Study claims FAST to be a sounder engine

..but Google more fresh.

[Rumbas]

A recent study analyzing differences between ATW and Google, claims ATW to be a sounder engine:

The objectives of the test were to evaluate in practice how ready each of these two search engines are to host user searches of a target site and how efficiently each search engine would reveal a target page on that site using known search terms that people have used already to get to that particular page through a search engine.

Some conclusions:

Google shines in listing fresh material, while AllTheWeb shines in getting a listing of every page in its listing time period. Should AllTheWeb increase the number of visits to sites, it would have a much more accurate listing than Google

ATW seems to come out pretty good:

AllTheWeb just needs to increase the frequency of their robot crawls and Google would have some formidable competition. AllTheWeb could, it seems, give searchers in practice a more efficient service than could Google.

googlevillage.info/2003/02/14.html#a241

[Brad]

I agree that FAST needs to become more regular in it's updates and refreshes.

I have to say I am really liking the results I am seeing in ATW, I just wish they had greater market share in the English speaking world.

[WindSun]

They could definately use some updates in some areas.

Basically, the more obscure what you are looking for, the better Google gets. But as things get more common, Google can serve up a lot of trash to filter through.