SortFix Powered Search Blog

When you don’t really know what you are searching for, you can still retrieve relevant results. In this post we will look at how you can improve your search when you don’t really know exactly what you are looking for.

I’ll use an example of a search I did myself a few days ago. Someone mentioned the name Bobby McFerrin to me. I know he is a musician, and he wrote the song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” I also know he plays classical music. I tried to think about what I know about his current work. I wanted to learn more, but wasn’t really sure what.

I started with a simple query “Bobby McFerrin.” Here are the results Google retrieved — before using SortFix:

Bobby Mcferrin on Google

Well, the results are interesting: They include Bobby McFerrin’s home page, results from Wikipedia, and one of his performances on YouTube. The results we see are about Bobby McFerrin in general, but they are not focused enough, due to the fact that my search wasn’t focused.. I’ll review the Power Words SortFix retrieved to improve my search.

Bobby Mcferrin on Sortfix Power Words

To find new information — and not the songs I already know — I’ll add “2009” and “music” to refine my search. I’ll remove “don’t worry,” so I won’t retrieve results including Bobby McFerrin’s famous, but old, song.

Bobby Mcferrin on Sortfix Improved Query

Let’s review the results once more to see if we can find new and cool music by Bobby McFerrin.

Bobby Mcferrin on Sortfix Improved Results

The results retrieved now by SortFix are current and exciting! The first result reveals that Bobby McFerrin has a blog, which updates every now and then; the second and third results are from pbs.org and include recent  interviews and performances from 2009. If all this isn’t enough, the fourth result is a great demonstration of Bobby’s ability and talent from the World Science Festival held on June 12, 2009.

All the results retrieved are current, interesting and fun to watch and read. Enjoy the clip.

17 Responses to “Personalized Search: Bobby Mcferrin’s Blog”