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And the amount of spam in search results now is even more appalling. Pintrest + translated content is the first two things that comes to mind.

by Ueland 6y ago

ehnto 6y ago
Google can't even solve the Pinterest image search problem, which has gone on for years. I think they are becoming the incumbent too heavy to move under it's own technology platform, or unwilling to change. Even if you gleefully state that the algorithm finds what users most want, Google is a search product not a technology art installation, and what user's engage with is a function of what you show them in the first place. Pinterest should not be 50%+ of the results for any image search. Pinterest is not the greater internet.
daniellarusso 6y ago
Yeah, this is a really bizarre one, in my opinion. Google indexes and provides results for many sites whose content is inaccessible without an account, yet these results take precedent over actual unrestricted content. Similarly with Google News, why are they showing me headlines of articles I am not able to access?
zpeti 6y ago
I'm starting to think over 50% of google's magic is trying to actually get rid of the spam. I think a new search engine would have a very hard time getting through challenges google has already, like link spam, authority domain spam (using medium etc for spammy content), and many many other issues about people manipulating results.
snowwrestler 6y ago
Google could go a long way toward improving their search results by just flat out banning the worst offenders, but that is where their size limits their options. If Google banned Pinterest they would likely face an immediate anti-competitive complaint. Google is so big—has such a large market share—that they have to operate pseudo-governmentally, by creating and managing neutral rule sets (or at least what appear to be). It feels to me like there are search opportunities somewhere between Google (the everything engine) and individual site searches (which usually suck). I often get my best results out of Google by using their “site:” operator to target the few sites I know are likely to be useful.

And the amount of spam in search results now is even more appalling. Pintrest + translated content is the first two things that comes to mind.

by Ueland 6y ago

And the amount of spam in search results now is even more appalling. Pintrest + translated content is the first two things that comes to mind.

ehnto 6y ago

Google can't even solve the Pinterest image search problem, which has gone on for years. I think they are becoming the incumbent too heavy to move under it's own technology platform, or unwilling to change. Even if you gleefully state that the algorithm finds what users most want, Google is a search product not a technology art installation, and what user's engage with is a function of what you show them in the first place. Pinterest should not be 50%+ of the results for any image search. Pinterest is not the greater internet.

daniellarusso 6y ago

Yeah, this is a really bizarre one, in my opinion. Google indexes and provides results for many sites whose content is inaccessible without an account, yet these results take precedent over actual unrestricted content. Similarly with Google News, why are they showing me headlines of articles I am not able to access?

zpeti 6y ago

I'm starting to think over 50% of google's magic is trying to actually get rid of the spam. I think a new search engine would have a very hard time getting through challenges google has already, like link spam, authority domain spam (using medium etc for spammy content), and many many other issues about people manipulating results.

snowwrestler 6y ago

Google could go a long way toward improving their search results by just flat out banning the worst offenders, but that is where their size limits their options. If Google banned Pinterest they would likely face an immediate anti-competitive complaint. Google is so big—has such a large market share—that they have to operate pseudo-governmentally, by creating and managing neutral rule sets (or at least what appear to be). It feels to me like there are search opportunities somewhere between Google (the everything engine) and individual site searches (which usually suck). I often get my best results out of Google by using their “site:” operator to target the few sites I know are likely to be useful.