[Omniscient]

I did some reviewing of the Search feature of HF and found some iffy MyBB behaviors. I already provided them a bug report about it but I went ahead and fixed the code myself.

Basically when you used Search and used any word under 3 characters you would get zero results. MyBB by default sets all search words as "+keyword" so an example might be..."setup my botnet", which MyBB in the query does "+setup +my +botnet". Which previously would provide ZERO results.

That was because the word "my" was too short and the + means it's an "AND" operator. Since "my" was only 2 characters and HF's default minimum index is 3 characters you would get ZERO results.

MySQL also has default stopwords. It's a list of words it does not put into the fulltext index of the database. Words like "is", "the", or "with". So a search like "Help with botnet" is "+help +with +botnet" and because "with" is part of stopwords but it is at least 3 characters it still is not in the fulltext index and you would get ZERO results.

So that's partially why search on HF has been mediocre and I assume many new members who type out any of these terms in search got 0 results just left. Older members probably just know to use one or two words to search.

We are considering changing out search to Google Site Search. I've used it before on HF and we might use it again. I like we have our own search but there could be SEO benefits to using Google Site Search. Any feedback on that?

Thanks again and enjoy.

[Business]

"We are considering changing out search to Google Site Search. I've used it before on HF and we might use it again. I like we have our own search but there could be SEO benefits to using Google Site Search. Any feedback on that?"

If it helps SEO, I'd go that route. Since the search feature isn't all that great to begin with, I think a switch over to Google Site Search would be beneficial.

[Omniscient]

If it helps SEO, I'd go that route. Since the search feature isn't all that great to begin with, I think a switch over to Google Site Search would be beneficial.

Yes, it's why we may do something with it anyways. We might leave the HF advanced search but the main search box in popup would use Google Site Search. We'll see how our SEO develops.

[webdev77]

We are considering changing out search to Google Site Search.  I've used it before on HF and we might use it again.  I like we have our own search but there could be SEO benefits to using Google Site Search.  Any feedback on that?

Thanks again and enjoy.

Sounds perfectly fine to me. Doesn't really matter to me what the search provider is so long as it isn't AOL.

[Gt403cyl]

The search has been a bit of a pain to use, but as said, knowing how to use it helps.... making it easier can only be a good thing so that’s all I can say about that.

[Elitas]

Not sure how I feel about Google Site Search, but if it really does help SEO then it's certainly worth considering.

[Xerotic]

Not sure how I feel about Google Site Search, but if it really does help SEO then it's certainly worth considering.

We might leave the HF advanced search but the main search box in popup would use Google Site Search.  We'll see how our SEO develops.

So just the simple search would be Google Site Search and the normal Advanced Search would be the original still.

EDIT: The default search should already be significantly better starting today after resolving the issues mentioned in OP.

[reBELLYus]

Google Site Search is going to work wonders when it comes to seo optimization. I think it is the right move for longevity purposes.

[Omniscient]

Just improved it some more. Now you should really never get 0 results indeed there is results.

[SUI-3183372]

This should help. Generally didn't use search unless I was able search a broad term and also include a username.

[Xerotic]

This should help. Generally didn't use search unless I was able search a broad term and also include a username.

It should help a ton. There was a serious flaw in how search operated before and now results should actually come up.