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I don't understand why search engines don't fight SEO spam using simple, hardcoded rules for specific keywords. Surely, something like "if the search string con

by p-e-w 5y ago

I don't understand why search engines don't fight SEO spam using simple, hardcoded rules for specific keywords. Surely, something like "if the search string contains the word 'python', rank results from 'python.org' above everything else" can't be difficult to implement? Granted, it's not a silver bullet for search engine spam in general, but even a few dozen rules like that would dramatically improve the quality of search results for a huge number of queries in practice.

underwater 5y ago
What about people who keep snakes as pets?
- p-e-w 5y ago
  Their queries (such as "best food for reticulated python") are unlikely to have results from "python.org", so such rules would not affect them.
  - efskap 5y ago
    There's room for ambiguity. python egg, python length, python container, python types, python size, python lifespan
    - dash2 5y ago
      "For security, it is best to manage Python within its own dedicated container. Live Python in an unmanaged environment is unwise and can lead to resource strangulation. When objects are consumed by Python, this will affect their lifespan."
kccqzy 5y ago
I hate it to say it, but for CS beginners python.org isn't a good resource: it's simply too technical. Even for motivated students it will take them at least a few months of learning from a more beginner-friendly resource before the official docs on python.org make sense. That's not to mention the multitude of other materials on python.org other than the docs, like PEPs, pypi (third party libraries), bug reports, etc. Can you imagine a student searching for how to use a Python feature, but found a PEP illustrating the design of that language feature?
- Hendrikto 5y ago
  > Can you imagine a student searching for how to use a Python feature, but found a PEP illustrating the design of that language feature? That wouldn‘t be so bad. PEPs contain a short summary, motivation, and usage examples. That said, I do get your point.
PUSH_AX 5y ago
I think you’re broadly talking about site authority which is something search engines absolutely do, I imagine it’s a non trivial thing to get right and the scope of doing it manually for every topic on the planet is probably not going to be easy.

by p-e-w 5y ago

underwater 5y ago

What about people who keep snakes as pets?

p-e-w 5y ago
Their queries (such as "best food for reticulated python") are unlikely to have results from "python.org", so such rules would not affect them.
- efskap 5y ago
  There's room for ambiguity. python egg, python length, python container, python types, python size, python lifespan
  - dash2 5y ago
    "For security, it is best to manage Python within its own dedicated container. Live Python in an unmanaged environment is unwise and can lead to resource strangulation. When objects are consumed by Python, this will affect their lifespan."

kccqzy 5y ago

I hate it to say it, but for CS beginners python.org isn't a good resource: it's simply too technical. Even for motivated students it will take them at least a few months of learning from a more beginner-friendly resource before the official docs on python.org make sense. That's not to mention the multitude of other materials on python.org other than the docs, like PEPs, pypi (third party libraries), bug reports, etc. Can you imagine a student searching for how to use a Python feature, but found a PEP illustrating the design of that language feature?

Hendrikto 5y ago
> Can you imagine a student searching for how to use a Python feature, but found a PEP illustrating the design of that language feature? That wouldn‘t be so bad. PEPs contain a short summary, motivation, and usage examples. That said, I do get your point.

PUSH_AX 5y ago

I think you’re broadly talking about site authority which is something search engines absolutely do, I imagine it’s a non trivial thing to get right and the scope of doing it manually for every topic on the planet is probably not going to be easy.