What percentage of online information does Google search?
Google is by far the #1 internet search. It's success is a testament to how valuable it is.
Our aim is to help you become more flexible, self-sufficient, and expert in your searches, using Google, or the search engine of your choice, when that's your best choice and using other searches -- especially those provided by the HCC Libraries -- when they're better.
First, if you think about it, there’s a lot of information online that you don’t want Google to search – including all the information that’s in your personal accounts requiring login for access -- such as your bank account balance! Most companies and other organizations also have information they don't want to be public. HCC has your transcript, for example.
There are other kinds of information that is simply off-limits to Google – such as the millions of research journal articles and thousands of ebooks available in the over 150 online subscription databases that the HCC Libraries subscribe to.
What's the percentage that Google searches? According to Google, in 2008 there were over 1 trillion “useful” web pages.(1) (As they say, the actual number of “web pages” is infinite.) Currently, Google searches somewhere between 15 and 50 billion pages.(2) Do the math – that’s about 1.5%-5% of what’s online that is available through Google – a conservative estimate.
With Google you can find less than 5% of what's online!
(1) "We knew the web was big ...." http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/we-knew-web-was-big.html.
(2) "The size of the World Wide Web: Estimated size of Google's index." http://www.worldwidewebsize.com/.
If you've used Google, you know that Google offers a variety of different searches.
The one-box search isn't focused enough. As soon as you enter a search in the standard Google search box, Google offers you options to narrow your search to News, Books, Images, Videos, Shopping, Maps, Flights, etc. (The actual choices vary, depending on your search.)
Plus, there are even more searches among the Google Apps -- look for the Apps icon in Google : 
Plus plus, Google also provides an Advanced Search with even more search options.
Even Google knows that the one-search-box model doesn't meet everyone's needs. It isn't focused enough on what you want to find.
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