dogboy’s non-update thread

this thread has NOTHING to do with the update:)

[dogboy]

I know everybody is all trigger happy this time of month, but I want to talk about a certain subject, without getting into a fight with anyone... so to start with, I want to tell you what this thread is NOT about.... it is NOT about THIS update in particular.... rather, it is about updates in GENERAL... and to limit it even more, it is only about one tiny sliver of the ‘update process’, not the whole the thing.... and for Pete’s sake, it absolutely has nothing to do with hopes, or dreams, or ‘bad’ or ‘good’... that is for other threads.... this thread is it is simply about an observation. I want to post it here because I want to hear your observations on this topic, and because I don’t know exactly what I’m looking at, and I want to bounce around ideas.... it also is a timely issue, meaning we only have a window to look at it before its over .... fair enough?

Ok...I found something, but am not sure if you can see it (some of you won't be able to see it, and others may be too late.) I know Google flips back and forth between 'current www results' and the 'new www3 results' at the early stages on www3, but I have found a special set of searches that have never reverted back for me... a few search commands without the domains, for example, I keep doing a search for the word 'link' and a colon (:).... in other words, I go to www and type 'link:' which, of course, is the backlink command ....except I don't add a domain after the command.

[google.com...]

...and I get something like 102,000,000 results... if I do the same at www3 right now:

[www3.google.com...]

.... I get 99,600,000... I can't find any other standard search terms that shows the new set of results except these ‘command’ searches. This has been like this for a few days now, meaning that for these searches, www3 changed, and stayed ‘changed’ (and has never reverted).... the significance is that it seems to be a search specific redirection to the ‘new’, soon to be stable www3 results. so does that tell us anything?

[mbennie]

I don't think that is a valid way to see if the update is near.

The difference in number could simply be the fresh results included with 'link:' in the page.

[taxpod]

mbennie, dogboy isn't saying this is a way to check for the update. He is saying that after the dust has settled WWW and WWW3 are not identical. I think it is an interesting observation. I had noticed in months past that the two return different results for some searches at some points. I don't know what it could mean other than that there might be some normal differences between the two server arrays.

[mbennie]

There are always differences in the number of results returned on the various servers. This happens all month long and has nothing to do with the update.

Doing the same search as dogboy but without the colon returns the same numbers of results.

[curlykarl]

"There are always differences in the number of results returned on the various servers"

"Always" is not really the right word to use, I think its fair to say sometimes the results differ, not always :)

[mbennie]

In any search with large numbers of results (>1,000,000) there are always differences.

[dogboy]

re: observation = 'indicator of pending update'

yeah, that is off topic... I just want to discuss these searches... but here is some background info... I am near Salt Lake City and for some reason, I seem to always see results before others here... NFFC in the UK never sees the new stuff when we are on AIM... but by the same token, I have a hunch that if others can see the difference, I bet he would be able to see too. If everyone sees it, then it can offer a glimpse of the process.... and yes, maybe give you a 24hr heads up.

re:Taxpod

I led you astray... I didn't mean that after the dust has settled www and www3 are different.... I don't know/never looked yet. But I bet/hope they're the same. What I'm saying/hypothesizing is that right before www3 is stable, with the new results (which will finally migrate to www and be viewed as the new, 'default' search) you can check these 'screwy command' searches, which won't give you any idea what your new rank might be, but they will let you know there is something afoot.... in other words, if you DONT see a difference between searches, then you know you still have a little while left.... maybe:)

[Clark]

Well I've never seen anyone explain how the freshbot is propagated across servers. If it is propagated slowly or incompletely, this could account for it...

[stuntdubl]

That is an interesting observation. I have not read anything in regards to how freshbot changes propogate themselves across the servers.

I just noticed it with a site that was knocked from the index (because the site was down for near a month). This month it got spidered, but the toolbar is still showing "not indexed". However, it is back up to number 3 for a normal search phrase (not completely obscure), which is where it was before being removed from the index.

I just happend to notice it by accident when searching the phrase to use as an example, and was pleasantly surprised to see it return. I wonder what the process of it returning to it's former position was though however.

I also witnessed someone that I consulted with move up about 30 listings for one of their more prominent phrases when (from 60 to 30) when just doing some relatively minor changes. I was very surprised to see this one as well.

My point is that freshbot obviously has a way of propogating its' finding to the regular index.....but how?

[dogboy]

hmmm I started looking into mbennie's '>1M' idea, and I definitely think he is on to something... 'link' and 'link:' are showing the same number of results.... it doesnt tell you a ':' is very common, and 'was not included in my search' ....meaning my 'command search' idea is wrong:) ...at least now I know the real reason.... didn't occur to me that size really did matter:)