Linden Lab on Second Life Search Fail: Improvements Announced "Shortly"

Yesterday I mentioned my frustration at not being able to find the several September 11 memorials in Second Life, and Linden Lab spokesman Pete Linden was nice enough to stop by and post this in Comments: "[T]he problem you encountered actually wasn't because search failed to return the results, but because there weren't results to return for that query. The only parcels mentioning that phrase ["September 11 memorial"] are set to not show in search. If you had searched for 'World Trade Center Memorial,' I think you would have found what you were looking for."

He continued: "That said, we realize that search needs improvement and we're actively working to make it better -- we'll share more on that shortly." So keep your eye out for updates. Though to be honest, I'm skeptical substantial improvements will kick in unless there's a fundamental overhaul that totally junks the existing search architecture. But we shall see, hopefully soon.

Comments

[Alicia Chenaux]

How exactly is it, then, that we can put an EXACT store name or location name into search and get nothing? Certainly that should work by Pete Linden's definition, or am I missing something?

[Tinsel Silvera]

I seldom use the inworld search instead using the website search http://search.secondlife.com/web/. When entering your phrase "September 11 memorial" the first 20 returns focus only on the word "memorial" of which none are what you were looking for. However it does return a couple clothing places and a pet place in the event you are not really wanting to look for the memorial. {:o)

[Rockridge Constantine]

I have had a group in SL for several months. It has been set to "show in search" I kept checking and still nothing. So I decide to ask the question on the new SL forums and everyone tells me the same thing. Be sure to tick "show in search". *sigh* Then to my surprise my group finally shows up in inworld search. As of today, the group is still not showing up on www.search.secondlife.com

[Nalates Urriah]

Search is horribly broken. DSP4SL's blog goes into some of the problems and recounts the changes they have made and the changes that has made in search results.

I think Pete Linden was really glossing over the problems. I know that stores I used to find in V2 search no longer appear. After some changes they reappeared. After more changes they disappeared.

I can't know, but it seems LL is trying to game the search to work best with their advertising plans and some idea of having search be fair. I can understand the need to avoid gaming the search engine for unfair advantage. But, Google and Yahoo have been able to do it. So, I can't really see the problem in SL, unless it is the modifications to to try and show preferences and induce more paid advertising.

Something isn't right.

[Maria Korolov]

Google's search works based on inbound links. The equivalent of that would be inbound teleport gates or teleport boards -- and Second Life isn't nearly big enough to support that kind of search ranking. You need millions of links for that kind of search to work, not hundreds. After all, there are probably lots of regions in Second Life without a single outbound teleport link.

And even local teleport links aren't standardized, so it would be difficult to find them, and difficult to get any meaningful information out of them.

Once the metaverse expands to a hundred, or maybe a thousand times what it is now, we'll probably see the emergence of a Google-style inbound link ranking search engine.

Until then, the best mechanism is a human-curated directory -- this is what Yahoo used to have. With just 35,000 regions on Second Life, this isn't an impossible task at all.

[Tateru Nino]

I presume those upcoming improvements are the ones Rod announced a week or so ago.

[Ann Otoole InSL]

There are many factors that play into search ranking on LL's GSAv6 implementation. I have studied it a long time and am now at the point I can follow all the rules and policies and be ethical and sit back and watch my ranking rise over time as my parcel ages and others derank themselves because they keep running a futile race to game the system.

However there are issues. Always room for improvement.

However it is important to always point out the most significant decline in Secondlife began the day LL deployed this new search and then proceeded to ignore the screams from customers. It was months before LL grudgingly admitted there was a problem. By then it was too late for many people's dream of a small business.

[Vecky Burdam]

just a short story: shops started to give out reward-gifts if people have the store in their pics (and 'show me in search' was turned on).
many shops/art shows/clubs were only to be found via search-results that linked to the pics in peoples profiles. it was the most reliable way to find stuff.

... since 2.0 pics don't show up anymore in search ...

which basically means ... SLs brain and memory is not accessible anymore ...
since 2.0 we are basically blind ... as dramatic as it sounds

[Hiro Pendragon]

Just for once, it'd be nice if Linden Lab didn't simply, "announce change shortly", and instead actively sequestered suggestions from the community, provided several options, had people vote, give feedback on proposed ideas, etc.

You know, things that involve social media.

[Faye Feldragonne]

Hi, thanks for this post. I was looking for an answer to this problem for my group Kakia Designs. It does not show in search, "and yes the search is ticked." Because it is not showing, I can't put it into a group link giver, which sucks, because I have a hunt in a few days. I wrote a ticket to LL. I hope they can help, but reading these responses, leaves me feeling a bit concerned.