Making Search Results More Relevant

[PJOF]

I got the search results and images working great. The thing is, that when I enter as search term, it pulls up links and images that are totally unrelated. For instance, typing in dog pulls up bird, reptile, etc, I believe there is a way to refine results, but am having some difficulty figuring out where to begin.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Edited to add: Is this happening because I have my Indexer set to index meta keywords and titles, as well as content description? It's pulling up everything listed in these areas?

[David]

If you search for dog, then the #1 result really has to have some mention on dogs on it. But yes, this might be in your meta data, and thus not visible in on the page.

If you can post the URL for your search function and provide real examples, we can have a look at it.

See also this FAQ,
Q. How do I make some pages appear higher up in my search results? How does Zoom's page score system work?

[PJOF]

Thank you..I will look at the article first.

[PJOF]

I see now why the results show irrelevant searches - because somewhere within the content pages (not the meta tags) there is a word match, even though it has nothing to do with the search.

The problem is, that when I try to unclick Page Content under What to Index, it comes up with a message that "Page Contents are currently required for search results..."

So if I unclick Page Content, will it no longer offer results? I suppose this would be the only way to fix the issue of irrelevant searches - other than changing descriptions in my pages?

Thanks,

[Ray]

If there are parts of the page which you want to exclude from the search, then see this FAQ:
Q. How do I prevent parts of my webpage from being indexed (eg. exclude navigation menus, or page footers)?

Once you have excluded those sections of the page, the search results should be much more accurate.

You probably would want to index the Page Content after adjusting the above.

If you still would rather only index the title and meta keywords, you can turn off Page Content from indexing.

The rest of that message you partially quoted explains that disabling page content will also disable "Context descriptions" and "Exact phrase matching". It does not eliminate all search results.

"Context descriptions" is the description in the search results where it shows the surrounding content text to the word that was matched.

"Exact phrase matching" is the type of search, enclosed in double quote characters where the order of the keywords are significant.

Hope that helps.

[David]

...because somewhere within the content pages (not the meta tags) there is a word match, even though it has nothing to do with the search.

So the web page talks about dogs, but somehow in fact has nothing to with dogs?

[PJOF]

Yes, correct, in some cases. One good example is if I want it to index a metal sign, which it does. But then the results include a page that is irrelevant, but it was picked up by the Indexer because the words "sign" is somewhere in the description of an irrelevant page.

So the web page talks about dogs, but somehow in fact has nothing to with dogs?

[PJOF]

Ray,

I did do the page exclusions via Skip Options. I think I would prefer to not have to enter the tags to various pages, and instead just uncheck Page Content under What to Index.

Just to be clear, if I uncheck this box, and do nothing further, such as adding tags to different pages, the search will still work fine.

Many thanks,

[PJOF]

Also, if you could offer suggestions on the following: When I re-index, I keep getting an error box that says "The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software?...this file does not have a valid digital signature ..."

I have the option of pressing Run or Cancel. I press Run, but then I have to keep pressing it throughout the entire Reindexing process.

I emailed in, and someone suggested that I re-install the plugins but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

[David]

One good example is if I want it to index a metal sign, which it does. But then the results include a page that is irrelevant, but it was picked up by the Indexer because the words "sign" is somewhere in the description of an irrelevant page

You need to make sure you have selected to search for ALL words, and not ANY words on the search form. If you search for ALL words, then only pages that have both the words 'metal' and 'sign' will be in the results.

[PJOF]

Works...thanks.

You need to make sure you have selected to search for ALL words, and not ANY words on the search form. If you search for ALL words, then only pages that have both the words 'metal' and 'sign' will be in the results.

[Ray]

Also, if you could offer suggestions on the following: When I re-index, I keep getting an error box that says "The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software?...this file does not have a valid digital signature ..."

I have the option of pressing Run or Cancel. I press Run, but then I have to keep pressing it throughout the entire Reindexing process.

I emailed in, and someone suggested that I re-install the plugins but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Did you also uncheck the option on that window (with the Run and Cancel button) that says, "Always ask before opening this file"? Uncheck it and it should not come back.

How are you installing the plugins exactly? Did you download the "Complete plugins installer package for V6" (the green button at the top of this page) and run that .exe file?

Or did you download the individual .zip file further down?

The aforementioned suggestion was to download the complete package.

If you are unzipping the individual file yourself, you need to make sure you unzip the files on your own machine, and you are not copying the unzipped file across a network, which marks it as an insecure file.

[PJOF]

Well, I got the engine, including images, working how I like it. Just need to make some tweaks here and there.

The only thing I can't seem to fix is that darned security box that keeps popping up when I index. I did try unchecking the box and tried the other suggestions, to no avail. Any other ideas on how to get rid of this would be appreciated.

All in all, am amazing search engine at an amazing price.

Thanks for your help.

[David]

Find the executable on the disk. They should be here,
C:\ProgramData\Wrensoft\Zoom Search Engine Indexer\plugins

Right click on it, select properties.

Then see if there is a message in the properties window to unblock it.

Like the example in this image,
http://cr-documentor.googlecode.com/svn/site/screenshots/windows_unblock_button.png

[PJOF]

You must have a different version on Microsoft because I don't have a Properties window. But I played around with the security settings, and it seems to have done the job. I had to click the box a couple times but now it's off and running on its own.

Many thanks,