What the hell is going on with search?

A hands-on test of Kagi's new "NT" search backend found partial improvement but persistent failures across the 10 reported issues retested, with the tester concluding there was "some improvement, but not enough to make me confident in search functionality again." The NT backend fixed the Verbatim `-site:` exclusion and inch-mark queries (42 to 47 results, led by a PVC tee listing with the requested sizes in its title), but a 694-character quoted passage regressed from 34 results with the source ranked #1 to zero results on repeat, and multi-quote PDF, wildcard-with-quotes and GaggiMate forum queries still failed. The tester, who requested backend access directly, noted some issues could not be reproduced and may have been fixed since they were originally reported.

I requested access to the NT backend and did not notice much of an improvement with it turned on, so I had AI test all of the issues linked in the original post. The results are below. Overall: some improvement, but not enough to make me confident in search functionality again. Not sure why some issues can't be reproduced, but perhaps this means the issue has already been fixed since it was originally reported. | Reported issue and test | NT off | NT on | Result | |---|---|---|---| | Verbatim ignores -site: https://kagifeedback.org/d/11491-confusing-and-incorrect-results-with-verbatim-mode-especially-with-site-filtering — springfield school ransomware -site:facebook.com , personalization off | Facebook ranked 2 twice. With Verbatim off, the exclusion worked. | No Facebook results appeared in either Verbatim run. The exclusion also worked with Verbatim off. | Fixed with NT | | Multiple quotes miss a known PDF https://kagifeedback.org/d/11354-double-quotes-not-working-properly — "useful" "Apple" "It is crucial that the system tailors" "ireland" filetype:pdf | Zero results twice. Searching for just the long phrase plus filetype:pdf found the target. | Three Kagi Feedback pages twice, all non-PDFs. The shorter query also missed the target. | Still fails with NT | | Quoted PDF coverage https://kagifeedback.org/d/11354-double-quotes-not-working-properly — filetype:pdf "curriculum vitae" "ireland" | 20 reported results. One visible link had neither a .pdf URL nor a PDF badge. | 15 reported results. All 11 visible web results had a .pdf URL or PDF badge. | Mixed | | Wildcards with quotes https://kagifeedback.org/d/11354-double-quotes-not-working-properly — a follow-up test using "It is crucial that the tailors" filetype:pdf and "It is crucial" tailors filetype:pdf | Zero with inside quotes. Five with it outside, without the target PDF. | Zero with inside quotes. Nine with it outside, without the target PDF. | Still fails with NT | | Long quoted passage https://kagifeedback.org/d/11477-intermittent-no-search-results-bug — the 694-character AGI Discourse as Kayfabe query | 34 results with the source 1 , including when submitted through Kagi’s search box. | Zero on repeat and through the search box. Kagi displayed only the first 255 characters even though the URL contained all 694. | Regressed with NT | | GaggiMate forum results https://kagifeedback.org/d/11492-many-relevant-forum-results-for-gaggimate-omitted — "gaggimate" with the Forums lens, then site:reddit.com | The lens reported 9 results, including an unrelated r/LibreNMS thread. Adding site:reddit.com within the lens gave 0 . | Same 9 results and the same 0 with the site filter inside the lens. | Still fails with NT | | Programming lens adds results to Verbatim https://kagifeedback.org/d/11157-general-verbatim-search-results-eg-without-a-lens-often-returns-fewer-results-than-with-a-lens — azurerm and terraform azurerm resource group as test queries | azurerm went from 20 to 29 with the lens. The longer query went from 26 to 19 . | azurerm went from 44 to 29 . The longer query went from 36 to 19 . | Mixed | | Exact-match searches return nothing https://kagifeedback.org/d/11285-exact-match-searches-sometimes-return-no-results-even-if-results-exist — "JD-3" and "welcome the chance to be relocated" , International | 9 each. The ABC transcript ranked 4 https://kagifeedback.org/d/4 . | 18 for "JD-3" and 9 for the phrase. The ABC transcript ranked 1 https://kagifeedback.org/d/1 . | Not reproduced | | Inch marks interpreted as quotes https://kagifeedback.org/d/11318-search-with-quotes-gives-no-results — 1.5" PVC tee with 1/2" NPT | 42 , led by a Home Depot PVC fittings page. | 47 , led by a PVC tee listing with the requested sizes in its title. | Improved with NT | | Intermittent empty results — nuzlocke https://kagifeedback.org/d/11484-nuzlocke-search-term-does-not-give-any-results , azurerm , and the quoted AV CREATOR PIONEER image search https://kagifeedback.org/d/11287-missing-search-results-sometimes | 37 , 24 , and 279 respectively. | 37 , 42 , and 279 respectively. | Not reproduced | | Irrelevant UK rankings https://kagifeedback.org/d/11496-what-the-hell-is-going-on-with-search — KRunner, Kagi index sources, woodworking tape, Kagi performance, Victorian curtains, apple juice, and Hannah Arendt | Relevant first results for all seven. KRunner also returned relevant results in International. | Relevant first results for all seven. KRunner also returned relevant results in International. | Not reproduced | | Loose ranking https://kagifeedback.org/d/11496-what-the-hell-is-going-on-with-search — privateer angle and astronomy | The Slovenian translation of “privateer” was 19 . Astronomy results led with Wikipedia. | The same translation was 23 . Astronomy results led with Astronomy magazine. | Mixed | | Missing South African domains https://kagifeedback.org/d/11496-what-the-hell-is-going-on-with-search — ZA region, including site:co.za , site:gov.za , site:org.za , and searches for SARS, FNB, News24, Home Affairs and Cape Town e-services | All tested domain filters returned results. The ordinary searches surfaced the expected sites at 1 https://kagifeedback.org/d/1 . | All tested domain filters returned results. The ordinary searches surfaced the expected sites at 1 https://kagifeedback.org/d/1 . | Not reproduced |