New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results • Hacker News Board

Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results

#111

Post by Matt_Cutts » Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 11:23 PM UTC

mythobit wrote: post #77

I created a site on app engine that essentially does the same thing via Google Custom search engine. Granted mine isn't as integrated or user friendly but still. The site is: http://blacklist-search.appspot.com/ Why can't Google offer something like this rather than only allowing it via a Chrome extension?

I think we can, but that sort of code takes longer to write, test, and launch. You'd want it to be really robust before you showed those sorts of options to 1B+ people a day. So the Chrome extension is a good interim step to see how much traction it gets and what sort of data emerges as a result

Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results

#112

Post by EastSmith » Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 11:25 PM UTC

I know this questions is asked in different forms couple of times in the comments, but here it is again: 1. Will there ever be Firefox extension which do the same?

Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results

#113

Post by dschobel » Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 11:27 PM UTC

omeega wrote: post #109

falsestprophet wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What role did Hacker News play in bringing about this feature?

Thats a very important question, as without an answer it seems like the original comment is just excellent Public Relations. *Did not mean to imply that it is PR :)

I think the fact that Matt frequently comes in here to discuss Google's search results shows that it is not just PR.

Unless you want to categorize everything Matt says publicly (whether here, on his blog or on twitter) as PR...

Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results

#114

Post by jonknee » Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 11:29 PM UTC

klbarry wrote: post #67

jonknee wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first round includes eHow, Mahalo, Associated Content, Experts Exchange, Squidoo and Examiner. Update: I added answers.yahoo.com as well, which has consistently terrible content and yet is often highly ranked.

I really often get exactly the answer I need from Yahoo Answers, just to throw that in there...

I have only ever seen incorrect answers on Yahoo Answers, so our experiences definitely vary. That's the beauty of allowing custom blocklists though.

Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results

#115

Post by ChuckMcM » Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 11:30 PM UTC

I note with mock irony that this works fine on blekko.com in any browser. You push the "this is spam" link in the SERP results and poof, its dead to you.

(Disclaimer: I work at Blekko)

Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results

#116

Post by subsection1h » Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 11:30 PM UTC

demetris wrote: post #90

thenayr wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider this: I make a blog post on my relatively new blog examplesite.com. Techcrunch picks up on the article and immediately reposts it on their site. Which do you recon would be the first to get indexed? Now which is the original from Google's point of view? Relatively smaller blogs can take significantly longer to index then sites that have massive amounts of content moving about daily.

I have thought about that and I cannot believe it is really a problem. My small negligible personal website notifies Google, Bing and Yahoo immediately and automatically as soon as I publish something new. It also publishes a feed. Even if the content is picked up and republished right away by a site that is indexed every minute, it should be possible to determine correctly the original publisher. In some cases, I ca…

> I can think of more ways to determine the original publisher.

Please share them. Thanks.

Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results

#117

Post by subsection1h » Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 11:36 PM UTC

lurker17 wrote: post #64

jmillikin wrote: post #12

1. Does this remove results from each page, or from the resultset? In other words, if 7 of the first-page results are blocked, will I see only 3 results on that page? 2. Any plans for a Firefox extension? I'm willing to install Chrome just for running Google searches, but would rather add it to my main browser. e: After a month or so, I would absolutely love to see the top 10 or so blocked domains. It's OK if you can…

#2 If you don't want to wait for Google: http://www.customizegoogle.com/

OptmizeGoogle seems to be more up to date:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/optimizegoogl...

Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results

#118

Post by simpleenigma » Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 11:36 PM UTC

ErrantX wrote: post #97

Matt_Cutts wrote: post #49

I 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!)

I installed the extension and blocked experts exchange first thing ... not sure if I'll even use it for any other sites ...

Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results

#119

Post by jonmc12 » Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 11:38 PM UTC

Google should make one of these for Bing also - with the option to send google my Bing blocklist.

Re: New Chrome extension: block sites from Google’s web search results

#120

Post by cbs » Mon, Feb 14, 2011, 11:38 PM UTC

Matt_Cutts wrote: post #74

demetris wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

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…

I understand the fine line you have to walk, and I'm glad to see that you guys take it as seriously as you do.

Personally, I'm glad that you're putting this out as a user-controlled thing. I like the fact I'm able to get rid of results that aren't necessarily spam or SEO'ed garbage, but I where I still know that I never want to see results from that site again.