Fix for estimatedResultCount bug?

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Stealth

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Oct 18, 2008, 5:44:13 PM10/18/08
to Google AJAX API
From reading other discussions it appears that there is a bug in the
estimatedResultCount when using this API. I'm designing a site where
this number is extremely important, but it often gets the wrong
result. It is just inconsistent!

I'd like to direct this to someone working at Google. Is there any
ETA? Is there a work around?

Jeremy Geerdes

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Oct 18, 2008, 10:16:56 PM10/18/08
to Google-AJAX...@googlegroups.com
Unfortunately, I don't know of any workarounds for the bad ERC because
the problem is in the back end (i.e., the estimatedResultCount comes
straight from the server). And Google has been characteristically
quiet on the matter. There are, however, a number of threads in the
issue tracker relating to the matter (links below).

http://code.google.com/p/google-ajax-apis/issues/detail?id=32
http://code.google.com/p/google-ajax-apis/issues/detail?id=4

Jeremy R. Geerdes
Effective website design & development
Des Moines, IA

For more information or a project quote:
http://jgeerdes.home.mchsi.com
jgee...@mchsi.com

Unless otherwise noted, any price quotes contained within this
communication are given in US dollars.

If you're in the Des Moines, IA, area, check out Debra Heights
Wesleyan Church!

xavier...@gmail.com

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Oct 18, 2008, 10:18:56 PM10/18/08
to Google-AJAX...@googlegroups.com
Do you have an error message that I can run?


--
Xavier A. Mathews
Student/Developer/Web-Master
GG Client Based Tech Support Specialist
Hazel Crest Illinois
xavier...@gmail.com
"Fear of a name, only increases fear of the thing itself."

Stealth

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Oct 19, 2008, 4:17:30 PM10/19/08
to Google AJAX API
No, there is no error message. The results are sometimes different
using the API rather than using Google itself, but there is never an
error.

xavier...@gmail.com

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Oct 19, 2008, 4:33:56 PM10/19/08
to Google-AJAX...@googlegroups.com
Can you please provide us w/a link?

Stealth

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Oct 19, 2008, 5:17:24 PM10/19/08
to Google AJAX API
Here's an example using purely the API:

http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/web?v=1.0&q=sarah
gives 275M results
http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/web?v=1.0&q="sarah"
gives about 36M results

But perhaps tomorrow they may return the same estimatedResultCount.

You can also do this comparing the API to the Google website. Using
the API will return a different number than the site.


On Oct 19, 1:33 pm, xavieruni...@gmail.com wrote:
> Can you please provide us w/a link?
>
> On 10/19/2008, Stealth <jbwhee...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > No, there is no error message.  The results are sometimes different
> > using the API rather than using Google itself, but there is never an
> > error.
>
> > On Oct 18, 7:18 pm, xavieruni...@gmail.com wrote:
> >> Do you have an error message that I can run?
>
> --
> Xavier A. Mathews
> Student/Developer/Web-Master
> GG Client Based Tech Support Specialist
> Hazel Crest Illinois
> xavieruni...@gmail.com

Jeremy Geerdes

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Oct 19, 2008, 5:31:09 PM10/19/08
to Google-AJAX...@googlegroups.com
Well, as I mentioned before, there is a known bug with the
estimatedResultCount returned from the API such that it can be wildly
inconsistent and inaccurate. That said, the estimated result tally
for Google itself does vary, from 273 million for sarah to 272 million
for "sarah".

Jeremy R. Geerdes
Effective website design & development
Des Moines, IA

For more information or a project quote:
http://jgeerdes.home.mchsi.com
jgee...@mchsi.com

Unless otherwise noted, any price quotes contained within this
communication are given in US dollars.

If you're in the Des Moines, IA, area, check out Debra Heights
Wesleyan Church!

Tiger

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Oct 19, 2008, 5:31:32 PM10/19/08
to Google AJAX API
Here's another example where the API gives an incorrect answer:

http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/search/web?v=1.0&q=united%20states

This gives about 63 Million results where as a regular Google search
for united states gives over 1 Billion hits which is much more
reasonable. The bug is certainly intermittent so you may get the
correct result when you try it.


On Oct 18, 7:18 pm, xavieruni...@gmail.com wrote:
> Do you have an error message that I can run?
>
> On 10/18/2008, Stealth <jbwhee...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > From reading other discussions it appears that there is a bug in the
> >estimatedResultCountwhen using this API.  I'm designing a site where
> > this number is extremely important, but it often gets the wrong
> > result.  It is just inconsistent!
>
> > I'd like to direct this to someone working at Google.  Is there any
> > ETA?  Is there a work around?
>
> --
> Xavier A. Mathews
> Student/Developer/Web-Master
> GG Client Based Tech Support Specialist
> Hazel Crest Illinois
> xavieruni...@gmail.com

Tiger

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Oct 19, 2008, 5:38:37 PM10/19/08
to Google AJAX API
Obviously it's just an estimate so a relatively minor variation from
273M to 272M is perfectly reasonable and expected. But the issue is
that the API sometimes gives vastly different results from the web
search (sometimes by a factor of 10 or more) and in this case of sarah
vs. "sarah" the results are not even consistent within the API.

On Oct 19, 2:31 pm, Jeremy Geerdes <jrgeer...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, as I mentioned before, there is a known bug with the  
> estimatedResultCount returned from the API such that it can be wildly  
> inconsistent and inaccurate.  That said, the estimated result tally  
> for Google itself does vary, from 273 million for sarah to 272 million  
> for "sarah".
>
> Jeremy R. Geerdes
> Effective website design & development
> Des Moines, IA
>
> For more information or a project quote:http://jgeerdes.home.mchsi.com
> jgeer...@mchsi.com

xavier...@gmail.com

unread,
Oct 19, 2008, 5:40:01 PM10/19/08
to Google-AJAX...@googlegroups.com
I totaly agree.

xavier...@gmail.com

Jeremy Geerdes

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Oct 19, 2008, 5:47:48 PM10/19/08
to Google-AJAX...@googlegroups.com
Absolutely. As I said, the issue is wildly inconsistent, and when
it's off, it's off by a lot. I do not know the details of the
problem, but I do know that the API dev team is aware of it; they
track issues in the Issue Tracker just like the rest of us! That
said, I also know that they pay attention to issues that are starred
as important. As I believe this one is very important (i.e., I've
starred the two related issues myself), I would recommend that
everyone do the same.

Jeremy R. Geerdes
Effective website design & development
Des Moines, IA

For more information or a project quote:
http://jgeerdes.home.mchsi.com

jgee...@mchsi.com

Unless otherwise noted, any price quotes contained within this
communication are given in US dollars.

If you're in the Des Moines, IA, area, check out Debra Heights
Wesleyan Church!

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