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itch.io Community » itch.io » Questions & Support

My game only shows up when searching the full title name, not partial element?

A topic by Moga created Apr 19, 2019 Views: 802 Replies: 5
Viewing posts 1 to 2
Moga5 years ago

I've got a game title, 'Orbital Dogfight.' When I search for the game by the exact title the results return my game at the top, however when using partial descriptors like "orbit" or "dogfight" the game does not show at all. This is not the case for all games though. For example, try searching for anything with "Orbital" in the name and the results will contain many games with that exact word or similar words like, 'Orbit.' Yet Orbital Dogfight does not show up.

I would be happy to accept this as a constraint of the search function if it was being applied similarly on other game titles but seeing the results I am confused.

This leads me to the conclusion that I have tagged or titled my game incorrectly or that the search engine is not recognizing the keywords in my game title.... or something HELP please+)

I would expect that if I search 'space dogfight in orbit' that Orbital Dogfight would be one of the results.... any thoughts?

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No Time To PlayModerator5 years ago

As both me and Leaf pointed out in the other thread, there are lots of games with either "orbital" or "dogfight" in their name, so searching for just one of them could rank your game well down the list. Let me stress that: your game probably shows up, just below the cut. The search function is optimized for exact title searches; generic search terms will yield unpredictable results. The only real solution is to have a less generic game title, or else rely on tag searches for popularity.

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Moga5 years ago

Thank you again @NoTimeToPlay and @leaf..  The one thing that still bugs me is this:

If I search games with only the word 'orbit' I get exactly 63 results. Not a ton. One of those results is "Orbital Defender" another is "Orbital Traversal." With only 63 games coming up I would expect "Orbital Dogfight" to be a result the same way "Orbital Defender" is by only searching 'orbit.'  Not a little odd?  Thank you again!!!

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woodsmoke5 years ago (1 edit) (+1)

Did you go through the entire list?

Search results are probably NOT alphabetical, if that's what you mean. Usually most popular or most clicked search results show up first.

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No Time To PlayModerator5 years ago(+1)

Nah, that's not it. Search results cut off after a while. They don't return all possible matches. And yes, they return games in order of popularity, so those that don't make the cut simply aren't included. When you search for full title, exact matches are simply more relevant, so they show up on top.

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Moga5 years ago

That is the answer I was looking for. Explains it all. Thank you @NoTimeToPlay

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