What is this line of links (like, add, seo, links, cache, spam) below each search result title?

Posted on June 21, 2011 by cheralyn

The line of links directly below each search result title contains link tools that provide you with additional information about the search result and allow you to take certain actions.  All of the link tools are shown by default but you can use prefs to customize the ones you wish to show or remove the line entirely.

  • Like – This link lets you like that webpage on Facebook. (You need to be logged in and to have connected your Facebook account to blekko to do this.)
  • Add – Add that result to a slashtag.
  • Seo – See SEO information about that result. SEO information includes host rank, # of pages crawled, inbound links, and more.
  • Dup – see sites with duplicate content to that site
  • Rss – gives you the option to subscribe to an RSS feed for that site
  • Links – displays inbound links to that site
  • Cache – see cached content from that site
  • Source – view the site’s source code
  • Ip – see other sites with that ip address
  • Adsense – see sites with the same Adsense ID
  • Site – search that site only
  • Similar – see similar sites
  • Info – see quick info about the site
  • Spam – mark the site as spam so you won’t see it again
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What is the top bar?

Posted on June 21, 2011 by cheralyn

The Top bar includes the search box and the slashtag bar. The top bar is fixed in place by default but you can change this in prefs.

Search box – enter your query and slashtags and hit “search” to search blekko, e.g., green lantern /movies.  You can search using more than one slashtag, for example Barack Obama /blogs /date=march2007.

Slashtag bar – the slashtag bar is located directly below the search box and contains information about how many results were returned as well as providing additional filtering options.

  • # of results – the number of results are shown. If a slashtag was used, there will be a link to that slashtag. Click on the link to see the sites in the slashtag.
  • Sort options – /relevance is the usual default option, but you can change the sort order to /date or /likes. /date will order the results by date while /likes will only show results from you and your friends’ Facebook likes. (/likes is only available if you have connected your blekko account to Facebook.)
  • Slashtags – suggested based on your query. You can also access your own slashtags by clicking on the arrow next to your username. Then you can click on any of your own slashtags to search using that slashtag instead.
  • Share – click the drop down to share the search result page on either Facebook or Twitter.
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Can I “un-fix” the top bar so it scrolls with the rest of the page?

Posted on June 21, 2011 by cheralyn

Yes. The top bar is fixed in place by default but you can change this in prefs.

  1. Click on the prefs link in the top right hand corner to bring up the prefs pop-up.
  2. Click on the arrow by View Settings.
  3. Check the box for “Don’t fix the top bar.”
  4. Click on “save settings” and then close the prefs pop-up.
Posted in customization, search | Tagged | Comments Off

What does it mean to sort by /date?

Posted on June 21, 2011 by cheralyn

/date sorts the search results by date, with the most recent ones first. /date only works on sites where blekko has been able to determine a date for the publication of the page. /date works very well for blogs and news articles.

Posted in search, slashtags | Tagged , | Comments Off

What does “/date – show more” mean?

Posted on June 21, 2011 by cheralyn

By default, /date takes relevance into account when ordering the search results. To see results without this relevance constraint, you can add /more to your query or click on ‘/date – show more.’ This will bring up more results than just a /date search. Clicking on ‘/date – show less’ will return to the results ordered by date and relevancy.

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How do I search within a specific date range?

Posted on June 21, 2011 by cheralyn

/date is a powerful slashtag as it allows you to search within a specific date range.  Say you want to see what bloggers wrote about a political candidate before he or she decided to run for office. You could constrain your date search to search a date range before the announcement.

Here are some examples of how to search using a specific date range:

  1. Specific year: Angelina Jolie /date=2009
  2. Specific month: San Francisco giants /date=march2009
  3. Multiple months: Barack Obama /date=”march 2009 to may 2009”
  4. Multiple years: the olympics /date=2006-2007
Posted in search, slashtags | Tagged , | Comments Off

What is a content box?

Posted on June 21, 2011 by cheralyn

Some searches will have a content box that appears above the search results. This box gives a quick bit of information relevant to the query.

Examples:

Posted in search, slashtags | Tagged | Comments Off

I did a search without a slashtag, but I see results that are “boosted” from slashtags. Why is this?

Posted on June 21, 2011 by cheralyn

Slashtag boosting is a tool that blekko uses to improve search results. What happens is that blekko determines if a query is relevant to a slashtag and then automatically boosts results from that slashtag.

For example, a search for cure for headaches will feature results boosted from the /health slashtag. A query can feature results boosted from multiple slashtags.

If a query contains boosted results, you will see information about the slashtags that were boosted on the search results page.

Posted in search, slashtags | Tagged | Comments Off

What is slashtag boosting?

Posted on June 21, 2011 by cheralyn

Slashtag boosting is a tool that blekko uses to improve search results. What happens is that blekko determines if a query is relevant to a slashtag and then automatically boosts results from that slashtag.

For example, a search for cure for headaches will feature results boosted from the /health slashtag. A query can feature results boosted from multiple slashtags.

If a query contains boosted results, you will see information about the slashtags that were boosted on the search results page.

Posted in search, slashtags | Tagged | Comments Off

How do I add sites to a slashtag from the search results page?

Posted on June 21, 2011 by cheralyn

You can add sites to a slashtag directly from the search results page. You must be logged in to add sites to a slashtag.

  1. Click on the “add” link on the line directly below the webpage title for the site you’d like to add.
  2. Enter the name of the slashtag you would like to add the site to.
  3. Check the box to “add entire site to slashtag” if you wish to add the entire domain and not just that specific link. (If the result is a domain, you won’t see this option).
Posted in search, slashtags | 1 Comment