Rich's Tongfamily (Richtong.net add-on)

We’ve been looking at local search over at work. Here’s one example of the current (!!!) state of the art. If you for instance wanted to play miniature golf in Seattle. Here is what Google tells you:

* “Anavari Blog”:http://www.anvari.org/photos/200207a/Miniature_Golf.html. You get a photo of Anvari playing minature golf. Not quite, but I can see how this happened, its a top blog.
* “Yahoo Guide to Seattle Minature Golf”:http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U_S__States/Washington/Metropolitan_Areas/Seattle_Metro/Recreation_and_Sports/Golf/Miniature_Golf/. This is the actual guide and they have a directory entry for Minature Golf. Only problem is that the only listing is for “Dark Hollow”:http://www.dark-hollow.net/ in Everett. Looks like fun BTW, but not exactly Seattle and it is only in October. If you dig deepr, you do find Jazwieck?s Miniature Golf in Everett is the underlying provider.
* “Seattle Times Summer Guide”:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/northwestweekend/summerguide/fun.html. Again not a bad hit, it is summer guide to Seattle. First hit in that directory is “Illusionz”:http://illusionz.com and a tiny 9-hole miniature golf course. Not quite right. A deeper search gets you to “Family Fun Center”:http://www.familyfunpark.com/pages/605508/index.htm. Which is indeed a good one.
* “Vancouver BC Guide”:http://www.bcpassport.com/kids/mgolf.html. Next up is a guide for Vancouver British Columbia of all things.
* “Google Directory Search”:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&cat=gwd/Top&q=miniature+golf+seattle&spell=1. If you try the google directory search for miniature golf, it is even more of a mess. First hit is an improvisional comedy at “YESand”:http://yesadn.com
INterestingly, if you misspell Miniature to “Minature”:http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=minature+golf+seattle, then:
* You do get a good hit at “Seattle Insider”:http://seattleinsider.kirotv.com/recreation/guides/cityguide/minaturegolf.html. I noticed that half of the golf is called miniature and the other minature.
* The rest is junk because you get pages where minature golf is mentioned and there is a general link somewhere to Seattle Hotles or something, so places as diverse as Ocean City, Orlando, Biloxi and Wisconsin appear.
All in all, not a bad list, look at a blog, look at yahoo, look at the Seattle Times, the problem is the information is just junk unless you drill a bunch.
Interestingly, if you use “SuperPages”:http://yellowpages.superpages.com/listings.jsp?SRC=&STYPE=S&PG=L&R=N&C=minature%20golf&N=&T=seattle&S=WA&search=Find+It, it does a correction to the correct spelling of Miniature Golf and then pulls up three listings. They use something called Aproximatch to do that, then uses the Axiom databased to get http://yellowpages.superpages.com/listings.jsp?C=Miniature+Golf&T=Seattle&S=WA&Z=&R=N&PG=L&PP=&STYPE=S&SRC=&search=Select. These are in fact the ones in the Seattle Center, but not the best in the Seattle area, which is the Family Fun Center IMHO.
BTW, the best answer is the Familiy Fun Center in Tukwila. Total of 72 holes although it is outdoor, so not quite as nice in the winter. We haven’t found a good indoor course yet.