Why Use Digg Search When You Have Google Search?
If you don't like Digg's site search bar you are not alone. Many Digg users recently expressed their hatred for this feature in a submission on the social news site. While many others that I have talked to say they have simply stopped using Digg's search features and instead have opted for Google Search (by using the site:digg.com [query]).
This made me start thinking about how often is Google crawling Digg and so I decided to do a little reasearch, with interesting results.
To begin my research I looked at the Digg queue, picked 11 random stories, and performed a Google search for each title. When this was completed I looked at the cached text for each article because it is completely stored on the Google servers. The first thing I did with each article was verify there were no comments, because this could cause Google to crawl the page again. From this point I looked at the section that tells how long ago the article was submitted, and of the 11 articles:
5 were cached within in 8 minutes,
1 was cached within 9 minutes,
1 was cached within 10 minutes,
1 cached within 15 minutes,
1 cached within 16 minutes,
1 within 34 minutes,
Making the average of the crawl 12.4 minutes.
This is good considering the amount of data Google has to scan externally. However, if Digg were to use one of the Google appliances this time would be cut down to almost nothing and for about $30,000 there would be no need to maintain a propriety Digg search. I'm also pretty sure if Digg were to partner with Google this would cut down the crawl time quite significantly, and would increase the site's revenue substantially.
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Reader Comments (6)
- Steve Searer, June 28, 2007
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I have found myself using google to search digg more and more lately. The only thing that neither are good for is searching a particular users' diggs. Hopefully we will see this feature make a comeback soon.
- Greg, June 28, 2007
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You think Google would buy Digg? I've been hearing too much complaining about it to think so... but your point is right on regardless. Oh, I search through google, too. The search utility on Digg really is crap.
- Paul, June 28, 2007
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For me, the main reason why I am using Google to search is because it helps to me to find the items I want. They are in the business of search and they deliver the results I want.
While as for Digg, they are into the rating/buzz... Searching will only give me @#%#$%.
Give me what I want when I search. Google or Digg I dun really care. :P
- avinash, June 30, 2007
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[quote] Making the average of the crawl 12.4 minutes. [/quote]
That's interesting. Though I don't use Digg search a lot, I'm gonna keep the Google operator in my mind.
- Avi
- Alex, January 17, 2008
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Hey - couldn't agree more. I just created a digg search engine using Eurekster technology. This way, the search engine spiders digg content ONLY and anyone can vote up results.
- Alex, January 17, 2008
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Hey - couldn't agree more. I just created a digg search engine using Eurekster technology. This way, the search engine spiders digg content ONLY and anyone can vote up results.
