I usually hunt for information by searching for the information on various topic of my interest. I usually use Google and Live for searching and occassionally Yahoo and AskJeeves. The strange thing I found in Google is that I dosent allow me to view the search result beyond 1000 reaults. I dont face this in other browsers. I got the following message when I went further beyond the 50th result page, CODE Sorry, Google does not serve more than 1000 results for any query. (You asked for results starting from 980.) I knew that google had this restriction on the thirdparty sites that use Google's Search API to provide search in their sites, but I'm facing such restrictions in the main Google site. Ok then IF google wants to restrict the number of results then what is the use of displaying all the result pages ???

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I find that rediculous. We tout Google as a great search engine and then they go and restrict the number of queries. I think it is either the fact that they have so many pages archived or another reason. But that reason will probably remain unknown

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Generally, what you're looking for is in pages 1, 2, 3, or 4. I rarely go beyond 10 because the rest of the results are pointless. 99.85% of what I need is on page 1 within the top 10 results. The remaining percentage is on anything beyond page 1 and up to 5. If what you're looking for isn't in the 50 limited pages, then refine your search. Google must obviously think that way as well as 50 pages is a LOT of results for a query.

[N]F

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Yep it's also wasting ram and processing power on googles server end, what's the point in processing something that's useless?

Anyways you should learn how to refine your searches to get the best possible result, what i usually do is put any keywords i think off that are related to the subject i am searching for. For example if i want to find a driver from nvidia that fixes some display issue, i might search for 'forceware artifact display issue' or something similar. It doesn't matter what order you put the keywords in and if you want a word to definately show up in the results prefix it with a +. For example '+forceware'. If you don't want a keyword to show up prefix it with a -.

If you're searching for an error message or something include it in " and ". For example "Error 12345", it will search for the exact match of what you wrote.

Hope it helps

-HellFire

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I totally agree with this. The first couple of pages is usually where I find what I'm looking for. I don't usually go past page 4, and if I get to that point, I try new keywords. I used to search many pages, I've gone as far as 20 I think. But I realize now that it's pretty much pointless. Some times I can't find what I'm looking for even after refining my keywords, but after some time, it usually comes up.

 

 

 

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If you are doing a simple search looking for what you need, the first 5 pages will serve your need.

But if you are doing research or looking for more resources then you'll have to dig deep into the web.

Google shouldn't have restricted the results.
I'm afraid that they may be planning for making their search service paid for unlimited queries.

Becuse most of their services are going paid. Recently Google for Apps was made paid, by making the free service unreliable. they gurantee 99% uptime only for paid service and no gurantee for free services. Likewise if your GMail Inbox gets filled completely then you've to pay for the extra storage.

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GMail... Extra storage? I don't really see how this would be an issue, unless you are using GMail drive or something. I understand that Google needs to make money, but I don't see how this could really be an issue for the typical user. I mean, I would think that going deeper into the results takes more out of the servers, and if it's too much lag for Google then I can understand how they would want to limit it. And if they let people pay for it, then that would be fine too. I don't think they would be making this change to make money, but rather to save it (and if people pay to make up for the money Google would lose, then it wouldn't be a problem).

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Just as nightfox said, if you can't find something within the first one thousand result, you either need to refine your query or it can't be found. However, since we are talking about Internet, it usually can be found. And with the right keywords, it will end up amongst the first fifty results in most cases. Of course, you could turn to other search engines, but if Google can't put it in the first 1000 results, why would Yahoo or some other web site be able?

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I will have to echo the popular concensus on this one: 1000 is DEFINITELY enough to get any search you want. Limiting the search results forces people to make better queries. If the user is forced to make better queries, they find what they are looking for faster and easier, thus increasing the chance that they will search on Google again. The limit forces the user to stop and think, "Is my query REALLY what I'm looking for?" More relevant results depend on better searches. Most of the time, what I am looking for is within the first 5 results and I hardly ever have to go beyond the first page. If I go beyond the first page, I ask myself that same question, "Is this REALLY what I'm looking for?" I refine my search and get what I'm looking for, plus several more VERY relevant results.

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I suggest you consider refining your search by using slightly complex search queries to reduce the amount of time you spent sifting through pages 50 and beyond..
A good guide in complex search queries can be found in Google Advanced Search

In addition to the above guide, the following search query structure is useful for searching Google for music and movies:

Movies -inurl:htm -inurl:html -inurl:php intitle:"index of" (mpg|mov|avi|wmv) "Movie Name"
Music -inurl:htm -inurl:html intitle:"index of" mp3 "Artist Name"

Hope it helps.

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