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I've noticed in the past 2-3 months that results from StackOverflow, Wikipedia, and official programming language documentation sites seem to have been abruptly

I've noticed in the past 2-3 months that results from StackOverflow, Wikipedia, and official programming language documentation sites seem to have been abruptly downranked. They used to typically be in the top 3 results for me for appropriate queries, but now they frequently aren't even on the first page.

JimDabell 5y ago
I’ve noticed that as well. I’ve been finding a lot of queries are now leading me to those awful sites that just dump StackOverflow content onto a page and surround it with ads. The original Stack Overflow page is nowhere to be found on the first page, but if I grab a sentence from the spam page and search again, I can normally find the original.
- now-in-2d 5y ago
  Just last week I read about these search operators like site:example.com and learned that you can also use them to block certain sites (with -sites:example.com) and combine them. That gave me the idea to build a UI that manages allowed/blocked sites and always adds them as a chain of operators to the query. Today I had some free time so I've build https://my-search.surge.sh/ https://my-search.surge.sh/ as POC. It's a just static site. Everything is stored in localStorage. Works with Google and DuckDuckGo. For now it's just a fun experiment, nothing more. Repo linked in the About page. Feedback welcome! :)
SnowflakeOnIce 5y ago
I've also observed this on duckduckgo, perhaps to a slightly lesser extent. Strange: they either both tweaked their algorithms around the same time, or maybe SEO spam suddenly got a lot better.
- ipaddr 5y ago
  Or bing is copying google listings still and using some data in it's own search
0x0000000 5y ago
It was a long time since I had to append "wikipedia" to my search results, but within the last year or so, I find myself doing it more and more.
- whitesilhouette 5y ago
  I do that for everything since a long time. And with the !Bang extension coming to Firefox, customising those searches has become easier too
- exdsq 5y ago
  Hadn’t actively thought it that but I’ve been doing the same
- joshbode 5y ago
  I've started going straight to Wikipedia and searching there if I know I'm going to end up there anyway for the same reason, plus I deny Google the search data and ad-serve
- greatpostman 5y ago
  Yeah I’ve noticed this as well
- cammikebrown 5y ago
  I use DuckDuckGo, it's really easy to end searches with "w!" and go straight to the Wikipedia page.
  - noduerme 5y ago
    I didn't know you could put it at the end! I always bang first and ask questions later. [edit] Just noticed you also live in Portland like me. If you're a bartender, I bet I've met you haha.
    - markdown 5y ago
      > I always bang first and ask questions later. Definitely change your ways. It's always better to bang at the end.
matheusmoreira 5y ago
Same experience here. Also happening on other search engines such as duckduckgo. Have to append keywords like "wiki" to searches.
superasn 5y ago
Yes and on the other hand sites like codegrepper and other such scraper/scam sites are frequently showing in my search results - which are just SO results. I don't know if they're gaming Google's search or google is actually condoning this (like they've been condoning pinterest's shenanigans for almost 10 years now)
- oezi 5y ago
  There is a ublock origin list which you can import to filter search results: https://github.com/quenhus/uBlock-Origin-dev-filter https://github.com/quenhus/uBlock-Origin-dev-filter
  - luckman212 5y ago
    This is awesome... for now. But what are we supposed to do when Manifest(o) V3 takes hold?
    - greggyb 5y ago
      # ln -s /usr/bin/firefox /usr/bin/google-chrome-stable
  - sanjayio 5y ago
    I think I speak for many others when I say thank you for sharing this.
  - is_true 5y ago
    ty
  - burdo3417 5y ago
    amazing! ty
- maeil 5y ago
  It has become very bad; searching for something like an error message, the first result is SO and results 2-9 will be SO scrapers. Unlike say, Pinterest, I don't see anything Google could gain from "condoning" these scraper sites. I feel it's 1. gradual ranking algorithm changes 2. succesful gaming.
gkkirilov 5y ago
That's why I created "Developer search" chrome extension to easily add filters for site and time on your search https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/developer-search/damiopjmdonejloihinbjpedmdmfnile https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/developer-search/d...

JimDabell 5y ago

I’ve noticed that as well. I’ve been finding a lot of queries are now leading me to those awful sites that just dump StackOverflow content onto a page and surround it with ads. The original Stack Overflow page is nowhere to be found on the first page, but if I grab a sentence from the spam page and search again, I can normally find the original.

now-in-2d 5y ago
Just last week I read about these search operators like site:example.com and learned that you can also use them to block certain sites (with -sites:example.com) and combine them. That gave me the idea to build a UI that manages allowed/blocked sites and always adds them as a chain of operators to the query. Today I had some free time so I've build https://my-search.surge.sh/ https://my-search.surge.sh/ as POC. It's a just static site. Everything is stored in localStorage. Works with Google and DuckDuckGo. For now it's just a fun experiment, nothing more. Repo linked in the About page. Feedback welcome! :)

SnowflakeOnIce 5y ago

I've also observed this on duckduckgo, perhaps to a slightly lesser extent. Strange: they either both tweaked their algorithms around the same time, or maybe SEO spam suddenly got a lot better.

ipaddr 5y ago
Or bing is copying google listings still and using some data in it's own search

0x0000000 5y ago

It was a long time since I had to append "wikipedia" to my search results, but within the last year or so, I find myself doing it more and more.

whitesilhouette 5y ago
I do that for everything since a long time. And with the !Bang extension coming to Firefox, customising those searches has become easier too
exdsq 5y ago
Hadn’t actively thought it that but I’ve been doing the same
joshbode 5y ago
I've started going straight to Wikipedia and searching there if I know I'm going to end up there anyway for the same reason, plus I deny Google the search data and ad-serve
greatpostman 5y ago
Yeah I’ve noticed this as well
cammikebrown 5y ago
I use DuckDuckGo, it's really easy to end searches with "w!" and go straight to the Wikipedia page.
- noduerme 5y ago
  I didn't know you could put it at the end! I always bang first and ask questions later. [edit] Just noticed you also live in Portland like me. If you're a bartender, I bet I've met you haha.
  - markdown 5y ago
    > I always bang first and ask questions later. Definitely change your ways. It's always better to bang at the end.

matheusmoreira 5y ago

Same experience here. Also happening on other search engines such as duckduckgo. Have to append keywords like "wiki" to searches.

superasn 5y ago

Yes and on the other hand sites like codegrepper and other such scraper/scam sites are frequently showing in my search results - which are just SO results. I don't know if they're gaming Google's search or google is actually condoning this (like they've been condoning pinterest's shenanigans for almost 10 years now)

oezi 5y ago
There is a ublock origin list which you can import to filter search results: https://github.com/quenhus/uBlock-Origin-dev-filter https://github.com/quenhus/uBlock-Origin-dev-filter
- luckman212 5y ago
  This is awesome... for now. But what are we supposed to do when Manifest(o) V3 takes hold?
  - greggyb 5y ago
    # ln -s /usr/bin/firefox /usr/bin/google-chrome-stable
- sanjayio 5y ago
  I think I speak for many others when I say thank you for sharing this.
- is_true 5y ago
  ty
- burdo3417 5y ago
  amazing! ty
maeil 5y ago
It has become very bad; searching for something like an error message, the first result is SO and results 2-9 will be SO scrapers. Unlike say, Pinterest, I don't see anything Google could gain from "condoning" these scraper sites. I feel it's 1. gradual ranking algorithm changes 2. succesful gaming.

gkkirilov 5y ago

That's why I created "Developer search" chrome extension to easily add filters for site and time on your search https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/developer-search/damiopjmdonejloihinbjpedmdmfnile https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/developer-search/d...