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New ways we're tackling spammy, low-quality content on Search

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Re: New ways we're tackling spammy, low-quality content on Search

#41
Simply add a user call-back rating system, then subtract a factor of 10 for anomalous feedback traffic inconsistent with unique regional ISP blocks and human users.

They can't do this as 95% of the internet would disappear overnight including a lot of Google ad revenue.

The proposed project has a paradoxical use-case defined, and as such will not function as expected.

Where do we send the invoice for stating the obvious? ;-)

lol

Re: New ways we're tackling spammy, low-quality content on Search

#43
post #16

This is a bit tongue in cheek, but it is also kind of true: The easiest way for Google to detect spammy, low-quality content is to ... simply add up the number of Google Ads placements on the page. Those flooding the internet with garbage content are doing so because the verbiage is tightly intermingled with Google Ad placements, that's the business model. Google -could- go a step further and deactivate those account…

[deleted]

Re: New ways we're tackling spammy, low-quality content on Search

#44
post #19
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general, I believe Google's ranking system attempts to be hands-off and not hard-code what factors might correlate to good/bad rankings, but I do wonder if they had to put in a special rule to ignore any automatic quality signals related to their own ad system (or competitors!). It would make sense to do this for revenue preservation reasons, but I wonder if they also might have to do it for anti-trust reasons.

While we're just shooting the breeze, there is still something to what you're saying here. It's a long held complaint that Google's ad/analytics/tracking scripts slow down page load/page render times. It's also long held that Google prioritise speed in rankings. My guess is that they'd be excluding their own scripts and ad load times as part of that page load calculation, even though that is not a genuine result and…

Google is really bad at large scale coherent strategies. Google search ranking teams are almost completely isolated from Google ad teams. It is like two different companies and cultures, Google ads is run a lot more like Amazon.

Re: New ways we're tackling spammy, low-quality content on Search

#45

Simply add a user call-back rating system, then subtract a factor of 10 for anomalous feedback traffic inconsistent with unique regional ISP blocks and human users. They can't do this as 95% of the internet would disappear overnight including a lot of Google ad revenue. The proposed project has a paradoxical use-case defined, and as such will not function as expected. Where do we send the invoice for stating the obvi…

If you think more deeply, you'll realize why that won't work.

Re: New ways we're tackling spammy, low-quality content on Search

#46
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t the point of Google search to not have to do that?

Sure, that's why I added the disclaimer. I'm just trying to help Fricken out with some good brownie recipes. Google lists dozens of recipe sites when I search for "brownie recipes" and honestly, how many different ways can you change a basic brownie recipe. So I'm sure almost any of them will do. Any seems like reasonable result. I'm not sure what algorithm Google should use to pick the best or most reliable recipe s…

They're not trying to find a good brownie recipe. They're using it as a test phrase for search engines.

Re: New ways we're tackling spammy, low-quality content on Search

#47
My "bar" for how Google does here is how it treats recipe pages. I absolutely loath what SEO has done for recipe pages, because now essentially every recipe page looks exactly the same:

1. Tons and tons of content about the history of the recipe, how humans first domesticated wheat, when the ancient Egyptians first discovered yeast as a leavening agent, etc. etc.

2. Then, after thousands and thousands of words, there is a short recipe for bread at the bottom of the page.

In fairness, this is a hard problem to solve. Some sites (rarely) have good information on techniques or things like substitutions in all that copy. But the vast majority of the time all that copy is just useless drivel to appeal to search engines. So my question is whether a great but pithy recipe for, say, focaccia or whatever would make it to the top of the search rankings, or will Google always favor the verbal diarrhea that sullies all recipe sites these days?

Re: New ways we're tackling spammy, low-quality content on Search

#48
post #28

I would really love for Google to provide advanced search capabilities or filters to superusers who know EXACTLY what they are searching for. I wouldn't even mind paying for it tbh.

That is a niche product, Google doesn't want to have niche products for some reason. Google is great at making niche products, but leadership doesn't like them and always shuts them down...

Re: New ways we're tackling spammy, low-quality content on Search

#49

The best way to improve Google search results is to stop and use Kagi[0]. Seriously. If you are reading this article and these comments then you must be somewhat interested in search results. Do yourself (and the search world) a favor and subscribe. [0] https://kagi.com

Kagi is head and shoulder better at finding things that are useful. Google is going the way of AOL.

Re: New ways we're tackling spammy, low-quality content on Search

#50

Simply add a user call-back rating system, then subtract a factor of 10 for anomalous feedback traffic inconsistent with unique regional ISP blocks and human users. They can't do this as 95% of the internet would disappear overnight including a lot of Google ad revenue. The proposed project has a paradoxical use-case defined, and as such will not function as expected. Where do we send the invoice for stating the obvi…

It'll cause a slew of even more direct manipulation services to pop up to either up-rate the current site or down-rate competitors. Not to mention further fueling cancel culture.

What they should do is let people set preferences for how they want domains ranked in their personal results, and then use longer term trends on how those lists evolve.

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