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Google Destroys Rap Genius’ Search Result Rankings As Punishment For SEO Spam

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Re: Google Destroys Rap Genius’ Search Result Rankings As Punishment For SEO Spam

#41

Post by glesica »

aroman wrote: post #35
llamataboot wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

bang commands on DDG come pretty close. I use DDG as my primary search, but in reality I use about 20 different commands for specific searches on any given day, including quite a bit of google search and wolfram alpha. Not saying these commands will ever see wide use, but I find it a convenient platform for lots of different search engines.

That's a really good point. Every few months I try to adapt to using DDG as my primary search, but I always find myself throwing a !g into my searches, which kind of defeats the purpose. I'm curious, for what kind of searches do you find DDG's own search results to be good enough (or better) than Google's? What kind of searches make you bang to Google?

I generally use !g if I want local results (say, looking for a restaurant) or I use !m if I want a map (which is really the same thing as local for me). I also use Google if I know my particular search is going to be obscure and/or noisy. For instance, weird error messages get a !g. The other major exception is that Google Scholar is incomparable for finding academic papers on a particular topic. However, for everything else (general knowledge, non-weird errors, most programming-related topics) I find the DDG results entirely sufficient. In fact, I intentionally use DDG by itself if I expect to end up at Wikipedia since DDG adds possible Wikipedia matches at the top of the search results.

That being said, I end up using the DDG results for >50% of my searches. If you do more local searches, or if the things you search for tend to be noisy or obscure then, of course, YMMV.

Re: Google Destroys Rap Genius’ Search Result Rankings As Punishment For SEO Spam

#42

Post by 001sky »

mbel wrote: post #39
benched wrote: post #31

So, the best lyric site by a mile no longer shows up in ordinary Google lyric searches. As a music fanatic, searching lyrics is something I do all day long every day, by the way - and when I search lyrics in Google, I really want to go to rap genius. Anyway, supposedly this degradation of Google had to happen to make a public example, and most of us are ok with it because the founders of RG are known to be kind of je…

> and when I search lyrics in Google, I really want to go to rap genius. So, isn't it easier (and faster) to go directly to rapgenius or create custom search keyword in the browser, than ask google for the lyrics?

when I search lyrics in Google, I really want to go to rap genius

Sounds like a wasted step. Go to your site and search it. Or has it outsourced that (/expectation) to Google?

Even then, search {site: XYZ} in the g box and be done with it.

Re: Google Destroys Rap Genius’ Search Result Rankings As Punishment For SEO Spam

#43

Post by badman_ting »

mbel wrote: post #39
benched wrote: post #31

So, the best lyric site by a mile no longer shows up in ordinary Google lyric searches. As a music fanatic, searching lyrics is something I do all day long every day, by the way - and when I search lyrics in Google, I really want to go to rap genius. Anyway, supposedly this degradation of Google had to happen to make a public example, and most of us are ok with it because the founders of RG are known to be kind of je…

> and when I search lyrics in Google, I really want to go to rap genius. So, isn't it easier (and faster) to go directly to rapgenius or create custom search keyword in the browser, than ask google for the lyrics?

Their search engine isn't very good, as is the case with most sites. There's a reason why everyone uses Google to find things.

Re: Google Destroys Rap Genius’ Search Result Rankings As Punishment For SEO Spam

#44

Post by glesica »

sanswork wrote: post #11
flexie wrote: post #8

Still, the real story here is that almost all small businesses depend on the mercy of one giant corporation. This Google monstrosity / police man should be split up into smaller, competing search engines.

You realize the impossibility of this and this is a joke comment right?

The suggested solution may have been a joke (although it is not without precedent) but the analysis was spot-on IMHO.

Re: Google Destroys Rap Genius’ Search Result Rankings As Punishment For SEO Spam

#45

Post by julespitt »

benched wrote: post #31

So, the best lyric site by a mile no longer shows up in ordinary Google lyric searches. As a music fanatic, searching lyrics is something I do all day long every day, by the way - and when I search lyrics in Google, I really want to go to rap genius. Anyway, supposedly this degradation of Google had to happen to make a public example, and most of us are ok with it because the founders of RG are known to be kind of je…

So, I guess the best site in any category should be above the rules then?

And come on - the idea that people only have a problem with the founders because they want to appear professional themselves is ridiculous. "Kind of jerky and unprofessional" is a staggering understatement.

Re: Google Destroys Rap Genius’ Search Result Rankings As Punishment For SEO Spam

#46

Post by mbel »

badman_ting wrote: post #43
mbel wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and when I search lyrics in Google, I really want to go to rap genius. So, isn't it easier (and faster) to go directly to rapgenius or create custom search keyword in the browser, than ask google for the lyrics?

Their search engine isn't very good, as is the case with most sites. There's a reason why everyone uses Google to find things.

Actually, I've had a chance to use it quite a few times, and I was surprisingly happy with the results. Still I might have not tested all possible scenarios (like searching for a song knowing only a part of the lyrics with some errors), so your point obviously stands, thank for pointing this out.

Re: Google Destroys Rap Genius’ Search Result Rankings As Punishment For SEO Spam

#47

Post by csomar »

Google is actually penalizing its users' as they'll have less useful results instead of the best possible results.

Google is not supposed to be the Internet police. It's supposed to analyze the best sites, and rank them. Rap Genius getting some spammy links doesn't make it a better site; but it doesn't make it worse either.

The next thing we are going to see is a Google Justice Department?

Re: Google Destroys Rap Genius’ Search Result Rankings As Punishment For SEO Spam

#48

Post by charleslmunger »

benched wrote: post #31

So, the best lyric site by a mile no longer shows up in ordinary Google lyric searches. As a music fanatic, searching lyrics is something I do all day long every day, by the way - and when I search lyrics in Google, I really want to go to rap genius. Anyway, supposedly this degradation of Google had to happen to make a public example, and most of us are ok with it because the founders of RG are known to be kind of je…

If you want your results from rapgenius, that's why site:rapgenius.com exists.

Re: Google Destroys Rap Genius’ Search Result Rankings As Punishment For SEO Spam

#49

Post by badman_ting »

mbel wrote: post #46
badman_ting wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their search engine isn't very good, as is the case with most sites. There's a reason why everyone uses Google to find things.

Actually, I've had a chance to use it quite a few times, and I was surprisingly happy with the results. Still I might have not tested all possible scenarios (like searching for a song knowing only a part of the lyrics with some errors), so your point obviously stands, thank for pointing this out.

It's not good at matching partial words, and sometimes a song's title only contains very common words, etc. It doesn't deal well with those

Re: Google Destroys Rap Genius’ Search Result Rankings As Punishment For SEO Spam

#50

Post by badman_ting »

charleslmunger wrote: post #48
benched wrote: post #31

So, the best lyric site by a mile no longer shows up in ordinary Google lyric searches. As a music fanatic, searching lyrics is something I do all day long every day, by the way - and when I search lyrics in Google, I really want to go to rap genius. Anyway, supposedly this degradation of Google had to happen to make a public example, and most of us are ok with it because the founders of RG are known to be kind of je…

If you want your results from rapgenius, that's why site:rapgenius.com exists.

Mmmm, we all love typing that.
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