If this ends up being used as a "voting" system that factors into determining what sites show in public SERPs, folks could crowdsource competitor blocking using say Amazon's MTurk to knock competition off of Google, no?
New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results
91–100 of 226 posts
Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results
#92Why should I have to be signed in to my Google account to be able to use this functionality?
Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
I alluded to that in http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2218627 . People feel comfortable with Google removing blatant spam: hidden text, cloaking, sneaky JavaScript redirects, etc. People tend to feel less comfortable if they feel like Google is making an editorial decision. If we get a good signal from this extension, or from offering block links in Google's search results, then it's much more similar Gmail's spam…
Matt, before we get to the point where potentially controversial editorial decisions will have to be made, I would imagine there are things that could be done automatically and uncontroversially. For example, sometimes we see copies rank higher than originals. Why does that happen? Google know where they first saw a particular piece of content, don’t they? Why don’t they use that as a heavy ranking factor? Or am I to…
You might want to take a look at this:
Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results
#941. http://bit.ly/gTADhE 2. Click Install, close page 3. Open each of the links below in a new tab, click block on the first result 4. Win. http://www.google.com/search?q=Mahalo http://www.google.com/search?q=ehow http://www.google.com/search?q=experts-exchange http://www.google.com/search?q=livestrong.com http://www.google.com/search?q=answerbag http://www.google.com/search?q=bills.com http://www.google.com/search?q=…
For the extension developers: How about a way to import lists of sites like this?
Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't forget about http://www.google.com/search?q=about.com
What's wrong with about.com? I generally find about.com has high-quality content giving an overview of a topic, much more in-depth than mahalo or eHow.
I can see where he's coming from: it has information on a lot of different topics and it's full of ads, therefore it's an evil content farm.
Just like how someone that weighs the same as a duck must be made of wood, and therefore is a witch.
Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results
#961. http://bit.ly/gTADhE 2. Click Install, close page 3. Open each of the links below in a new tab, click block on the first result 4. Win. http://www.google.com/search?q=Mahalo http://www.google.com/search?q=ehow http://www.google.com/search?q=experts-exchange http://www.google.com/search?q=livestrong.com http://www.google.com/search?q=answerbag http://www.google.com/search?q=bills.com http://www.google.com/search?q=…
I used to write for eHow and the like, and I fully endorse blocking them. Thanks for the list!
On the subject of eHow, here's another reason to consider blocking them, Google for "no text to spin" (include quotes).
That's an error message from bots that are spamming random wikis. I wrote more about it here:
Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results
#97I just wanted to say thanks to all the people on Hacker News who asked for this option. We'll look at offering a "block site" option directly in the search results over time, but it takes longer to write, test, and launch that code. In the mean time, use this extension to clean up your own search results and tell us which sites you don't want to see in Google.
So, does this mean expertsexchange will eventually get shoved down the search results?
(AKA great stuff!)
Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
I alluded to that in http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2218627 . People feel comfortable with Google removing blatant spam: hidden text, cloaking, sneaky JavaScript redirects, etc. People tend to feel less comfortable if they feel like Google is making an editorial decision. If we get a good signal from this extension, or from offering block links in Google's search results, then it's much more similar Gmail's spam…
Matt, before we get to the point where potentially controversial editorial decisions will have to be made, I would imagine there are things that could be done automatically and uncontroversially. For example, sometimes we see copies rank higher than originals. Why does that happen? Google know where they first saw a particular piece of content, don’t they? Why don’t they use that as a heavy ranking factor? Or am I to…
demetris, that's exactly what we improved with a recent algorithm change: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/algorithm-change-launched/ . As you point out, that was a more straightforward change, and that's why we were able to launch that one first.
That said, if you wanted to share some examples where you're seeing copies rank higher than originals I'm happy to pass that on to the right folks. In fact, some of the right folks are already on this thread. :)
Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results
#99I just wanted to say thanks to all the people on Hacker News who asked for this option. We'll look at offering a "block site" option directly in the search results over time, but it takes longer to write, test, and launch that code. In the mean time, use this extension to clean up your own search results and tell us which sites you don't want to see in Google.
Matt, I don’t understand why Google need to offer blocking as a user option. Any web netizen with some experience can tell at a glance the spammy and low-quality results on a SERP, but Google, with their vast knowledge and experience and their ability to monitor all sorts and aspects of user clicking behaviour, cannot?
A "web netizen" is intelligent. Google - as you're using the term - is a sophisticated piece of software that leverages much of what we know about AI, but it is not actually intelligent. The determination you're making that something is spam and not worth your time may be simple for you to make, but it's hard to get software to consistently make the same determination.
Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results
#100Why should I have to be signed in to my Google account to be able to use this functionality?
To attempt to prevent people gaming/spaming the system