A glitch in the SEO matrix • Hacker News Board

Re: A glitch in the SEO matrix

#21

Post by superasn » Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 5:23 PM UTC

It's so weird that Google still hasn't created the ability to block spam domains.

I don't think it's a technical difficulty but rather a management decision to allow spam as long as they have their adsense ads and it baffles me they just don't care about their end users at all.

I think being a monopoly with most competitors lagging a lap behind can make you this way, but with chatgpt catching up quick, Google better start thinking about their users now as it's a growing sentiment that their quality is totally bad nowadays and their uncaring attitude towards spam domains like Pinterest and spam search results where sites are creating hundreds of pages with same content and different heading is just not gonna cut it anymore.

Re: A glitch in the SEO matrix

#22

Post by mschuster91 » Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 5:23 PM UTC

eyelidlessness wrote: post #11

codegeek wrote: post #4

You either play the Organic SEO game or you Pay to Play (Ads). Google as a search engine is now useless when it comes to searching for a tool/software etc because everyone has gamed the "Best software for xyz" etc. But what's the alternative ? None. There are these "review" websites like Capterra/Software Advice/G2 and again you have to pay to play. You can technically get a review from a customer and get listed BUT…

> But what's the alternative ? None. And gob help you if you dare search for alternative to _____ .

Before the Great Reddit Strike, adding "reddit" or "inurl:reddit.com" helped in that regard pretty well.

Re: A glitch in the SEO matrix

#23

Post by brucethemoose2 » Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 5:24 PM UTC

The root cause of all this madness:

Ads.

As long as there is even a marginal financial incentive to get human eyeballs on websites (as opposed to the viewers actually playing for services or, you know, just hosting websites for free because they are cool), this will keep getting worse.

A genuine desire to help incoming traffic doesn't really matter either. Anything helpful will be infinitely cloned, as long as there is incentive to clone it.

I dont really know a good solution either. Targeted ads are incredibly useful to small businesses, and that genie is out of the bottle.

Re: A glitch in the SEO matrix

#24

Post by dazc » Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 5:27 PM UTC

nomel wrote: post #17

boxed wrote: post #13

Meanwhile on Kagi: The first five results for me was this SEO spam. I went in and blocked those domains. Now it's all good stuff again.

I remember how quickly Google removed the ability to block domains, once they added it. I think that was the peak of its usability.

It was removed because it was being gamed from the outset. The workable alternative would be a 'Social Credit' system where some domains can be blocked if enough of the 'right people' want them blocked.

Google running a social credit system may have unintended consequences though.

Re: A glitch in the SEO matrix

#25

Post by arbuge » Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 5:27 PM UTC

brucethemoose2 wrote: post #23

The root cause of all this madness: Ads. As long as there is even a marginal financial incentive to get human eyeballs on websites (as opposed to the viewers actually playing for services or, you know, just hosting websites for free because they are cool), this will keep getting worse. A genuine desire to help incoming traffic doesn't really matter either. Anything helpful will be infinitely cloned, as long as there…

No it's not just ads at all. SEO drives traffic. There are many ways to monetize such traffic, and ads are just one.

A lot of SEO is driven by local business owners who hire SEO people with dubious track records that make big promises. They invariably clutter up their websites with 10,000 articles along the lines of "best plumber in dallas".

It's funny you mention ads though. One reason that it's so hard to find an SEO person that's actually worth anything is that if they were really good at what they did, they could just throw up their own websites with ads and make a much better living that way than selling SEO services. They don't of course, which should tell you something about how good they really are.

Re: A glitch in the SEO matrix

#26

Post by andrenotgiant » Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 5:30 PM UTC

superasn wrote: post #21

It's so weird that Google still hasn't created the ability to block spam domains. I don't think it's a technical difficulty but rather a management decision to allow spam as long as they have their adsense ads and it baffles me they just don't care about their end users at all. I think being a monopoly with most competitors lagging a lap behind can make you this way, but with chatgpt catching up quick, Google better…

They actually did have it as an experimental feature for a little while, maybe 10 years ago. [0]

If I recall correctly, it was made available in response to another big wave of criticism directed towards Google about "Content Farms". It has been interesting to see the difference in response between the "Content Farm" debacle and what we are dealing with currently.

[0] https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/hide-sites-to-find-m...

Re: A glitch in the SEO matrix

#27

Post by Regnore » Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 5:34 PM UTC

dazc wrote: post #24

nomel wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember how quickly Google removed the ability to block domains, once they added it. I think that was the peak of its usability.

It was removed because it was being gamed from the outset. The workable alternative would be a 'Social Credit' system where some domains can be blocked if enough of the 'right people' want them blocked. Google running a social credit system may have unintended consequences though.

> It was removed because it was being gamed from the outset.

'Gamed' as in people would block the most ad-infested pages which just so happened to be the ones which made Google the most money?

Re: A glitch in the SEO matrix

#28

Post by safety1st » Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 5:35 PM UTC

dazc wrote: post #24

nomel wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember how quickly Google removed the ability to block domains, once they added it. I think that was the peak of its usability.

It was removed because it was being gamed from the outset. The workable alternative would be a 'Social Credit' system where some domains can be blocked if enough of the 'right people' want them blocked. Google running a social credit system may have unintended consequences though.

I realize this is anathema to Google, but they could always pay a human being to investigate the domains that receive the most spam reports, and make a decision about it based on human judgment.

One wonders how much bullshit might have been solved through a .005% increase in Google's payroll...

Re: A glitch in the SEO matrix

#29

Post by divbzero » Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 5:36 PM UTC

OP will soon be ranking for the exact phrase he discusses.

(If we discuss “a comprehensive ecosystem of open-source software for big data management” enough, perhaps we can get this thread to rank too.)

Re: A glitch in the SEO matrix

#30

Post by titzer » Wed, Jul 19, 2023, 5:37 PM UTC

After having used computers for a few years (oh, about 30), and having grown up with the internet (first dialup at age 16 in 1996), I gotta say,

Access to information should not have (ranked, optimizable, commercially-bent) search as its base interface. This is a cosmic, civilization-level screwup. Not only do you get the decades of SEO and advertising, but the whole system becomes lossy over time. You can't find what you used to anymore.