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October 11, 2007 5:10 PM PDT

Google wins in blind search test

by Elinor Mills
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In a blind "taste test" searchers chose Google, then Microsoft and Yahoo.

That's according to the results of a poll created last week by the Google Operating System blog. Participants could try out three unidentified search engines and vote which had the best results. The results are in and 51 percent of the more than 2,000 people who voted said Google had the best results. That was followed by 35 percent for Live Search and 30 percent for Yahoo. In comments to the blog post people said they were surprised Microsoft was ahead of Yahoo, but also surprised Google's percentage wasn't higher.

Interestingly, some of the most frequent queries included "Google," "Microsoft," "sex," "cow" and "Liverpool."

Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor.
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51 + 35 + 30 = ?? Not 100!
by MyRightEye October 11, 2007 7:21 PM PDT
Seems a bit odd.
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Google Not Smarter than a 5th Grader
by kevinski22 October 12, 2007 6:51 AM PDT
Glad to see the folks at Google are so proficient in basic arithmetic. No wonder their paid search algorithm is so screwed up.
The two commenters above are not smarter than a 5th grader
by Entouchable October 12, 2007 4:02 PM PDT
Can you even read? The poll allowed the option to choose MULTIPLE "best results". Because often times the results are exactly the same. Thus it will add up to over 100.<br /><br />Seems a bit normal to me.
Subjective search and objective tests
by flickrz October 11, 2007 8:05 PM PDT
Again, who conducted these test? I switched from google to yahoo 5 months ago and I have never had to go to page 2 of my search results.
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