On 2/8/07, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com wrote:
I know we're all a fan of Googlecounting results. But this is weird: When I search for a term in Firefox's Google box, the result count is exactly 200% what it should be.
- Search for "Wikipedia is great" in the FireFox search box.
- Mostly (but not always), Google reports 29,600 matches.
- Repeat the search just by pressing Google's "Search" button.
- Google reports 14,800 matches.
Strangely, the difference in count seems to correspond to a difference in layout. The 14,800 count groups related matches by indenting. (The second match is [[All your base are belong to us]], indented under [[WIkipedia:Why Wikipedia is so great]].) The 29,600 match shows no indenting.
FYI, here's the URL I'm using. http://www.google.com.au/search?q=%22wikipedia+is+great%22&ie=utf-8&...
Constantly pasting that into FireFox, sometimes I get 29,600, sometimes I get 14,800. Pasting into IE7 I always get 14,800. Anyone have an explanation?
Steve
Posing the question to a guy I know who works at Google received this response:
The count of results is just an approximation; it's not the actual count.
So I assume that he means it's figured on the fly, and is subject to random variation? Just proves you can't put any real stock in the number returned.
-anon