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Google's search results are not relevant, example: PDF
11–20 of 21 posts
Re: Google's search results are not relevant, example: PDF
#12They are relevant to him.* He is currently logged in, and his location is visible on the left side of the image. Google uses his previous search queries as well as information about him and his location to provide a relevant result. He has probably searched for Java and R before. If you try searching pdf in your own browser, it is likely there will be different results. *I meant that it is what Google thinks is relev…
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Re: Google's search results are not relevant, example: PDF
#13I think Google can be proud that a broad query with only 8 out of 10 results relevant is a newsworthy occurrence.
Re: Google's search results are not relevant, example: PDF
#14The most desirable results for PDF (and, by extension, most file extensions) are
1) Information about a program that can read or write PDF files
2) Information about the PDF format
The fact that both are shown as the first two entries is desirable. And the fact that wikipedia rounds out the top 3 is great.
Re: Google's search results are not relevant, example: PDF
#15The cause of this is probably that those documents have been linked to with anchor test like "this PDF". Do a search for "click here" to see a similar phenomenon.
Re: Google's search results are not relevant, example: PDF
#16They are relevant to him.* He is currently logged in, and his location is visible on the left side of the image. Google uses his previous search queries as well as information about him and his location to provide a relevant result. He has probably searched for Java and R before. If you try searching pdf in your own browser, it is likely there will be different results. *I meant that it is what Google thinks is relev…
I came here to post the same thing. However after doing a search for "PDF", I also got the link to R. I've never searched for (or even heard of) R until now. Instead of Java, I got IRS related results (W-4, I-9) and a link to Advanced Bash Scripting (a subject matter I've never searched before as well...)
Re: Google's search results are not relevant, example: PDF
#17So in response to a vague and ambiguous query, you got highly relevant results including the one you wanted on the first page. And you're complaining about that?
Incidentally, the R Programming Language manual contains stuff like this:
pdf() Produces a PDF file, which can also be included into PDF files.
Before your next post you might like to read up on search engines, tf/idf, pagerank, and what 'relevancy' actually means.
The only irrelevant thing here is your complaint.
Re: Google's search results are not relevant, example: PDF
#18They are relevant to him.* He is currently logged in, and his location is visible on the left side of the image. Google uses his previous search queries as well as information about him and his location to provide a relevant result. He has probably searched for Java and R before. If you try searching pdf in your own browser, it is likely there will be different results. *I meant that it is what Google thinks is relev…
I came here to post the same thing. However after doing a search for "PDF", I also got the link to R. I've never searched for (or even heard of) R until now. Instead of Java, I got IRS related results (W-4, I-9) and a link to Advanced Bash Scripting (a subject matter I've never searched before as well...)
They might look at sequences of searches, i.e. "pdf" is followed by "pdf w4" enough that it ranks more highly. I got similar results; I thought it was because I read some R articles recently and work in HR...
Re: Google's search results are not relevant, example: PDF
#19They are relevant to him.* He is currently logged in, and his location is visible on the left side of the image. Google uses his previous search queries as well as information about him and his location to provide a relevant result. He has probably searched for Java and R before. If you try searching pdf in your own browser, it is likely there will be different results. *I meant that it is what Google thinks is relev…
I came here to post the same thing. However after doing a search for "PDF", I also got the link to R. I've never searched for (or even heard of) R until now. Instead of Java, I got IRS related results (W-4, I-9) and a link to Advanced Bash Scripting (a subject matter I've never searched before as well...)
I too have never searched for R or anything of that nature before. However, if you look closely you see some microdata that is being pulled in "Cited by 148 - Related articles". this is one reason why it is so high and is the actual basis for how PageRank works (the most cited papers/journals are those that are deemed higher quality).
Re: Google's search results are not relevant, example: PDF
#20I don't think this is a valid argument. By the very definition of search engines and the web itself, tech-related stuff will be more highly-ranked than less-techier alternatives (to a certain level, obviously). It's a self-reinforcing cycle. My favorite example is Googling for "wine" where the emulator comes in first place. There are many other similar examples as well.
It seems that Google's been fighting very hard against this recently [last 8 years], which actually makes it a lot let useful for me, and likely others here. Of course, it's the right thing for them to do, but I'd still give quite a lot for a "Google Classic".