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Google searches - iPad vs iMac
#25857 05/04/13 04:51 PM
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ryck Offline OP
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I find that my iPad is quite restrictive in the way it conducts Google searches. Often, it doesn't seem to take individual key words as a random set of clues but more like a specific phrase.

For example, I can do a three word search on my iPad and get a reply that it can't find anything with that description, and the three words appear in a box entitled "No Matches". I can enter the same three words into my iMac and get pages of replies.

Have I just skipped a step in my set-up or is that the way it is?

Last edited by ryck; 05/04/13 04:51 PM.

ryck

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Re: Google searches - iPad vs iMac
ryck #25866 05/05/13 05:19 PM
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ryck Offline OP
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Originally Posted By: ryck
Have I just skipped a step in my set-up or is that the way it is?

Additional information:

It appears there isn't any "set-up" as such with the iPad except to opt for search engines other than Google - the other choices being Yahoo and Bing. And, selecting a different engine does generate quite different results.

I tested on the iPad with these words "ipad meeting recorder software". Both Yahoo and Bing gave pages of results.

Google provided only the terse "No Matches". However, on my iMac, Google had all kinds of responses.

So the iPad-Safari-Google combination is not nearly as good as the iMac-Safari-Google combination. Although I now know the solution, it would be good also to know the "why".

Any ideas?


Last edited by ryck; 05/05/13 05:20 PM.

ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

iMac (Retina 5K, 27", 2020), 3.8 GHz 8 Core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 2667 MHz DDR4
OS Ventura 13.6.3
Canon Pixma TR 8520 Printer
Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner c/w VueScan software
TM on 1TB LaCie USB-C
Re: Google searches - iPad vs iMac
ryck #25868 05/05/13 08:55 PM
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I have seen that my iPad and Mac Google searches give the same results.

Go to www.google.com on our iPad and see if you have accidentally set Google search preferences for something other than what you want. It sounds like you might accidentally have set your preferences in Google (not iPad preferences; you can open a Web browser and set Google preferences) that tell it to search for "exact phrase" rather than "all the words."


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Re: Google searches - iPad vs iMac
ryck #25875 05/07/13 04:30 AM
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Originally Posted By: ryck
[quote=ryck]I tested on the iPad with these words "ipad meeting recorder software". Both Yahoo and Bing gave pages of results.

Google provided only the terse "No Matches". However, on my iMac, Google had all kinds of responses.


I tried that search phrase on my iPad. As I was typing it, I kept getting both "Google suggestions" and "On this page (no matches)", right up until I typed the final "e" at the end of software. Before typing the last letter, the "Google Suggestions" had narrowed down to only "ipad meeting recorder software". Typing that last letter removed "Google Suggestions", leaving only "On This Page (no matches)".

The "Search" key (the one where the return key is, normally) was still active, so I pressed it and got lots of Google hits.

It looks to me like Google doesn't bother suggesting strings that are not longer than what you've already typed in. (What would be the point? You've already typed it in.)

The "(no matches)" comment only applies to "On This Page". Google's not offering new longer suggestions doesn't mean what you've typed won't find anything. Just go ahead and tap "Search".

Re: Google searches - iPad vs iMac
ganbustein #25935 05/21/13 07:09 PM
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ryck Offline OP
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Apologies Tacit and ganbustein for being so long getting back to both of you.

Originally Posted By: tacit
IGo to www.google.com on our iPad and see if you have accidentally set Google search preferences for something other than what you want.

I can't remember ever setting preferences for Google. It's just always been the search engine on my Safari and it's always worked.

However, I did go to the google.com site but found that I need to register et cetera before entering. I'm not much for leaving my personal information just because someone asks so I took a flyer on that.

Originally Posted By: ganbustein
I tried that search phrase on my iPad. As I was typing it, I kept getting both "Google suggestions" and "On this page (no matches)", right up until I typed the final "e" at the end of software. Before typing the last letter, the "Google Suggestions" had narrowed down to only "ipad meeting recorder software". Typing that last letter removed "Google Suggestions", leaving only "On This Page (no matches)".

My experience was similar but not the same.

I had five results until I typed the first "s" of software at which point the only result was "ipad meeting recorder s" and pressing it just took me back to the last page I had visited - a medical information site.

This is not a show-stopper for me although it would have been nice to get a fix. However, both Yahoo and Bing are available for those times when Google won't come through, and they both seem to be pretty good.

Thanks, both.


ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

iMac (Retina 5K, 27", 2020), 3.8 GHz 8 Core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 2667 MHz DDR4
OS Ventura 13.6.3
Canon Pixma TR 8520 Printer
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Re: Google searches - iPad vs iMac
ryck #25943 05/22/13 06:39 PM
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If you see the words "On This Page," that says you're typing into the browser search field, not into a Google search. Go to www.google.com and type into the actual Google search field--does that work?


Photo gallery, all about me, and more: www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
Re: Google searches - iPad vs iMac
ryck #25950 05/23/13 08:43 PM
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Originally Posted By: ryck
I had five results until I typed the first "s" of software at which point the only result was "ipad meeting recorder s" and pressing it just took me back to the last page I had visited - a medical information site.


The menu you're seeing is a list of suggestions, not results. I'm referring back to where you said: "I had five results until ... the only result was ...". It would be more accurate to say you had five suggestions until ... the only suggestion was ...".


Pay close attention to where that one entry appears. If it's on a line below "On This Page...", it means the phrase appears at least once on your current page and Safari is suggesting that you might want to go to the first such appearance. Google is not involved; the whole thing is handled entirely on the iPad. If you tapped such an entry, it's not that you went "back" to the previous page. Rather, you never left.

An entry below "Google Suggestions" means Google is suggesting a possible search phrase longer than what you've already typed. If you tap on it, Google will make the suggested extension of your search phrase, and look that up, giving you the actual results of the suggested search.

Or, you can always tap the "Search" button on the keyboard (where the "Return" button normally appears), to have Google search for exactly what you've typed, ignoring any suggestions and anything on the current page.



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