Google search

[Rousseau Ronald]

Dear colleagues,

For those who happen to use Google for informetric/cybermetric purposes, I have
a strange feature to report.

If you place OR between a word and a phrase then Google gives you the same (and
hence wrong) result as when you had put AND (or nothing) between this word and
this phrase.

An example: a search for eurozone OR "euro zone" gives 2580 hits.
            a search for eurozone AND "euro zone" gives also 2580 hits
         (and note that AND is not necessary in Google)
     further: a search for eurozone  gives 14500  hits
        and a  search for "euro zone" gives  35300 hits.

       Consequently:  eurozone OR "euro zone" should have given 47220 hits
        (namely  14500 + 35300  -  2580).

I have reported this to Google, so let's see what they will answer.


By the way: in Google you need double quotes for phrases. A search for
 'euro zone' yields exactly the same result as a search for euro AND zone,
namely 219,000.


Ronald Rousseau
KHBO - Zeedijk 101   8400 Oostende   Belgium
e-mail  ronald.rousseau at kh.khbo.be
web page:  users.pandora.be/ronald.rousseau