4 ms·

It really feels like they need to allow a list of `noindex` pages in the robots.txt then...

• wayoutthere 7y ago
  The whole point is they don’t want you to easily opt out of it.
  • dredmorbius 7y ago
    Keep walking down that path to find v. heavy regulation.
    • wayoutthere 7y ago
      Not if you buy the government first. I think they’re already a victim of their own greed though. It’s bad enough I started using DDG for search because the results are now more relevant. Google’s advertising algorithms are designed to subtly nudge sites into paying for placement — which means there’s a “non-content” element to the search results that makes it into the user experience. I feel like there was a tipping point a year or two ago where the results just stopped being useful — The best analogy I can find is how search engines used to be in the days before AltaVista. Then AltaVista came out and the results were far more relevant (if not perfect). Google -> DDG feels like that in 2019. That “non-content” element will only grow over time as Google seeks revenue growth — growth across all of Google’s non-advertising revenue streams combined are not enough to move the needle compared to the scale their ad business has — of which search ads are by far the most profitable. So they will further try to monetize search; it’s their cash cow but I think a small player like DDG could easily overtake them as the quality of Google’s search results (to the end user) continue to decline.
      • dredmorbius 7y ago
        Agreed re: DDG search quality. It's my own default and preferred choice. Google remains useful for Scholar and Books, but relevance and deceptive ads on SERPS is rapidly declining.