Search results

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Google question-answering (QA) quality.

Given the large variety and complexity of Google answer boxes in search result pages, existing evaluation criteria for both search engines and QA systems seemed unsuitable. This study developed an evaluation criteria system for the evaluation of Google QA quality by coding and analyzing search results of questions from a representative question set. The study then evaluated Google’s overall QA quality as well as QA quality across four target types and across six question types, using the newly developed criteria system. ANOVA and Tukey tests were used to compare QA quality among different target types and question types.

It was found that Google provided significantly higher-quality answers to person-related questions than to thing-related, event-related and organization-related questions. Google also provided significantly higher-quality answers to where- questions than to who-, what- and how-questions. The more specific a question is, the higher the QA quality would be.

Suggestions for both search engine users and designers are presented to help enhance user experience and QA quality.

Particularly suitable for search engine QA quality analysis, the newly developed evaluation criteria system expanded and enriched assessment metrics of both search engines and QA systems.

The purpose of this paper to investigate the effectiveness of selected search features in the major English and Chinese search engines and compare the search engines’ retrieval effectiveness.

The search engines Google, Google China, and Baidu were selected for this study. Common search features such as title search, basic search, exact phrase search, PDF search, and URL search, were identified and used. Search results from using the five features in the search engines were collected and compared. One‐way ANOVA and regression analysis were used to compare the retrieval effectiveness of the search engines.

It was found that Google achieved the best retrieval performance with all five search features among the three search engines. Moreover Google achieved the best webpage ranking performance.

The findings of this study improve the understanding of English and Chinese search engines and the differences between them in terms of search features, and can be used to assist users in choosing appropriate and effective search strategies when they search for information on the internet.

The original contributions of this paper are that the Chinese and English search engines in both languages are compared for retrieval effectiveness. Five search features were evaluated, compared, and analysed in the two different language environments by using the discounted cumulative gain method.

To propose an assessment framework that can be used to categorise and assess commercial web sites from the perspective of web‐technological features and functions and to demonstrate its usefulness.

Drawing on prior relevant research and successful web site design experiences of industrial experts in the field, an assessment framework that can be used to categorise and assess web features and functions is proposed, and 252 commercial web sites of listed Australian companies were randomly sampled and assessed to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed assessment framework.

The proposed assessment framework provides valuable insights. While different companies normally use different web‐technological features and functions on their web sites, certain features and functions have been more commonly used in designing commercial web sites than others, and certain differences in the use of web features and functions on commercial web sites exist across different industries.

This research studied commercial web sites of Australian companies. Possible differences in the use of web features and functions on commercial web sites across different countries remain to be explored.

Although various approaches have been proposed in previous studies to evaluate commercial web sites, no prior research could be found to assess commercial web sites from the perspective of web‐technological features and functions. This research proposed an assessment framework that can be used to categorise and assess commercial web sites from the perspective of web‐technological features and functions and demonstrated its usefulness. It also provided valuable insights to commercial web site owners and designers.