Reliability of Hit Counts Returned by Search Engines Revisited

The Latest Situation Concerning Google Search

Abstract

Hit counts returned by search engines are known to be subject to problems such as temporal fluctuation and logical inconsistency. According to the survey which I have been conducting for some nine years since 2008, the extent of temporal fluctuation of hit counts returned by Google and Yahoo! JAPAN differs from period to period, and presently (autumn 2016) the situation seems to be changing from a relatively stable state to an instable one. There is not yet a sign of reduction in logical inconsistency of hit counts, either. Keywords: search engine, reliability of hit counts, temporal fluctuation, logical inconsistency, Google, Yahoo! JAPAN