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Let's take a look at Quora's case. Please do the following: 1. Open your mobile browser. 2. Ask a question on Google and add "quora" so you get some results.

Let's take a look at Quora's case. Please do the following: 1. Open your mobile browser. 2. Ask a question on Google and add "quora" so you get some results. 3. Open Quora's result link 4. See that result for a brief second and 5. Be forwarded to registration page, which doesn't have any close or cancel out buttons. 6. Try tapping back and you are back to Google results 7. Curse at Quora and never tap on their results again. That last point is only for me. There is a choice to register. You are free to choose. PS: You are right, the information that Google showed/indexed is there on Quora. But for regular people (not Google bots), it's there for a second. IDK about you but I'd place this behavior into dark pattern UX book. PPS: For people, who don't believe this behavior, you can see the video of my experience on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiOMwRwXLcg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiOMwRwXLcg

mulmen 10y ago
For a short(?) but wonderful period of time it was possible to blacklist sites from your Google search results. As I recall Google moved this functionality into the Chrome browser several years ago. When it was still available as an account setting I used it to filter out the awful "resources" like expertsexchange and that one Oracle consultant site with the hilarious pictures. When I see Quora results I long for that feature to be returned.
- lorenzhs 10y ago
  There's a chrome extension for that now, it's called "Personal Blocklist" iirc. There might be something similar for other browsers.
- jjgreen 10y ago
  Do you have a link for the Oracle consultant site? I'm intrigued ..
  - Spooky23 10y ago
    This is the one that comes to mind. http://www.dba-oracle.com/ http://www.dba-oracle.com/
    - throwaway1892 10y ago
      I remember that one because of the offer to learn Oracle during a cruise, complete with the important part "Convince the boss" : http://www.dba-oracle.com/BC_cruise.htm http://www.dba-oracle.com/BC_cruise.htm
      - Spooky23 10y ago
        Unfortunately, the thing that stuck in my head was "redneck philosophy". http://www.dba-oracle.com/redneck.htm http://www.dba-oracle.com/redneck.htm
        yellowapple 10y ago
        This is obviously fake; real rednecks can't afford an Oracle license.
      - nommm-nommm 10y ago
        Wow, He actually has a good point in that staying on a cruise ship is usually cheaper than staying at a hotel.
    - nommm-nommm 10y ago
      Huh, that site has always been helpful to me. For example, I just searched for a random ORA-number error and got this in the results: http://dba-oracle.com/t_ora_12514_tns_listener_does_not_currently_know_service_requested.htm http://dba-oracle.com/t_ora_12514_tns_listener_does_not_curr... That looks useful, no? I admit, I've never gone to that site directly or clicked any links only ever saw what showed up on my search results.
jakubp 10y ago
I do not see steps 4-7. After 3, I stay on that page. Sometimes in the past I would see an overlay on that page. I don't get redirected anywhere, and I'm 100% sure I never was (there was only popup). I wonder where's the discrepancy coming from. Also, google bot would be redirected too, unless of course it's simply logged in :)
- Smirnoff 10y ago
  I could make lots of guesses why you don't experience Quora the same way I do. None of that would change the fact that I can't see the information I am being promised to see on Google. Here is a screenshot of the page I am being forwarded to automatically: http://pho.to/Aatuj http://pho.to/Aatuj It is a disguised register page because after you make 10 selections, you are forced to sign up.
  - koolba 10y ago
    That's because you got fooled into making an account. It's trying to get you to complete the registration process so they can pick questions to show you. If you clear your cookies and go from a Google search result to Quora, you can read the answers on the page that you're on. If you navigate to any other question, say via the links at the bottom of the page for similar / related questions, the answers will be blocked by the signup popup. If, instead of signing, you go back to Google and search for the same "<question> quora" it'll work again. The thing to remember is only the first page you navigate to from Google will display properly.
  - nommm-nommm 10y ago
    That's because you seem to be halfway through making an account and they want you to finish. The actual behavior of Quora, if you aren't midway through account signup is: if you go through Google search it shows you the page promised. If, from that page, you click on another question it will open the second question but give you the sign up modal. You can bypass a signup modal and get the normal page by appending ?share=1 to the end of the URL. I don't even have a Quora account but I read the ?share=1 trick a while ago on hacker news.
JimmyM 10y ago
Theoretically 6 & 7 should be a big red flag (the biggest possible UX red flag) to Google regarding the specific Quora page visited - I know that I almost never see Quora results in search, for example. Following Bartosz Goralewicz's post about how well botting works to manipulate Google in...2014 I think? there's a small black hat industry that's sprung up around imitating this kind of user reaction, and it does reportedly work to remove pages from Google. I've had my suspicions that it's been used against sites I've worked on a few times (2 or 3). TL:DR; Quora should generally not be ranking so well (but Google's complex enough to be unpredictable on a page-by-page basis these days).
Angostura 10y ago
I'm not seeing that behaviour at all direct from Google. I do get the registration overlay if I subsequently click another Quora article page from the original Quora article. The behaviour I'm seeing is reasonable, if slightly annoying.
- Smirnoff 10y ago
  Here, I quickly recorded the above-mentioned situation and posted it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiOMwRwXLcg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiOMwRwXLcg
MarkMc 10y ago
I don't get see steps 4 to 7 (not claiming that you don't see it)
loup-vaillant 10y ago
How about disabling JavaScript on Quora? Should block step 5, right?

mulmen 10y ago

For a short(?) but wonderful period of time it was possible to blacklist sites from your Google search results. As I recall Google moved this functionality into the Chrome browser several years ago. When it was still available as an account setting I used it to filter out the awful "resources" like expertsexchange and that one Oracle consultant site with the hilarious pictures. When I see Quora results I long for that feature to be returned.

lorenzhs 10y ago
There's a chrome extension for that now, it's called "Personal Blocklist" iirc. There might be something similar for other browsers.
jjgreen 10y ago
Do you have a link for the Oracle consultant site? I'm intrigued ..
- Spooky23 10y ago
  This is the one that comes to mind. http://www.dba-oracle.com/ http://www.dba-oracle.com/
  - throwaway1892 10y ago
    I remember that one because of the offer to learn Oracle during a cruise, complete with the important part "Convince the boss" : http://www.dba-oracle.com/BC_cruise.htm http://www.dba-oracle.com/BC_cruise.htm
    - Spooky23 10y ago
      Unfortunately, the thing that stuck in my head was "redneck philosophy". http://www.dba-oracle.com/redneck.htm http://www.dba-oracle.com/redneck.htm
      - yellowapple 10y ago
        This is obviously fake; real rednecks can't afford an Oracle license.
    - nommm-nommm 10y ago
      Wow, He actually has a good point in that staying on a cruise ship is usually cheaper than staying at a hotel.
  - nommm-nommm 10y ago
    Huh, that site has always been helpful to me. For example, I just searched for a random ORA-number error and got this in the results: http://dba-oracle.com/t_ora_12514_tns_listener_does_not_currently_know_service_requested.htm http://dba-oracle.com/t_ora_12514_tns_listener_does_not_curr... That looks useful, no? I admit, I've never gone to that site directly or clicked any links only ever saw what showed up on my search results.

jakubp 10y ago

I do not see steps 4-7. After 3, I stay on that page. Sometimes in the past I would see an overlay on that page. I don't get redirected anywhere, and I'm 100% sure I never was (there was only popup). I wonder where's the discrepancy coming from. Also, google bot would be redirected too, unless of course it's simply logged in :)

Smirnoff 10y ago
I could make lots of guesses why you don't experience Quora the same way I do. None of that would change the fact that I can't see the information I am being promised to see on Google. Here is a screenshot of the page I am being forwarded to automatically: http://pho.to/Aatuj http://pho.to/Aatuj It is a disguised register page because after you make 10 selections, you are forced to sign up.
- koolba 10y ago
  That's because you got fooled into making an account. It's trying to get you to complete the registration process so they can pick questions to show you. If you clear your cookies and go from a Google search result to Quora, you can read the answers on the page that you're on. If you navigate to any other question, say via the links at the bottom of the page for similar / related questions, the answers will be blocked by the signup popup. If, instead of signing, you go back to Google and search for the same "<question> quora" it'll work again. The thing to remember is only the first page you navigate to from Google will display properly.
- nommm-nommm 10y ago
  That's because you seem to be halfway through making an account and they want you to finish. The actual behavior of Quora, if you aren't midway through account signup is: if you go through Google search it shows you the page promised. If, from that page, you click on another question it will open the second question but give you the sign up modal. You can bypass a signup modal and get the normal page by appending ?share=1 to the end of the URL. I don't even have a Quora account but I read the ?share=1 trick a while ago on hacker news.

JimmyM 10y ago

Theoretically 6 & 7 should be a big red flag (the biggest possible UX red flag) to Google regarding the specific Quora page visited - I know that I almost never see Quora results in search, for example. Following Bartosz Goralewicz's post about how well botting works to manipulate Google in...2014 I think? there's a small black hat industry that's sprung up around imitating this kind of user reaction, and it does reportedly work to remove pages from Google. I've had my suspicions that it's been used against sites I've worked on a few times (2 or 3). TL:DR; Quora should generally not be ranking so well (but Google's complex enough to be unpredictable on a page-by-page basis these days).

Angostura 10y ago

I'm not seeing that behaviour at all direct from Google. I do get the registration overlay if I subsequently click another Quora article page from the original Quora article. The behaviour I'm seeing is reasonable, if slightly annoying.

Smirnoff 10y ago
Here, I quickly recorded the above-mentioned situation and posted it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiOMwRwXLcg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiOMwRwXLcg

MarkMc 10y ago

I don't get see steps 4 to 7 (not claiming that you don't see it)

loup-vaillant 10y ago

How about disabling JavaScript on Quora? Should block step 5, right?