Data from Nov 30, 1999

Based on an analysis using the first 100 hits from three searches, this table shows the percentage of dead links among those 300 records. The dead links percentage columns includes the 404 file not found error message, 401 access denied and 403 forbidden errors, and various connection errors. These connection errors include No connect, Host not found, and Timed out. The third column shows the percentage of dead links that resulted only from the the 404 file not found error message, 401 access denied, and 403 forbidden errors excluding all the connection errors which may represent only temporarily dead links.

The November analysis used three common terms: tim, copy, and total. Overall dead links percentages are down compared to September except for Fast, whose percentage of dead links increased. Fast and AltaVista gave the worst showing with some of the Inktomi search engines, Northern Light, and Google have low rates. Interestingly, this analysis has some markedly different results when compared to the Sept. 1999 Dead Link Report. This provides another example of how the search engine databases are constantly changing.

See also earlier dead link reports which used a different methodology.

• Sept. 1999 Dead Link Report
• May 1999 Dead Link Report
• March 1999 Dead Link Report
• Jan. 1999 Dead Link Report

While decisions about which Web search engine to use should not be based on size alone, this information is especially important when looking for very specific keywords, phrases, and areas of specialized interest. See also the following statistical analyses:

• Relative Size of the search engines
• Total Size Estimate
• Overlap between the search engines
• Unique Hits hits from each
• Change Over Time