Why is the search engine so bad for finding games?

[zeth07]

I was just curiously trying to search for Shadow of the Colossus since it was part of the PS Stars thing and I wanted to see how far into the game that trophy was and I could barely find the PS4 version of the game. Is something horribly broken with the search engine? Why does it work the way it does? It should not take me to go to Page 8 to find the PS4 version of "Shadow of the Colossus" when I typed Shadow of the Colossus. Even the PS3 version wasn't within the first results. They should obviously be result #1 and result #2 but for whatever reason the search engine seems totally random.

 

Putting the name in quotes is even worse since it actually starts to break the search engine. It starts putting the name as /////// Shadow of the Colossus /////// and then keeps adding more and more "////" until it breaks the entire system by the time you get to page 8......

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by zeth07
added more info

[pinkrobot_pb]

When you add AND between every word you will get exact matches. So search for Shadow AND of AND the AND Colossus. It's a bit silly, but there you go.

 

You can also start using PSNP+, which adds a Refine button to the search form to perform the above action for you. It has a lot more goodies too.

Edited April 3, 2023 by pinkrobot_pb

[Burritoprime]

5 minutes ago, pinkrobot_pb said:

When you add AND between every word you will get exact matches. So search for Shadow AND of AND the AND Colossus. It's a bit silly, but there you go.

 

You can also start using PSNP+, which adds a Refine button to the search form to perform the above action for you. It has a lot more goodies too.

That's a life hack I never knew, thanks pink hero.

[HusKy]

^ What it looks like:

 

[BlackSquirrell1]

Well, damn, you learn something new every day here! 

[Helyx]

What knowing how to use a search engine looks like:

[MonaSaxPayne]

6 minutes ago, pinkrobot_pb said:

When you add AND between every word you will get exact matches. So search for Shadow AND of AND the AND Colossus. It's a bit silly, but there you go.

 

lol this is very nonsensical 

 

in my personal experience, search functions works well the majority of the times. but sometimes even when I'm searching for a game it won't be listed as the first result.. it would still be somewhere on the first page tho

[BlindMango]

I’ll be honest that the site search was way better before the site redesign years ago because it used to always float exact title matches at the top, now if it’s an exact title match it can be like on the second page or whatever, unless you put AND between every word 

[amurnin100]

AND that’s that folks ?

[GorbHere]

God help you if you ever want to find a title in Japanese 

[shakie19]

56 minutes ago, pinkrobot_pb said:

When you add AND between every word you will get exact matches. So search for Shadow AND of AND the AND Colossus. It's a bit silly, but there you go.

 

You can also start using PSNP+, which adds a Refine button to the search form to perform the above action for you. It has a lot more goodies too.

Ain’t that some shit. Thanks

[Biertje373]

1 hour ago, pinkrobot_pb said:

When you add AND between every word you will get exact matches. So search for Shadow AND of AND the AND Colossus. It's a bit silly, but there you go.

 

You can also start using PSNP+, which adds a Refine button to the search form to perform the above action for you. It has a lot more goodies too.

Learned something new today, thanks!

[MonaSaxPayne]

1 hour ago, amurnin100 said:

AND that’s AND that AND folks AND 

 

fixed that for u lol

[amurnin100]

59 minutes ago, MonaSaxPayne said:

 

fixed that for u lol

Your AND too AND kind ?

[LordSalochin]

For anyone that's interested, this is a common issue across tons of websites. It has to do with how the database query is created on the backend. Basically the AND / OR is used by the user to help build the query structure on the backend. Technically this can be done by the programmer, but it can be a pain. I avoid double and single quotes in search boxes due to the issues they can cause. Depending on how the website is programmed, this can provide weird results as the OP tried and ended up with "////////" at the start and end of their query. In my experience the //// is a result of the backend encoding characters the code doesn't understand.

 

An easy example to see things working properly would be "Assassin's Creed". If you enter this without the double quotes, you'll get results that include Assassin's Creed, Assassin's, Assassins, or Creed. The default appears to be OR on this website. There's nothing wrong with this, it just means that any guide with any of those words will be returned in the results unless AND is specified. Let's face it, how many guides have "of" and "the" in them. ?

 

It would probably be helpful if the results page listed tips and tricks for users to follow.

 

andANDthatsANDallANDfolks! ?

[GUDGER666]

I just type the game and trophies into Google. Pretty much always the first result. 

[LordSalochin]

22 minutes ago, GUDGER666 said:

I just type the game and trophies into Google. Pretty much always the first result. 

 

AND Google has how many developers being paid how much for that to work that way. Props to all web developers who can put together a website as useful as PSN Profiles.

[Milktastrophe]

5 hours ago, Helyx said:

What knowing how to use a search engine looks like:

What using a proper search engine looks like

[zizimonster]

Yeah, I get annoyed every time I need to search for a game.

 

I really hope @Sly Ripper does something about it.

[Prometheous101]

8 hours ago, GUDGER666 said:

I just type the game and trophies into Google. Pretty much always the first result. 

Same, its easier to just type in everything into google.
I even google specific users ( Prometheous101 Psnprofiles) instead of syncing.( If I know they are on the site already.)
 

Edited April 4, 2023 by Prometheous101

[fbdbh]

Well, if you need all kinds of smart life hacks to use something as intended, then it's still sub-par UX. I mean it's not super important or super annoying, but a valid request, and it's been bothering me for a while as well.

[GUDGER666]

8 hours ago, LordSalochin said:

 

AND Google has how many developers being paid how much for that to work that way. Props to all web developers who can put together a website as useful as PSN Profiles.

You sound mad over a simple response? 

[Riiszk]

14 hours ago, pinkrobot_pb said:

When you add AND between every word you will get exact matches. So search for Shadow AND of AND the AND Colossus. It's a bit silly, but there you go.

 

14 hours ago, HusKy said:

^ What it looks like:

 

 

This is really good actually, but now how do we find one word titled games like Journey? I felt dumb, but AND Journey didn't work ?

Google search works, but it'd be handy to not have to leave the site.

[AlexDelux]

5 minutes ago, Riiszk said:

 

 

This is really good actually, but now how do we find one word titled games like Journey? I felt dumb, but AND Journey didn't work

Google search works, but it'd be handy to not have to leave the site.

 

Easy, you search OR Journey AND ?

Seems a bit silly to me, but hey, it works! 

[HusKy]

Yeah, "OR" works. Next update of PSNP+ update will improve refinement of 1-word search: