Kobo search engine: from bad to worse

franklekens · 09-28-2013, 03:47 AM

Wow, I thought the Kobo search engine couldn't get any worse. But they've given the whole site an overhaul (not for the better, IMHO). And whether that's the reason or not, the search engine seems to have got even *worse*.

I tried to find some Dutch novels that have just been shortlisted for the Dutch equivalent to the Booker Prize. E.g. 'De dode arm' by Allard Schröder. Searching for all those words finds me nothing in the top results (and I'm not going to go browsing all the way to the end of the search results). Searching just for "Schröder" finds me nothing.
Then googling "schröder de dode arm kobo" finds me this:
http://store.kobobooks.com/es-nl/boo...V0OUSU5-mvPGwA
http://store.kobobooks.com/nl-nl/Sea...er=1&sort=none
So it's there, and other novels of his are there as well (under the wrongly typed name Schroder). Kobo just doesn't know how to find it.

How do they expect to sell books if their own search engine can't find it, they enter wrong info in their database and they don't have a search that's fuzzy enough to cope with that?
Stupid.

In other cases, you can find a book. But the search engine is so picky. E.g. I search for:
Martin Bossenbroek - De Boerenoorlog
Because I copy/paste that from a website. Result: 17077 results, none of them seem to be relevant. What? Did it just render all titles that had a hyphen or a dash somewhere in the description? That doesn't make sense.
Then I search only for: Boerenoorlog. And I DO find it.
And note that it's not just the presence of the hyphen and the particle "de" (=the) that throws the search engine of. Searching for "Martin Bossenbroek Boerenoorlog" still gives me 19413 IRRELEVANT results rather than the specific book I'm looking for.

Do they ever test this search engine themselves? Other than by typing in Da Vinci Code and see if it works?

And actually, even that's f*** up now. If I search for Da Vinci Code on http://store.kobobooks.com/nl-NL/, all I find is the Dutch translation.
If I search on http://store.kobobooks.com/en-nl/, although this seems a Dutch storefront, I only find English language books with that title. (Brown's own thriller is not, by the way, the top result...)
I don't even get the option to choose Dutch language results, as I used to. Let alone other languages.

Really... did they test their new website before they put it online?

Canuck_in_Japan · 09-28-2013, 04:06 AM

The Kobo search is pretty poor admittedly. I've had a couple of books not found because I didn't enter the title exactly right.

Orn8one · 09-28-2013, 11:07 AM

I started a thread on this after the site was updated. It's a joke. I do all my research on Amazon and GoodReads then hope I can find what I want on Kobo.com. Occasionally I can but often not the English version! The Kobo search has never been great but now it is dire. Sorry for you.

treadlightly · 09-28-2013, 12:20 PM

I was searching for the book "Carniepunk" by Rob Thurman and others and typed in "Carnie Punk". The search engine didn't find the book I wanted and I really wish there was a way to filter out the XXX stuff. My eyes bug out every time I search at Kobo. I hope kids aren't using the site.

taming · 09-28-2013, 06:44 PM

Put what you are searching for in quotes to get the best results. If you do not want erotica (I don't either) you can add -erotica to your search. Like this: "bundles"-erotica

And yes, I know that not all erotica is XXX, but that is the metadata label publishers use for it.

The issue of Kobo being totally unable to use some sort of fuzzy logic is one they are working on. Right now they rely solely on what the Publisher has input into specific fields (like series name) and if you don't do it exactly the same way, the search doesn't work.

I often put the name of the book into Google, with Kobo after it. How sad is that?

AnemicOak · 09-28-2013, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taming

I often put the name of the book into Google, with Kobo after it. How sad is that?

I often have better luck doing this as well.

spersephone · 09-28-2013, 07:16 PM

I went looking for Maeve's Times, a book of Maeve Binchy articles. It found all of her fiction books, but not that one. Oh well, maybe they don't have it yet. I look on Google and then find the link to it on Kobo! I used Maeve Binchy as the keywords, rather than the title, as I couldn't remember it. Found it in the end, but I've decided to borrow the paperback from my library first, before I decide if I'll buy it to keep.

Mivo · 09-28-2013, 10:16 PM

Since I now get the new and deteriorated version of the Kobobooks store, do we know of a way to see the format of what we're buying? I have no interest in purchasing PDFs, and only want epubs, but I can no longer see information about the format.

It actually baffles me that most of Amazon's competitors' seem so focused on annoying their customers. At this point, I only still buy from Kobobooks because of their coupons. From a business perspective, I'm one of those customers who would jump ship without hesitation if something better came along (better shop including competent search, multi-book purchases, proper details, while also offering coupons and PayPal).

spersephone · 09-28-2013, 10:32 PM

I bought a book the other day, and there seems to be no ability to download this one to my computer, whether with DRM or not. They've definitely changed some stuff that worked well before.

AnemicOak · 09-29-2013, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mivo

Since I now get the new and deteriorated version of the Kobobooks store, do we know of a way to see the format of what we're buying? I have no interest in purchasing PDFs, and only want epubs, but I can no longer see information about the format.

The only way I can currently still see the old site is using the Next Browser on my Nexus 7.

Mivo · 09-29-2013, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

The only way I can currently still see the old site is using the Next Browser on my Nexus 7.

Thanks! That's an additional level of tedium just to buy books from them, and I dropped their Customer Care a note, for all the good it will do.

I appreciate the workaround, that at least prevents that I accidentally buy PDFs and then have to ask for refunds.

FizzyWater · 09-29-2013, 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mivo

Since I now get the new and deteriorated version of the Kobobooks store, do we know of a way to see the format of what we're buying? I have no interest in purchasing PDFs, and only want epubs, but I can no longer see information about the format.

So far, I can still see the old Kobo site if I open it in Internet Explorer, compatibility view (F12, then choose from the drop-down). I'm using IE10 at the moment, so I don't know if this still works on other versions (but I believe it's the older versions that still see the old site).

Anak · 09-29-2013, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taming

Put what you are searching for in quotes to get the best results. If you do not want erotica (I don't either) you can add -erotica to your search. Like this: "bundles"-erotica

And yes, I know that not all erotica is XXX, but that is the metadata label publishers use for it.

The issue of Kobo being totally unable to use some sort of fuzzy logic is one they are working on. Right now they rely solely on what the Publisher has input into specific fields (like series name) and if you don't do it exactly the same way, the search doesn't work.

I often put the name of the book into Google, with Kobo after it. How sad is that?

I know that basic search operators work with Kobo search.
The real trouble here is that the Kobo website is multi lingual but the search engine isn't. It doesn't filter properly on language. Searching on an author's name results in book titles by that author in various languages.
It is imposible to limit a search to only one language with the current offered search options.

Not being able to find the correct books with a either a limited/specific or broad search parameters can only result in no purchase/no sale.
This must cost Kobo a huge amount of potential revenue. But I doubt if they are really aware how huge this problem is for especially non English language books.
I doubt if the search engine is ever tested on non English language books.

franklekens · 09-29-2013, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anak

The real trouble here is that the Kobo website is multi lingual but the search engine isn't. It doesn't filter properly on language. Searching on an author's name results in book titles by that author in various languages.
It is imposible to limit a search to only one language with the current offered search options.

Well, apparently it's possible to do this *accidentally*, because at least once when I searched for Da Vinci Code, all I got was a Dutch translation, and I couldn't get anything else.

CathyD · 09-30-2013, 01:23 PM

If you do not want erotica (I don't either) you can add -erotica to your search. Like this: "bundles"-erotica

Good to know, thanks! My daughter just bought a Glo, and I hover nearby when she's on the site, making sure none of the racier covers & titles appear. She searches out the book title on Goodreads, Amazon, or Chapters first, then uses quotation marks on the Kobo site, but some mung still sometimes shows up.

09-28-2013, 03:47 AM	#1
franklekens Addict Posts: 392 Karma: 3421956 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: Kobo Forma, Sage, Elipsa, Onyx Note2, Pocketbook 360, Kindle Keyboard	Kobo search engine: from bad to worse Wow, I thought the Kobo search engine couldn't get any worse. But they've given the whole site an overhaul (not for the better, IMHO). And whether that's the reason or not, the search engine seems to have got even worse. I tried to find some Dutch novels that have just been shortlisted for the Dutch equivalent to the Booker Prize. E.g. 'De dode arm' by Allard Schröder. Searching for all those words finds me nothing in the top results (and I'm not going to go browsing all the way to the end of the search results). Searching just for "Schröder" finds me nothing. Then googling "schröder de dode arm kobo" finds me this: http://store.kobobooks.com/es-nl/boo...V0OUSU5-mvPGwA http://store.kobobooks.com/nl-nl/Sea...er=1&sort=none So it's there, and other novels of his are there as well (under the wrongly typed name Schroder). Kobo just doesn't know how to find it. How do they expect to sell books if their own search engine can't find it, they enter wrong info in their database and they don't have a search that's fuzzy enough to cope with that? Stupid. In other cases, you can find a book. But the search engine is so picky. E.g. I search for: Martin Bossenbroek - De Boerenoorlog Because I copy/paste that from a website. Result: 17077 results, none of them seem to be relevant. What? Did it just render all titles that had a hyphen or a dash somewhere in the description? That doesn't make sense. Then I search only for: Boerenoorlog. And I DO find it. And note that it's not just the presence of the hyphen and the particle "de" (=the) that throws the search engine of. Searching for "Martin Bossenbroek Boerenoorlog" still gives me 19413 IRRELEVANT results rather than the specific book I'm looking for. Do they ever test this search engine themselves? Other than by typing in Da Vinci Code and see if it works? And actually, even that's f*** up now. If I search for Da Vinci Code on http://store.kobobooks.com/nl-NL/, all I find is the Dutch translation. If I search on http://store.kobobooks.com/en-nl/, although this seems a Dutch storefront, I only find English language books with that title. (Brown's own thriller is not, by the way, the top result...) I don't even get the option to choose Dutch language results, as I used to. Let alone other languages. Really... did they test their new website before they put it online? Last edited by dreams; 09-28-2013 at 12:36 PM. Reason: moderator edit of profane language; Last edited by franklekens;Today at 12:49 AM. Reason: grammar

09-28-2013, 06:44 PM	#5
taming Trying for calm & polite Posts: 4,012 Karma: 9455193 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Mostly in Canada Device: kobo original, WiFI, Touch, Glo, and Aura	Put what you are searching for in quotes to get the best results. If you do not want erotica (I don't either) you can add -erotica to your search. Like this: "bundles"-erotica And yes, I know that not all erotica is XXX, but that is the metadata label publishers use for it. The issue of Kobo being totally unable to use some sort of fuzzy logic is one they are working on. Right now they rely solely on what the Publisher has input into specific fields (like series name) and if you don't do it exactly the same way, the search doesn't work. I often put the name of the book into Google, with Kobo after it. How sad is that? Last edited by taming; 09-28-2013 at 06:46 PM.

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09-28-2013, 04:06 AM	#2
Canuck_in_Japan Wizard Posts: 1,475 Karma: 14328611 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Tokyo, Japan Device: Aura, Aura H2O, Kindle PW3	The Kobo search is pretty poor admittedly. I've had a couple of books not found because I didn't enter the title exactly right.

09-28-2013, 11:07 AM	#3
Orn8one Groupie Posts: 176 Karma: 8362 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Northamptonshire UK Device: Kobo Touch, Sony 650 and Cool-er	I started a thread on this after the site was updated. It's a joke. I do all my research on Amazon and GoodReads then hope I can find what I want on Kobo.com. Occasionally I can but often not the English version! The Kobo search has never been great but now it is dire. Sorry for you.

09-28-2013, 12:20 PM	#4
treadlightly Wizard Posts: 1,370 Karma: 6957792 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Ottawa, ON Device: Kobo H2O	I was searching for the book "Carniepunk" by Rob Thurman and others and typed in "Carnie Punk". The search engine didn't find the book I wanted and I really wish there was a way to filter out the XXX stuff. My eyes bug out every time I search at Kobo. I hope kids aren't using the site.

09-28-2013, 07:16 PM	#7
spersephone Zealot Posts: 145 Karma: 609066 Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Melbourne Australia Device: Kobo Glo, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Voyage	I went looking for Maeve's Times, a book of Maeve Binchy articles. It found all of her fiction books, but not that one. Oh well, maybe they don't have it yet. I look on Google and then find the link to it on Kobo! I used Maeve Binchy as the keywords, rather than the title, as I couldn't remember it. Found it in the end, but I've decided to borrow the paperback from my library first, before I decide if I'll buy it to keep.

09-28-2013, 10:16 PM	#8
Mivo Fanatic Posts: 556 Karma: 3531054 Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Germany Device: In use: Pocketbook InkPad 3, Kobo Glo, iPad Air 2	Since I now get the new and deteriorated version of the Kobobooks store, do we know of a way to see the format of what we're buying? I have no interest in purchasing PDFs, and only want epubs, but I can no longer see information about the format. It actually baffles me that most of Amazon's competitors' seem so focused on annoying their customers. At this point, I only still buy from Kobobooks because of their coupons. From a business perspective, I'm one of those customers who would jump ship without hesitation if something better came along (better shop including competent search, multi-book purchases, proper details, while also offering coupons and PayPal).

09-28-2013, 10:32 PM	#9
spersephone Zealot Posts: 145 Karma: 609066 Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Melbourne Australia Device: Kobo Glo, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Voyage	I bought a book the other day, and there seems to be no ability to download this one to my computer, whether with DRM or not. They've definitely changed some stuff that worked well before.

09-30-2013, 01:23 PM	#15
CathyD Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 4158 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Kobo Glo	If you do not want erotica (I don't either) you can add -erotica to your search. Like this: "bundles"-erotica Good to know, thanks! My daughter just bought a Glo, and I hover nearby when she's on the site, making sure none of the racier covers & titles appear. She searches out the book title on Goodreads, Amazon, or Chapters first, then uses quotation marks on the Kobo site, but some mung still sometimes shows up.

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