What can search engines could do better?

A few people wrote they want search engines to explain more about how they work. Although I understand this sentiment, do people really want that?. What I’m thinking they want is to get better results; and if they’re not getting good results they think maybe they’re doing something wrong, but they don’t know what. So rather than search engines going into the minute details of ranking algorithms and so forth, when users don’t get good search results the engines should step in and offer ways to improve their search.

But I think this issue addresses a serious topic. Namely, search engines are really complex systems, but people want to be able to enter a couple of words in the search box and get exactly what they want. How do search engines balance on the tight line between sharing information on how search works, while not overwhelming people with too much info?

Here are some of the responses on this topic:

*Offer more tips on searching.
*…providing me with a better understanding of how they [search engines] use the inputs to conduct a search would help. This info is no doubt already available, but I’m usually in convenience mode when doing searches and unless this info is up front, I usually won’t take the time to go searching for it.
* What I wish there was more (maybe there already is and i don’t know how to find it) is a “how to…” search engine. In my case, for arts and crafts, but it could be for anything else.
*Provide more intuitive search refinements than boolean language, such as dropdown menus and check boxes with refinements explained in common English.