Exploring the Retrieval Effectiveness of Web Search Engines

This book is the result of the author's efforts in evaluating search engines and their features and also examines different web queries which are given by the users to different search engines with particular reference to “Navigational Queries.” Despite the impressive speed of search engines, effective information retrieval is still a dream due to the huge availability of resources on the web. There is no consistency or easy transferability between services and, therefore, content, comprehensiveness, search interface, searching techniques, algorithm and features of search engines vary. Many search engines with multiple features exist which are used by the large number of users from every corner of the world and other smaller offering limited functionality and are used by very few users because those search engines are not able to provide useful information. With literally billions of queries entered every year there is a plethora of data to be combed through and just as much information to be gleaned.