You're on an island in the middle of nowhere. You need to locate a used motorbike in a faraway country (Netherlands) where you don't speak the language for a next to nothing price. All you have is the internet. How do you proceed? [more inside]
posted by vizsla on Sep 11, 2009 - 16 answers

I need real-time data of the number of people searching different sets of keywords on the internet in a particular location. Some examples: The number of people searching for jobs and jobs related information at that given time(preferably also a particular place as in country or city) The number of people searching for marriage and dating related information. What is the best and cheapest way to get this data? The more real time, the better. Searches on Google would probably be the best given their dominance in the search market, but even other sources would be alright, like Twitter.
posted by tusharj on Jul 22, 2009 - 5 answers

I have almost finished development on an online classified site dedicated to bartering. It will launch at the end of April and I want to know what general submission / initial promotion sites I should use to get my name out there. [more inside]
posted by schindyguy on Mar 11, 2009 - 2 answers

Is there an automated way to generate potential search terms for a given expression? [more inside]
posted by jmevius on Feb 6, 2009 - 9 answers

How do I get Google to stop putting the "Try your search on *other search engine links*" bar at the top of all of my search result pages? [more inside]
posted by decathecting on Jan 20, 2009 - 4 answers

How to search for anything (or find the answer to anything) on the internet when all else has failed? [more inside]
posted by schindyguy on Oct 21, 2008 - 20 answers

Are there any online resources for finding local organic/holistic resources? [more inside]
posted by eric1halfb on Oct 15, 2008 - 3 answers

I want to create a simple page that will query search engines of my choice (i.e. in the form www.z.com/?q=blah) and just concatenate the first page of results into one page. Is there any super-easy way to do this? It would be great if it looked pretty and/or was mobile-phone-friendly, too, but this is not necessary. Thanks.
posted by shivohum on Jul 18, 2008 - 5 answers

How can I automate the news searches that I'm performing on the same subjects day after day after day? [more inside]
posted by abkadefgee on Apr 28, 2008 - 9 answers

Does anyone understand the black art of being listed in a Google search? [more inside]
posted by andihazelwood on Feb 7, 2008 - 10 answers

How dodgy is this third-party supplier's SEO practice? And if it is dodgy, how do we tell our customer? [more inside]
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen on Feb 7, 2008 - 14 answers

Is there a way to force Google to reindex a webpage right away? [more inside]
posted by ssmith on Oct 7, 2007 - 7 answers

Increasing google visitors to blog? [more inside]
posted by serazin on Aug 12, 2007 - 16 answers

Why does a Google search for "whole paycheck" turn up Whole Foods Market as the first hit, but the word "paycheck" is nowhere to be found on those page sources? I know Whole Foods has been the butt of that joke, but I don't understand why they're indexed if the phrase isn't on the website.
posted by hodyoaten on Jul 6, 2007 - 9 answers

What's the simplest, easiest, fastest way to create a search engine for a discussion website (in particular, this one) which is NOT RUN by that website, but on another computer, and which recognizes as searchable/sortable fields: 1) the "board" the post is in, 2) the titles as well as the bodies of posts, and 3) the dates the posts were made? Oh, and it should update with new posts every few hours, say.
posted by shivohum on Jun 17, 2007 - 4 answers

So I'd like to start a website. More specifically, a search engine. Turns out, I'm pretty clueless when it comes to, well, everything about starting it up... [more inside]
posted by undercoverhuwaaah on Apr 20, 2007 - 15 answers

Book search with price comparison. [more inside]
posted by vincentm on Apr 16, 2007 - 10 answers

My website/blog has all but disappeared from Google. What happened, and what can I do to fix it? [more inside]
posted by mendel on Mar 30, 2007 - 10 answers

I've lost a link to a search engine for cultural events (museum exhibitions, etc) that was handy when planning short weekend trips, say to New York or Philadelphia. I can sometimes find copies of Time Out New York, but not always. Prefer the web anyway. Anyone have a method for checking out what's going on in the next 2-3 months in museums and galleries? Thanks
posted by egk on Feb 11, 2007 - 5 answers

I need some software that will track search engine rankings [more inside]
posted by ajbattrick on Feb 6, 2007 - 2 answers

How does a website get to be ranked on the first page for searching on google, yahoo, etc? [more inside]
posted by Gankmore on Feb 3, 2007 - 11 answers

Have I been penalized by Google? I used to be #2 for my main keyword in google. However, since mid Jan my site has dropped off of the face of google for all my keywords. I initially thought they dropped me from their index. Looking at google webmaster tools I get crawled almost every day, I have a PR of 5, over 800 backlinks pointing in, and google has over 47,000 pages of my site indexed. I have been given no notice of any penalty. There are a lot of sites reporting the same results in google’s webmaster forum. [more inside]
posted by quibx on Jan 24, 2007 - 16 answers

How can I overtake my rival on google, considering his site doesn't exist anymore? [more inside]
posted by quibx on Nov 7, 2006 - 16 answers

What are some examples of newspaper, magazine, or content archive sites that you think have really good search interfaces? [more inside]
posted by pessoa on Aug 27, 2006 - 2 answers

Technorati seems to be less and less accurate and comprehensive. Are there better alternatives for searching blog content?
posted by commander_cool on Aug 3, 2006 - 6 answers

I can't find a cool, graphical web engine for identifying similar bands that I once used -- input a band, and it would generate a neat display of others, with your pick at the center and the others radiating out with the closest being the most similar. [more inside]
posted by Clyde Mnestra on Jun 4, 2006 - 11 answers

How can I get desktop search programs to co-exist with Outlook? [more inside]
posted by neurodoc on Jan 18, 2006 - 4 answers

Home Theater Component search - I'm trying to find components with features that I want, which apparently bear little or no relation to what the major resellers and search engines provide. [more inside]
posted by plinth on Sep 4, 2005 - 12 answers

How should I publicise my new blog/newswire? [more inside]
posted by docgonzo on May 7, 2005 - 12 answers

What's a good IRC XDCC or Fserve search engine?
posted by signal on Sep 24, 2004 - 3 answers

Is there a way to Google a Google? That is to say, is there a way to find where in a particular set of search results a particular result lies? [more inside]
posted by o2b on Aug 6, 2004 - 5 answers

Did anyone else notice Google search behaving oddly yesterday? (more inside) [more inside]
posted by jester69 on Jun 20, 2004 - 16 answers

Does anyone know of any good search engines that search the "invisible" Web? I'm bored with google and it's like, and I am particularly interested in search engines that can offer me something a little more scholarly to chomp on. (Not that I don't love google anymore.)
posted by archimago on Jun 16, 2004 - 12 answers

The last time I had to set up a search engine for a basic web site, swish-E was the free indexer of choice. However, its relevance sorting and other features (as I remember them) leave much to be desired in today's world, where everyone expects every search engine to be as good as Google. What's the LAMP favorite nowadays? Where is the interesting development happening in open-source search index and query service?
posted by scarabic on Jun 14, 2004 - 10 answers

Lately, Google has been down a lot (or at least inaccessible from where I am). Does anyone know why this is? Also, what's the best search engine to use when you can't use Google?
posted by grumblebee on May 30, 2004 - 9 answers

Every once in a while, when I search Google, I end up with some weird search results. All ads. It doesn't happen all the time and I don't know if it's Google stooping to a new low, or if it's me and some kind of adware. Note that I also get a pop-up window with this page that has a couple other ad links. [more inside]
posted by MrAnonymous on May 20, 2004 - 16 answers

What is the "upstart, Linux-like cooperative" search engine mentioned in this Reuters about Google?
posted by tranquileye on Mar 23, 2004 - 2 answers

Recommendations for a good music lyrics search engine? [more inside]
posted by jca on Jan 14, 2004 - 11 answers