely new to me. Did you know that order was a relevant search factor?

This entry was posted on Monday, September 20th, 2004 at 3:56 pm and is filed under Usability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Search String Order Matters in Google”

  1. Anonymous Says:
    September 20th, 2004 at 7:00 pm

    While many search systems have used keywords independently, there have always been some that tried to build phrases out of adjacent words, assuming the user has entered them in an order that fit natural language. Phrases typically get weighted higher than individual words, because they are expected to be more specific. I did this in the system I built for my thesis, 25 years ago, and I didn’t consider it particularly novel at the time.

    Scott Preece

  2. John Says:
    September 20th, 2004 at 8:06 pm

    Good points, Scott.

    My point isn’t so much about words versus phrases but that the order of words matters. How phrases are constructed matters. That is a different point than phrases have greater specificity than words alone.

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