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How Search Works

google.com

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Re: How Search Works

#81

Post by Bjartr »

OGinparadise wrote: post #79
paranoiacblack wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, with the certainty you speak of this with, yes. Oh also, I'm being facetious because I work there and I'm interested in this secret pile of evidence you have. All things being fair, I won't deny that you've seen the things you've seen, it's just that you might be attributing them to the wrong places. Hence, the need for actual evidence.

I am certain and so is everyone with an open mind. Look at results pages and it's clear why all the Google pages and ever-growing number of ads were inserted, MONEY! Mo money for the always greedy Google.

Google has for all but the very beginning of its existance been an ad company. This is not new.

Re: How Search Works

#82

Post by anoncow »

snowwrestler wrote: post #74
anoncow wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't remember if hotmail used to run ads.

It did and they were display ads. Incredibly distracting. At one point the "homepage" of Hotmail was a huge ad space, stories from MSN, and a tiny link to "Inbox." The new Outlook is so much better. If Hotmail had evolved that way earlier, I would not have switched to Gmail.

So it is a bit hypocritical of MS talking about ads in gmail. But again where those ads contextual?

Re: How Search Works

#83

Post by will_brown »

philsnow wrote: post #62

I missed most of the content on this ... page ? Exhibit ? Installation ? whatever it's called, because it told me to scroll, I did, and I scrolled through a bunch of what looks like empty space and arrived at the end ("and that's how search works"). The user is apparently supposed to stop and watch some animation at certain places, but it's not clear where to stop scrolling. Perfect example, near the top there's some…

I gave you a +1 because I had the same "scrolling issue".

After your comment I noticed a lot of comments on the same issue, so I decided to try it again. The second time I noticed that a blue arrow flashes at the bottom of the screen after all the content has populated, almost promoting you to scroll down. I suppose most everyone, including me, initially scrolled to fast to even see the first "arrow/prompt". Despite the discovery of the prompt feature, some of the issues remain. Example, wondering how far to scroll down before stopping (maybe pgdn?), and wondering which parts of the "page ? Exhibit ? Installation ? whatever it's called" are interactive.

>page ? Exhibit ? Installation ? whatever it's called

I too was unsure what to call it, but if they listen to the feedback, I think "whatever it's called" is really awesome and could be a legitimate substitute to the ppt platform. At least I would be interested in making a few presentations with it.

Re: How Search Works

#84

Post by snowwrestler »

anoncow wrote: post #82
snowwrestler wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It did and they were display ads. Incredibly distracting. At one point the "homepage" of Hotmail was a huge ad space, stories from MSN, and a tiny link to "Inbox." The new Outlook is so much better. If Hotmail had evolved that way earlier, I would not have switched to Gmail.

So it is a bit hypocritical of MS talking about ads in gmail. But again where those ads contextual?

The "Scroogled" campaign has nothing to do with products or customers; the point is to broaden the PR base for Microsoft's ongoing campaign to convince the feds to initiate anti-trust proceedings against Google. That is why they hired a political PR executive to create the campaign.

Re: How Search Works

#86

Post by JDDunn9 »

rossjudson wrote: post #71
JDDunn9 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So when Google's Panda update killed tons of user-generated-content sites like Mahalo, eHow, HubPages, etc., and greatly improved YouTube's (which is 99% garbage) rankings, that was pure co-incidence? What about when Google rolled out universal search only after buying YouTube?

I don't miss any of the crap content factory sites. Do you?

Nope, and I wouldn't miss YouTube's crap factory site from the SERPS either.

Re: How Search Works

#87

Post by moultano »

_mvuc wrote: post #60

I keep checking every so often, but searching for "this phrase" or +absolute +requirement is still broken. Even "Verbatim", isn't. If they can't even get simple search right, who would trust them with anything more?

Do you have some example queries to debug?

Re: How Search Works

#88

Post by dylangs1030 »

I don't know what to take from this.

That search is very complex (I knew that, but not with this technical detail).

Or...that Google is trying very hard to maintain user interest with gimmicky shows of why it's cool and cutting edge and necessary.

Not that Google isn't those things...this just seems like an unnecessary expenditure of time. We know it's complex Google. Improve some other features and stop shutting others down instead of making these web 2.0 animations.

Re: How Search Works

#89

Post by jaytaylor »

_mvuc wrote: post #60

I keep checking every so often, but searching for "this phrase" or +absolute +requirement is still broken. Even "Verbatim", isn't. If they can't even get simple search right, who would trust them with anything more?

I agree, it is super irritating to no longer be able to do precise searches on google like I used to. Is there another search engine you would recommend which provides this functionality?

Re: How Search Works

#90

Post by Julianhearn »

franze wrote: post #26

thx matt and the google search team for doing this. it's nothing new for technically inclined people, but every little bit helps. helps for what? teaching people to worry about the right aspects of search and the impact on their business, instead of worrying about bullshitphrases that were planted in their head by a SEO agency key account or a blogpost from 2008. so well yes, thx for doing this. i will send it to my…

Your 80% is based on what exactly? A tiny sample size. Please if you don't have solid data don't quote percentages it just encourages people to spread the number like it's a fact, which it isn't.

If you read the right sources a majority of seo advice is correct.

Www.seomoz.org http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrust... Www.inbound.org (homepage stuff that has been voted up.)

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