And, to add to the confusion, Ben Lisbakken just alerted me to the fact that BlogSearch is now returning up to 64 results, 8 at a time.
Jeremy R. Geerdes Effective website design & development Des Moines, IA For more information or a project quote: http://jgeerdes.home.mchsi.com http://jgeerdes.blogspot.com http://jgeerdes.wordpress.com [email protected] 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! And check out my blog, Adventures in Web Development, at http://jgeerdes.blogspot.com ! On Jan 5, 2009, at 12:00 AM, Jake Barnes wrote: > > > Jeremy Geerdes, thanks for the exhaustive answer. I will link to this > post of yours from my weblog. > > > On Jan 4, 7:53 am, Jeremy Geerdes <[email protected]> wrote: >> I can't blame you for being confused. There is a lot of seemingly >> contradictory information out there! For instance, Google's initial >> search API offering came in the form of a SOAP API which delivered up >> to 1,000 results. While this API offered a number of interesting >> features, it also had a fairly low rate restriction which limited the >> number of times you could query it over a 24-hour period. Even >> though >> this API was deprecated in December 2006, the service to my knowledge >> has not yet been discontinued for persons who obtained an API key >> before that cutoff, so you'll still find a number of sites and >> applications out there that use it, not to mention articles that >> refer >> to it as the greatest thing since sliced bread. >> >> What's more, the result limitations for the AJAX API are only >> officially documented in a couple of blog posts (i.e., the ones >> announcing increases in the results limitations) and in a single, >> rather obscure note in the Search API's Class Reference linked below: >> >> http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxsearch/documentation/ >> reference.html#_... >> >> You'll have to scroll down to the properties listing of the >> google.search.Search object and look at the very end of the .cursor >> property. Beyond this one note, I think the only place it's really >> mentioned is in the Group. >> >> Speaking of the Group, though, even that contains a multiple of >> different numbers. For instance, when the AJAX Search API was >> originally released, you could not retrieve more than 8 results at >> all. So there are a number of posts stating a result limit of 8. >> Then >> the number jumped, for most searchers, to 32. So you have posts >> talking about that limit. Then to 64. Local and blog results were >> left at 8, and then Local results were increased to a total of 32. >> Blog result limits remain at 8 to this day, and if you're not >> confused >> yet by all those numbers, you're a smarter person than I! >> >> All of that said, here is where things stand today. As mentioned in >> my previous post on this thread, you can retrieve up to 64 results, >> across 8 pages of 8 results each, with most searchers. The >> exceptions >> are Local, which can retrieve up to 32, across 4 pages of 8 results >> each; and Blog, which can retrieve only one set of up to 8 results. >> >> At first glance, this all may seem rather restricting, but I think >> that, for most purposes, the result limits as they stand now are >> generally adequate. Does that mean I wouldn't like to see more? No, >> I would love to see more, especially local results. Rather, it is an >> acknowledgment that the AJAX Search API was designed to provide basic >> search functionality to an application. It is not intended for deep >> searching, data mining, or SEO operations. And I think most people >> will agree that, when just running a search for something on the >> internet, the vast majority of the time, we'll click on something >> long >> before we get to the 64th result OR we'll refine our search. >> >> It should also be noted that the Search API is NOT intended to be the >> central emphasis of a website or the core of a business model. The >> TOU >> are explicit in this in a number of locations. For example: >> >> "You will not, and will not permit your end users or other third >> parties to incorporate Google Search Results as the primary content >> on >> your Property or any page on your Property [or] display business >> listings Search Results from the Google Maps service on any Property >> which has the primary purpose of making available residential or >> business address listings or telephone directory listings" (excerpted >> from section 1.3) >> "In using Google Brand Features, you may not have the Google logo as >> the largest logo on your Property (except as displayed in the Google >> Search Results itself) [or] display a Google Brand Feature as the >> most >> prominent element on any page of your Property" (excerpted from >> section 2.2) >> >> So, to answer your question - Are all the Google mashups using small >> result sets to build their businesses? - directly: no, the Google >> AJAX >> Search API merely augments their current businesses and application >> functionality. >> >> In the case of the mashups that you've seen at mashable.com and >> elsewhere, there are a number of sites out there that combine the >> Google Maps API with proprietary data sources other than the Google >> Search API. For example, one site that I work with >> (http://www.scrantondirections.com >> ) has its own database of businesses, etc., that it pushes to a >> Google Map. These results may be augmented by Google LocalSearch >> results, but the primary focus is on the proprietary data. Other >> sites will combine the Maps and Search APIs with some other data to >> provide unique information. For instance,http://www.walkscore.com >> uses a number of LocalSearch instances, filters their results through >> a metric that calculates your ability to survive without a car at a >> given address, and then shows you all of the results using the Maps >> API. So it is absolutely possible to leverage even the "small result >> set" of the Search API to develop effective applications. >> >> That said, I will be the first to admit that you may need something >> different in some situations. In those cases, both Yahoo! and >> Microsoft provide APIs for their respective search engines. Both of >> these have 1,000 result limits, obtainable across multiple requests >> of >> varying sizes, and each has its own benefits and disadvantages. For >> instance, Microsoft offers a SOAP API that is very simple to use with >> the SOAP libraries that are out there for virtually every programming >> language, but you can't just deploy it in an AJAX setting. And at >> least the last time I checked I didn't think it included anything but >> web results. Yahoo!'s APIs generally offer the ability to retrieve >> results in either XML, JSON, or - and this is pretty cool, I think - >> serialized PHP. This allows them to be deployed in virtually any >> environment, and the fact that their BOSS API even throws in the >> ability to re-order results and shuffle in your own - as well as >> utilize your own branding with it (BOSS = Build your Own Search >> Service) - makes their offerings at least intriguing. But for those >> just wanting to add search functionality to their website, they are >> completely lacking in any form of UI elements. So you can't just >> copy >> a couple of lines of JS into your html page and expect to get >> something you can use, much less looks good. Also, depending on >> which >> option you choose, you may find a rate limit restricting you to so >> many requests (not to be confused with search queries) per day. >> >> So it all boils down to this. At the end of the day, I keep coming >> back to the Google AJAX Search API because it offers (1) the greatest >> breadth of search offerings (i.e., web, local, video, blog, news, >> book, image, and patent); (2) the most flexibility in deployment >> including everything from pre-defined, wizard-generated JS controls >> to >> "low-level" JS API interaction to custom JSONP implementations to >> server-side REST applications; (3) by far the best API documentation, >> support, and developer community of the big three search providers; >> and (4) access to Google results which, for better or worse, are >> still >> generally the best/most relevant search results you can find. >> >> Jeremy R. Geerdes >> Effective website design & development >> Des Moines, IA >> >> For more information or a project quote:http://jgeerdes.home.mchsi.comhttp >> ://jgeerdes.blogspot.comhttp://jgeerdes.wordpress.com >> [email protected] >> >> 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! >> >> And check out my blog, Adventures in Web Development, >> athttp://jgeerdes.blogspot.com >> ! >> >> On Jan 4, 2009, at 2:39 AM, Jake Barnes wrote: >> >> >> >>> On Dec 29 2008, 6:58 am, Jeremy Geerdes <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> This is correct. You are currently limited in most cases to a >>>> total >>>> of 64 results - across 8 pages of 8 results each - that you can >>>> retrieve with the Search API. The exceptions to this rule are >>>> Local >>>> and Blog. Local will return up to 4 pages of 8 results, for a >>>> total >>>> of 32, and Blog will return only the first 8. >> >>> You'll forgive me, I hope, for being confused. Over the last 4 or 5 >>> years I've read hundreds of articles at Slashdot and Techcrunch and >>> Businessweek and FastCompany, all talking about new businesses being >>> built around Google's API. In fact, I just did a quick search for >>> "google mashups" and saw some "best of" articles, such as this one: >> >>> http://mashable.com/2008/05/14/17-google-maps-mashups-to-waste-away-y >>> ... >> >>> Are all the Google mashups using small result sets to build their >>> businesses? >> >>> I'm simply astonished. >> >>>> Jeremy R. Geerdes >>>> Effective website design & development >>>> Des Moines, IA >> >>>> For more information or a project quote:http://jgeerdes.home.mchsi.comhttp >>>> ://jgeerdes.blogspot.comhttp://jgeerdes.wordpress.com >>>> [email protected] >> >>>> 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! >> >>>> And check out my blog, Adventures in Web Development, >>>> athttp://jgeerdes.blogspot.com >>>> ! >> >>>> On Dec 29, 2008, at 5:47 AM, Josu wrote: >> >>>>> Hi, >> >>>>> I'm having the same issue. I've read in unofficial website that >>>>> the >>>>> results are limited to 64. Anyone can confirm this or give us a >>>>> workaround? thk you >> >>>>> On Dec 29, 7:42 am, Jake Barnes <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>> I tried this: >> >>>>>> $url = >> >> ... >> >> read more ยป > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google AJAX APIs" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Google-AJAX-Search-API?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
