Question about Google

Hi,
I sometimes see an unexpected result when using Google. Suppose I
enter three search terms and get a large number of hits. Sometimes I
will try to reduce the number of hits by adding more search terms. So
suppose I add a fourth search term. Typically the number of hits will
be reduced (as expected) but occasionally the number of hits will be
(unexpectedly) increased. Can anyone explain to me why this happens?

Thanx
jw

On Apr 2, 8:27 pm, jude <jw12jw12j... (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote:

Hi,
I sometimes see an unexpected result when using Google. Suppose I
enter three search terms and get a large number of hits. Sometimes I
will try to reduce the number of hits by adding more search terms. So
suppose I add a fourth search term. Typically the number of hits will
be reduced (as expected) but occasionally the number of hits will be
(unexpectedly) increased. Can anyone explain to me why this happens?

Because unless you are putting quotation marks around two or more
words, or using the "+" sign, what you're actually doing in many
occassions is adding more terms to the query, thus extending the scope
of the results.
It all depends on that fourth search term and its relationship to the
others. Try using a common or a related search term and the results
will increase, use a not-so-common or unrelated term and they will
decrease.

--
Kind Regards,
1001webs.net - Internet Solutions
www.1001webs.net

On Apr 2, 8:27 pm, jude <jw12jw12j... (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote:

Hi,
I sometimes see an unexpected result when using Google. Suppose I
enter three search terms and get a large number of hits. Sometimes I
will try to reduce the number of hits by adding more search terms. So
suppose I add a fourth search term. Typically the number of hits will
be reduced (as expected) but occasionally the number of hits will be
(unexpectedly) increased. Can anyone explain to me why this happens?

Because unless you are putting quotation marks around two or more
words, or using the "+" sign, what you're actually doing in many
occassions is adding more terms to the query, thus extending the scope
of the results.
It all depends on that fourth search term and its relationship to the
others. Try using a common or a related search term and the results
will increase, use a not-so-common or unrelated term and they will
decrease.

--
Kind Regards,
1001webs.net - Internet Solutions
www.1001webs.net

On Apr 2, 6:10 pm, Stephen Wolstenholme <st... (AT) tropheus (DOT) demon.co.uk>
wrote:

Simple logic functions. 'OR' will produce more hits. 'AND' will
produce fewer. It all depends on how Google do the mix.

Steve

This can't be the explanation. The default behavior of Google is AND,
not OR.
The behavior where adding another search term term increases the
number of hits is definitely the exception. I've noticed it happening
about one time out of a hundred searches.

jw