Editing Encyclopedia:Search engine test (section)

==Search engine tests and Wikipedia policies==
===Verifiability===
Search engine tests may return results that are fictitious, biased, hoaxes or similar. It is important to consider whether the information used derives from [[WP:RS|reliable sources]] before using or citing it. Less reliable sources may be unhelpful, or need their status and basis clarified, so that other readers gain a neutral and informed understanding to judge how reliable the sources are.

===Neutrality===
Google (and other search systems) do not aim for a [[WP:NPOV|neutral point of view]]. Wikipedia does. Google indexes self-created pages and media pages which do not have a neutrality policy. Wikipedia has a neutrality policy that is ''mandatory'' and applies to all articles, and all article-related editorial activity.

As such, Google is specifically {{em|not}} a source of neutral titles – only of popular ones. Neutrality is mandatory on Wikipedia (including deciding what things are called) even if not elsewhere, and specifically, neutrality trumps popularity.

{{crossref|1=(See {{section link|WP:NPOV#Neutrality and Verifiability}} for information on balancing the policies on [[WP:V|verifiability]] and neutrality, and {{section link|WP:NPOV#Article naming}} on how articles should be named)}}

===Notability===
Raw "hit" (search result) count is a very crude measure of importance. Some unimportant subjects have many "hits", some notable ones have few or none, for reasons discussed further down this page.

Hit-count numbers alone can only rarely "prove" anything about [[WP:N|notability]], without further discussion of the type of hits, what's been searched for, how it was searched, and what interpretation to give the results. On the other hand, examining the ''types'' of hit arising{{huh}} (or their lack) often ''does'' provide useful information related to notability.

Additionally, search engines do not disambiguate, and tend to match partial searches. (However, as described below, you can eliminate partial matches by ''quoting'' the phrase to be matched): While [[Madonna of the Rocks]] is certainly an encyclopedic and notable entry, it's not a pop culture icon. However, due to [[Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna]] matching as a partial match, as well as other Madonna references not related to the painting, the results of a Google or Bing search result count will be disproportionate as compared to any equally notable Renaissance painting. To&nbsp;exclude partial matches when Googling for the phrase, ''quote'' the phrase to be matched as follows: [http://www.google.com/search?&q=%22Madonna+of+the+Rocks%22 "Madonna of the Rocks"].