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Google personalizes search results even when you’re logged out, new study finds

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Re: Google personalizes search results even when you’re logged out, new study finds

#151

Post by prepend »

jonas21 wrote: post #115
reaperducer wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you put the word "margins" in quotes in your query, all of your results will contain that word. This seemed to be true at one time, but I noticed last night that it doesn't always work. These days it seems to put include results without the word, then provide a tiny link below each deficient result with a link to "must include" the missing word in a new search. That used to be the previous behavior, but now it's i…

Do you have an example where adding quotes doesn't work? As far as I can tell, it always works for me (yeah, we may be getting different personalized results, but still...)

It’s kind of hard to share links because google personalizes results against our wishes. But a search for ‘"monkeys" burritos san diego “fries”’[0] returns a first link [1] that doesn’t include ‘monkeys.’

There are also other results [2] that include ‘monkey’ not what I asked for.

It’s infuriating. I just want to grep the internet. Is that too much to ask?

[0] https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&ei=P1oH...

[1] https://www.pinterest.com/pin/481463016388903842/

[2] https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g55543-d4580159-...

Re: Google personalizes search results even when you’re logged out, new study finds

#152

Post by sizzle »

xvector wrote: post #94
Bartweiss wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this DuckDuckGo being sloppy, just The Verge. The real headline here is that the effect extends to Incognito mode. In the 2009 post, Google said: > ...customize search results for you based upon 180 days of search activity linked to an anonymous cookie in your browser... You'll know when we customize results because a "View customizations" link will appear... Clicking the link will let you... turn off t…

Honestly, Google is almost certainly using canvas fingerprinting to track you across accounts, webpages, and more regardless of incognito. There should be zero expectation of privacy when using a Google service. I've switched to searx.me, which wraps Google and (optionally) a bunch of other search engines.

Is there a chrome extension or easy way to randomize canvas properties programmatically to avoid canvas fingerprinting when opening a new chrome tab?

Canvas fingerprinting is highly concerning to say the least, thanks in advance to anyone with working solutions.

Re: Google personalizes search results even when you’re logged out, new study finds

#153

Post by jonas21 »

prepend wrote: post #151
jonas21 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have an example where adding quotes doesn't work? As far as I can tell, it always works for me (yeah, we may be getting different personalized results, but still...)

It’s kind of hard to share links because google personalizes results against our wishes. But a search for ‘"monkeys" burritos san diego “fries”’[0] returns a first link [1] that doesn’t include ‘monkeys.’ There are also other results [2] that include ‘monkey’ not what I asked for. It’s infuriating. I just want to grep the internet. Is that too much to ask? [0] https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&ei=P…

In your first example, >90% of the text on the page is in the "More Like This" section which is heavily personalized by Pinterest. So I'm seeing different content than you are, and Googlebot saw different content than either of us. Given the complete randomness of the content in there, I wouldn't be surprised at all if "monkeys" appeared on the version that was indexed.

In your second example, the word "monkeys" does appear on the page, in the "Show reviews that mention" section.

More importantly, did you have a result in mind for this query that isn't showing up? It seems somewhat nonsensical.

Re: Google personalizes search results even when you’re logged out, new study finds

#154

Post by Bartweiss »

klodolph wrote: post #113
Bartweiss wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> location and language are... the most annoying part This is a constant frustration - I fight with this feature every time I search for info about some place I'm not, for instance to plan travel. Searching with a country/state/zip alongside the query helps, but it's a kludge that's much worse than actual location-specificity, especially if one is going to an ambiguous place like Portland or Washington. I'd very much…

> Maps on desktop has a great feature of "leave at" or "arrive by", which was removed from mobile in favor of a 'helpful' integration that can notify you about when to leave. I use this feature all the time and it's still there on the mobile versions, as far as I know. Ask for directions to a place, you'll see a list of routes, above the routes is a dark blue bar saying "depart at HH:MM". Touch that and it will let y…

I believe the feature may only be missing on Android? At least, that's where I found the forum discussions with Google support stating it had been removed.

At any rate, I just tried to enter a destination from the main screen, hit directions, and provide a source. I also tried hitting 'Go' and then entering the destination, and tried each with "my location" and a specific address. In every case, I get several routes. The shortest is already highlighted, they all list times if I leave now, and there's a top bar asking if I want to drive, walk, etc. Touching 'back' returns me to the destination, with no departure source, so there's no list of routes which doesn't have one preselected.

From there, all I can do is pick a route and start, which begins navigation. None of available menus before or after starting let me set a "depart at" time.

If you're willing, could you tell me where our flows differed? I'm always curious about this sort of fragmentation, or if this is available I'd love to know where.

(Poking around, I did just discover "remember monthly driving stats", which is new since I last opened that menu and on by default. So thank you for letting me turn that off - and another way in which I'm irritated by Maps.)

Re: Google personalizes search results even when you’re logged out, new study finds

#155

Post by andrewprock »

jonas21 wrote: post #153
prepend wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s kind of hard to share links because google personalizes results against our wishes. But a search for ‘"monkeys" burritos san diego “fries”’[0] returns a first link [1] that doesn’t include ‘monkeys.’ There are also other results [2] that include ‘monkey’ not what I asked for. It’s infuriating. I just want to grep the internet. Is that too much to ask? [0] https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&ei=P…

In your first example, >90% of the text on the page is in the "More Like This" section which is heavily personalized by Pinterest. So I'm seeing different content than you are, and Googlebot saw different content than either of us. Given the complete randomness of the content in there, I wouldn't be surprised at all if "monkeys" appeared on the version that was indexed. In your second example, the word "monkeys" does…

As loathe as I am to invoke Inception, having an advertising platform index advertisements and then sell my traffic to advertisers feels like a recursive death I don't want to die.

Re: Google personalizes search results even when you’re logged out, new study finds

#156

Post by prepend »

jonas21 wrote: post #153
prepend wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s kind of hard to share links because google personalizes results against our wishes. But a search for ‘"monkeys" burritos san diego “fries”’[0] returns a first link [1] that doesn’t include ‘monkeys.’ There are also other results [2] that include ‘monkey’ not what I asked for. It’s infuriating. I just want to grep the internet. Is that too much to ask? [0] https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&ei=P…

In your first example, >90% of the text on the page is in the "More Like This" section which is heavily personalized by Pinterest. So I'm seeing different content than you are, and Googlebot saw different content than either of us. Given the complete randomness of the content in there, I wouldn't be surprised at all if "monkeys" appeared on the version that was indexed. In your second example, the word "monkeys" does…

Thanks for the reply. I’m on mobile and searched on mobile and I don’t see “show reviews that mention.” I do see “read reviews that mention” but that includes stuff but not monkeys [0].

The Pinterest page perhaps has monkeys at some point, but doesn’t now.

This isn’t a real search, I just added something whimsical (and I miss San Diego burritos). This is behavior I remember but don’t typically track so it’s hard to remember on command.

Note you can use search tools | verbatim and it will return pages will all terms. The Pinterest page is still there, but the trip advisor page is missing [1].

[0] https://imgur.com/gallery/Xlp8lsk [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=%22monkeys%22+burritos+san+d...

Re: Google personalizes search results even when you’re logged out, new study finds

#157

Post by dwd »

newsbinator wrote: post #146
xvector wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, Google is almost certainly using canvas fingerprinting to track you across accounts, webpages, and more regardless of incognito. There should be zero expectation of privacy when using a Google service. I've switched to searx.me, which wraps Google and (optionally) a bunch of other search engines.

Unfortunately: "How canvas fingerprint blockers make you easily trackable" https://multilogin.com/how-canvas-fingerprint-blockers-make-...

Found this with Firefox Focus.

Using a minority browser with a lot of stuff blocked makes you very unique.

It's good for blocking 3rd party cookies but you stand out like a sore thumb to Google.

Re: Google personalizes search results even when you’re logged out, new study finds

#158

Post by r_singh »

This is honestly the worst thing ever, I've started noticing this too while testing SEO for different projects.

What if google becomes like Netflix? Only shows you results you expect, honestly a progression towards that has already rendered google search quite useless for most of my searching. I prefer searching HN on Algolia, Reddit, Medium and other websites (not at the top of my head) to find unexpected resources that I expect google "search engine" to give me.

Re: Google personalizes search results even when you’re logged out, new study finds

#159

Post by mda »

esrauch wrote: post #99
xvector wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, Google is almost certainly using canvas fingerprinting to track you across accounts, webpages, and more regardless of incognito. There should be zero expectation of privacy when using a Google service. I've switched to searx.me, which wraps Google and (optionally) a bunch of other search engines.

Do you have a citation that they do canvas fingerprinting or are you just guessing?

They don't. But welcome to HN Where conspiracy is more prevalent then truth.

Re: Google personalizes search results even when you’re logged out, new study finds

#160

Post by mda »

nottorp wrote: post #30

The problem is, these "personalized results" have become mostly useless. For more technical (or simply specific) queries, Google seems to vomit useless only vaguely related links instead of, you know, pages that cover what i searched for. This does more to encourage me switching to some other search engine than any privacy concern.

I hear this sometimes but have never seen anyone giving proper examples of it.Which queries were answered better before, or by other engines? It is always vague.
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