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View Poll Results: Google CC Search vs. CC Search
Google CC Search is almost always better for me. 32 64.00%
CC Advanced Search is almost always better for me. 5 10.00%
Google and CC Search are about the same. 0 0%
Each works better some of the time depending on my search. 13 26.00%
Voters: 50. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 10-23-2007, 02:47 PM   #1
Administrator
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Threads: 10255
Posts: 4,726
New Way To Search CC

One complaint we get about our forum search function is that it isn't very effective if there are a ton of matching results. So, we are now offering a Google Search option for CC. This doesn't replace our current search, but it may prove more useful at times. Here's our initial take on when to use each search:

Use CC Advanced Search when:

- You are searching for an uncommon term
- You want to find posts by a particular member
- You want to search or sort by date
- You want to search within a particular forum or subforum
- You want to see results as individual posts.

Use Google CC Search when:

- You are searching for a common term that is returning hundreds of pages
- You are searching for a complex phrase, a long search term, or a term with very short words, numbers, etc.
- You want to see results from all CC pages, not just forum pages.

In general, the more complex your search string, the more likely it is that Google's algorithm will work better. Our search engine is quite literal, and it can't separate better or more important content from the rest. Google's search algorithm is a lot more sophisticated, and may tolerate slightly fuzzier matches.

Let us know how it works for you. Enjoy!
Roger_Dooley is offline  
Old 10-23-2007, 03:13 PM   #2
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Gender: Male
Threads: 4
Posts: 29
It would nice to have the Google Search on the (Forum's) main page.

I used to try a site search (search terms site:collegeconfidential.com) before this.

Thanks.
SGupta is offline  
Old 10-23-2007, 07:08 PM   #3
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Threads: 41
Posts: 663
Works great! Thank you.
arklogic is offline  
Old 10-23-2007, 07:39 PM   #4
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Join Date: Apr 2007
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Posts: 1
Bravo!

Roger, I received fabulous results from Google for a couple searches that CC Advanced Search didn't do well. Great job.

College Confidential is a tremendous resource. Thanks for all your hard work.
flappybird is offline  
Old 10-23-2007, 09:45 PM   #5
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Very very nice. Good thinking
jadpd is offline  
Old 10-24-2007, 09:05 AM   #6
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Yay! Very much needed. Thank you!
SpringfieldMom is offline  
Old 10-25-2007, 07:51 PM   #7
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Threads: 10255
Posts: 4,726
One other note - CC search is better for very recent posts. Google constantly has robots scouring our site for new content, but there is a lag before new posts/threads are visible there. Our internal search engine is updated as soon as something new is posted.

So, to get the most recent content on any topic, the CC search function will deliver it.
Roger_Dooley is offline  
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