Google is the industry standard for Internet search, and Google's technology has much to offer Second Life. We are investing in refining -- and eventually expanding -- our use of the Google Search Appliances (GSA) to give you the best tools for discovering the great things Second Life has to offer. For some time, we have been using Google Search Appliances for parts of Search, such as the "All Tab" in the Viewer, and we've been monitoring its effectiveness. What we've found is that the All Tab is one of the most used search tools, and Resident feedback tells us that it gives them a largely successful search experience. That's great, and we will build on the system to do better. In the year ahead, you'll see many improvements to all the search tools, as well as ongoing refinement of search result quality. Some of these improvements will be available in the next few weeks.
In the second half of January, we will release an upgrade to the GSAs that adds some new features. This update will only affect searches that are served by the GSAs. These are searches conducted in the All Tab and Group Tab in the Viewer, on secondlife.com, including the World Map, and in the Second Life Wiki and the Knowledge Base contained in the wiki. The changes will not affect Classifieds (in the Classifieds Tab or alongside Search results) or search on XStreetSL.
In this release, we will upgrade the GSAs to the latest version. Version 6 not only offers some great improvements for creating better search results for Residents, but it also gives Linden Lab better control over performance and fine-tuning of our relevance rules.
Some release highlights:
Better phrase searching. This release has important improvements to make multiple word searches work better. Using more than one keyword really helps you narrow in on the right results quickly, and now, searching on phrases will return even more accurate results.
Keyword stemming added. The search engine will now return results for the keyword you enter as well as results for words that are based on the linguistic root of that keyword. For example, a search for any of the words dancing, dancer, dances will also be matched to dance (and vice-versa) by the search algorithm. All listings that include a word related to the root word dance will then be displayed in the results.
Relevance improvements. We've made some changes that will lower the rank of keyword-stuffed or gamed listings. This means that high-quality destinations and listings will rise to the top of Search results, creating a more satisfying search experience for Residents by connecting them with the best of Second Life.
If you are a Second Life merchant, a Place, Group or Event owner, or if you just want to be sure your People Profile shows up in searches by your target audience, then please visit this updated Knowledge Base article to learn more about how to create effective listings and be found in Search.
Stay tuned to this blog for the final release date on this upgrade and for future communications on Search and Classifieds. Thanks!
