Lots of hoopla about search recently. Google killer. Smarter search. Reboot. Bing. Cuil. WolframAlpha. I decided to test the results to the most well-known search engines available – and also threw in Twitter for good measure. I compared the results against my own memory bank – a veritable dusty attic of personal biases, family history, attitudes and not so slick interface. The results? Interesting, but not that interesting.
I decided to query: the best enchiladas in Houston. I figured the question involved a lot of verticals – food, geography, taste, value and ranking. I came away realizing that: 1) I trust my own experiences more when it really comes to listing of services and 2) Google’s machines still gave me what I looked for reasonably well.
The other guys: Yahoo is coming on close, but the Bings of the world will have to do a lot better. Twitter? Not even close. Only Google figured what I was looking for and delivered a package that is deceptively clean and simple while offering me alternative paths that got me pretty close to where I wanted to go.
I’ve put my findings below. Click for larger views.
