No results with inurl: parameter
Apparently there is a bug in the MSN search algorithms (and API) when performing searches using the inurl: parameter with a number. Example:
site:www.cs.odu.edu inurl:~cs772
This results in no found records although the search
site:www.cs.odu.edu cs772
results in numerous URLs in the form http://www.cs.odu.edu/~cs772/*
The '~' doesn't appear to be the problem since the query:
site:www.cs.odu.edu inurl:~mln
produces numerous results in the form http://www.cs.odu.edu/~mln/*. Other queries that incorrectly produce no results:
site:www.cs.odu.edu inurl:~cs472
site:www.cs.odu.edu inurl:~cs476
site:www.cs.odu.edu inurl:~cs478
site:www.cs.odu.edu inurl:~cs779
Thanks,
Frank
[743 byte] By [
fmccown] at [2008-2-22]
I found several more examples where the inurl: parameter is not working properly.
Doing the query "site:home.alltel.net" results in numerous pages. If the query is limited to "site:home.alltel.net inurl:racecra" or "site:home.alltel.net inurl:johnshan" then numerous pages are found. But the following queries produce no results even though it is clear from the first query that there are numerous URLs that should be found:
site:home.alltel.net inurl:ah50902
site:home.alltel.net inurl:bsprowl
site:home.alltel.net inurl:kblackbu
site:home.alltel.net inurl:mhwaters1951
I'm sure there are many other examples, but these are just a few I tried.
Thanks,
Frank
Has any of this been resolved? I'm using the SOAP API to make a query for site:[domainNameHere] and I seem to be getting sites that link to the domain I put it. The total count does not match the indexed count on MSN live directly, nor do the results.
Do these types of parameters work through the API for site: and link:, or is there a better way?
Thanks.
Hi Darrino and fmccown,
Thanks for the using the API and for the feedback!
Currently the inurl: and the link: are disabled on our site as there was usage of these operators that was impacting our live site.
More details are available in this blog post: http://blogs.msdn.com/livesearch/archive/2007/03/28/we-are-flattered-but.aspx
We are working hard to restore service to these operators and will post on the blog again once we do so.
Please post any follow up questions you might have.
thanks!
eytan
--
Eytan Seidman
Senior Program Manager Lead - Live Search
