[wp-hackers] WordPress Search

Thu Oct 31 11:18:16 UTC 2013

Thank you for your feedback Simon.

After you pointing out that a custom Google search is not as good as Google
search, I compared these two;

this one searches  "advanced taxonomy posts" on wordpress.org web site
http://wordpress.org/search/advanced%20taxonomy%20posts

and this one searches "advanced taxonomy posts" on google.com with a search
operator attached (site:wordpress.org)
https://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=site%3Awordpress.org+advanced+taxonomy+posts&oq=site%3Awordpress.org+advanced+taxonomy+posts&gs_l=serp.3...68176.72806.0.76162.23.23.0.0.0.0.117.1552.22j1.23.0.cprnk%2Caddre%3Dcollection...0...1.1.30.serp..23.0.0.mY8gd8FhLtc

Obviously results are pretty close but not identical. Both are good and
share a lot in common.
I have done some other searches but I feel like Google search results are a
little better, more mature. But it makes me think why there is a
difference?

I guess there are some settings internally set somewhere and that modifies
the way the results are served. ( PS. I'm *not* referring here how the
search results are displayed format wise, I mean the actual order and the
result set... ) They are definitely not identical.

As to the elasticsearch you refer to, from an earlier look, it looks like a
complicated route to me.

Does the elasticsearch be able to handle "5 Pillars" and the "Tariq
Ramadan" examples I gave you in my earlier post?
Can it handle 5+5 type search? ( Not that I need this but... )
Could elasticsearch leverage Google search with all of its intelligence, or
is it a complete "DIY" situation here?

I'm just curious.

On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 3:38 AM, Simon Dunton - WP Sites <
simon at wpsites.co.uk> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> WordPress.org must be using https://www.google.co.uk/cse/
>
> In my opinion Google custom search engines are useless. Yes you can
> specify which sites you want to index and tweak some settings but in my
> experience the results aren't as good as a normal Google search (I used it
> years ago so might have improved since then) and besides, do you really
> want Google to decide which factors are most relevant when it comes to
> searching on your website?
>
> I think the best way is get your self an elasticsearch instance/cluster
> have all your post content automatically feed into elasticsearch to be
> indexed and you're totally in control.
>
> Simon
>
>
> On 31 Oct 2013, at 09:15, Haluk Karamete wrote:
>
> > Hi Guys...
> >
> > I have a question  that has two parts...
> >
> > One philosophical and the other is practical... before I get into that,
> let
> > me set the context of this question.
> >
> > This question does not apply to small business or blogs.
> > It applies to huge sites that have thousands of posts, perhaps over
> 100,000.
> >
> > Search is a key feature to me, like to many other people.
> >
> > I know there are a ton of great plugins out there specializing on search.
> > There are great minds & work behind those plugins & I respect the work
> > highly.
> >
> > But when it comes to search, I don't think Google is beatable.
> >
> > I think no matter how dedicated a group might be, they won't be able to
> > come up with something that does better than what Google can. I'm
> including
> > in this statement Yahoo & Bing, let alone the plugins that I've talked
> > about.
> >
> > There are 2 kinds of searches to me.
> >
> > the kind that is super accurate ( accurate to the dot ) and this kind of
> > search usually comes with no wisdom. They are handy for certain
> > implementations such as searching a code base.. you can go really
> accurate
> > with all kinds of  and's &  or's & contains etc...  like an editor's
> search
> >
> > and there is the other kind of search..  this one comes with wisdom.
> > it won't match to certain results because it *somehow* factors in some
> > wisdom, and it simply avoids some results that the first type of search
> > mentality I've referred above. For example, a query on "Ramadan" won't
> > match "Tariq Ramadan" here. But yet a query on "5 Pillars" matches "Five
> > Pillars". Well, that's google.
> >
> > I'd like to hear your opinions on this. Cause I maybe seeing it wrong,
> > there could be some solutions that come somewhat close to Google's way of
> > doing it. But honestly, I'm almost 100% sure, that there is no better
> way.
> >
> > Until you convince me otherwise, I would think that if you are in charge
> of
> > a site like TechCrunch, New York Times or NPR etc, the search must be
> based
> > on Google.
> >
> > Second part of my question is if you agree with this point of view of
> mine,
> > would you please give me a few leads as to which plugins or solutions
> that
> > you may recommend that would integrate Google search into a WordPress
> site.
> >
> > And BTW, I just did a search on wordpress.org just to see how
> Wordpress.org
> > was handling the search ( cause honestly, I did not know how the codex
> > handled the search aspect & I was going to compare wordpress.org's
> search
> > results to google with site:wordpress.org - but it turned out that
> > WordPress.org too adapted Google when it comes to search. :)
> >
> > In that case, I could ask now if there is a recommended practice in
> setting
> > up the custom google seathe way Wordpress.org did.
> >
> > THank you
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