5 ms·

I stopped using Google 2 or 3 years ago because the search quality is really bad and it “helpfully” corrected many search terms to be not what I was searching f

I stopped using Google 2 or 3 years ago because the search quality is really bad and it “helpfully” corrected many search terms to be not what I was searching for at all. It’s not really a good search engine anymore.

input_sh 6y ago
My favourite case of this was when I searched for how to accomplish something specific in nginx and Google decided that the word apache is a synonym to nginx, giving me results for apache instead (even after I've put nginx within quotes). Would've preferred if it showed me "no results" instead.
- atoav 6y ago
  foobar "nginx" -apache Should do the trick
ljm 6y ago
Sadly even DDG does this for me now. The other day I searched for 'gradle get environment variable'. DDG 'helpfully' corrected it, saying "showing results for gradle set environment variable", with a smaller text link below essentially saying "search what I actually asked for". It took me a while to spot that while wondering why most of the results are not relevant. Internet search just doesn't feel very good in general these days. I mean, that's not really an appropriate place to be second guessed by a computer.
- wpietri 6y ago
  Unfortunately, we software developers are unusually precise with language. I'm sure that Google (and now DDG) get better results on average. But yes, I spend an awful lot of times strategically adding quote marks to Google searches that at one point would have just worked.
  - cgriswald 6y ago
    I think that’s the core of the problem. With strong googlefu you used to be able to find what you wanted if it existed. Google have made search far easier; for imprecise searches the top few hits are probably going to be what I want. But if I need something precise, Google can’t help me anymore, no matter what arcane set of search terms, symbols, and flags I use. I also wish Google would detect when one page and another page are just the same content with different wrappers. You see this a lot with multiple sites that re post mailing list conversations. Google will not only return all the different sites, but will return replies, etc. as if they are unique results. So your entire first page can be a single conversation that just happens to be plastered all over the internet.
    - pessimizer 6y ago
      This began the day google decided that quotes were no longer an instruction to ignore pages without the exact sequence of characters that were between those quotes, but instead a tag indicating that the part of the search in quotes couldn't be silently discarded as if you hadn't typed it. I've always suspected that this was actually a way to reduce their database size and simplify calculations (i.e. reduce costs and response time) rather than a way to make non-expert searches more forgiving. Non-experts weren't using quotes, and when they were, they meant them to be literal. > I also wish Google would detect when one page and another page are just the same content with different wrappers. I've never quite understood this. I consider it an abdication from even the attempt to be a useful, complete search engine, and the indication of a change in company direction. Incidentally, DDG (my SE of choice) isn't much better at this stuff. Lots of repetitive listings of the same copy as top listings, and I think it stems quoted stuff. I'm forgiving because I think most of its results are derived from the results of larger indexes that adopted google's style.
  - erikerikson 6y ago
    I've experienced Google disregarding quotes lately. It's been quite frustrating.
  - perl4ever 6y ago
    There's an inherent tension between search and interpretation of terms. Searching is most valuable when something is hard to find. If it's hard to find, then there's no way around being precise. Correcting for sloppy queries only works when there are a limited number of things to look for and everyone is looking for one of those. Making it easy for 90% of people to find 90% of the things they ask is in conflict with the ability for anybody to find the things which aren't easy to find in the first place. Leading, maybe, to those things effectively getting eliminated from the internet.

input_sh 6y ago

My favourite case of this was when I searched for how to accomplish something specific in nginx and Google decided that the word apache is a synonym to nginx, giving me results for apache instead (even after I've put nginx within quotes). Would've preferred if it showed me "no results" instead.

atoav 6y ago
foobar "nginx" -apache Should do the trick

ljm 6y ago

Sadly even DDG does this for me now. The other day I searched for 'gradle get environment variable'. DDG 'helpfully' corrected it, saying "showing results for gradle set environment variable", with a smaller text link below essentially saying "search what I actually asked for". It took me a while to spot that while wondering why most of the results are not relevant. Internet search just doesn't feel very good in general these days. I mean, that's not really an appropriate place to be second guessed by a computer.

wpietri 6y ago
Unfortunately, we software developers are unusually precise with language. I'm sure that Google (and now DDG) get better results on average. But yes, I spend an awful lot of times strategically adding quote marks to Google searches that at one point would have just worked.
- cgriswald 6y ago
  I think that’s the core of the problem. With strong googlefu you used to be able to find what you wanted if it existed. Google have made search far easier; for imprecise searches the top few hits are probably going to be what I want. But if I need something precise, Google can’t help me anymore, no matter what arcane set of search terms, symbols, and flags I use. I also wish Google would detect when one page and another page are just the same content with different wrappers. You see this a lot with multiple sites that re post mailing list conversations. Google will not only return all the different sites, but will return replies, etc. as if they are unique results. So your entire first page can be a single conversation that just happens to be plastered all over the internet.
  - pessimizer 6y ago
    This began the day google decided that quotes were no longer an instruction to ignore pages without the exact sequence of characters that were between those quotes, but instead a tag indicating that the part of the search in quotes couldn't be silently discarded as if you hadn't typed it. I've always suspected that this was actually a way to reduce their database size and simplify calculations (i.e. reduce costs and response time) rather than a way to make non-expert searches more forgiving. Non-experts weren't using quotes, and when they were, they meant them to be literal. > I also wish Google would detect when one page and another page are just the same content with different wrappers. I've never quite understood this. I consider it an abdication from even the attempt to be a useful, complete search engine, and the indication of a change in company direction. Incidentally, DDG (my SE of choice) isn't much better at this stuff. Lots of repetitive listings of the same copy as top listings, and I think it stems quoted stuff. I'm forgiving because I think most of its results are derived from the results of larger indexes that adopted google's style.
- erikerikson 6y ago
  I've experienced Google disregarding quotes lately. It's been quite frustrating.
- perl4ever 6y ago
  There's an inherent tension between search and interpretation of terms. Searching is most valuable when something is hard to find. If it's hard to find, then there's no way around being precise. Correcting for sloppy queries only works when there are a limited number of things to look for and everyone is looking for one of those. Making it easy for 90% of people to find 90% of the things they ask is in conflict with the ability for anybody to find the things which aren't easy to find in the first place. Leading, maybe, to those things effectively getting eliminated from the internet.