3 ms·

I feel like people on HN are really detached from reality sometimes. For 99% of people, typing "chicken" into Google search means they want chicken, or don't kn

I feel like people on HN are really detached from reality sometimes. For 99% of people, typing "chicken" into Google search means they want chicken, or don't know what a chicken is. Does anyone here actually expect the average person to be looking for in-depth guides on how to raise a chicken? That's like saying the "hotel" query should return compelling information about the supply chain and inner workings of the hotel industry. Google's "problem" is that they need to cater to the most common intents per query (see: lowest common denominator), and believe it or not, those intents are usually not biased toward in-depth educational content - isn't this why HN is such a nice niche? Google could think about adding a different search result sorting option that attempts to prioritize high quality, thought provoking, or otherwise educational content above all else, but it makes sense to me why their primary search ranking algorithm works the way it does.

0cVlTeIATBs 5y ago
The second order effect is intense competition to create lowest common denominator content. You're right that it would be nice for Google to separate it from better content, but this leads to the yet deeper problem--there isn't enough money in that idea.
svachalek 5y ago
Ah, chicken. The quintessential centerpiece of a weeknight meal. I fondly remember my childhood in Kentucky, rolling in a pile of leaves until the warm, scrumptious smell of roast chicken wafted out from the kitchen into my eager young nostrils. I can go on for hours about this, and I will, but I knew that someday billions of people would lovingly read this long, overcooked story before dinner because it was their inner heart's desire. Preheat oven, insert chicken.
WA 5y ago
Spot on. I have an in-depth article about a niche topic and ranked on place 1-3 for many years. Everybody who typed the short keyword would want an in-depth explanation. These days, the search volume went way up and my article went down to 6-10. The first three spots merely give a rough explanation of my in-depth topic. Quite insulting actually. But upon further reflection I realized that most people these days only want a rough definition and no in-depth explanation. Google gives this to them. The people who used to search for my keyword now add 2-3 more words to get to my in-depth article. The typical long tail. What I find worrisome is that sometimes, the long tail query I use to find quality content gives me the same results as the unspecific short query. Some stuff is close to impossible to find without knowing a very topic-specific thing.
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0cVlTeIATBs 5y ago

The second order effect is intense competition to create lowest common denominator content. You're right that it would be nice for Google to separate it from better content, but this leads to the yet deeper problem--there isn't enough money in that idea.

svachalek 5y ago

Ah, chicken. The quintessential centerpiece of a weeknight meal. I fondly remember my childhood in Kentucky, rolling in a pile of leaves until the warm, scrumptious smell of roast chicken wafted out from the kitchen into my eager young nostrils. I can go on for hours about this, and I will, but I knew that someday billions of people would lovingly read this long, overcooked story before dinner because it was their inner heart's desire. Preheat oven, insert chicken.

WA 5y ago

Spot on. I have an in-depth article about a niche topic and ranked on place 1-3 for many years. Everybody who typed the short keyword would want an in-depth explanation. These days, the search volume went way up and my article went down to 6-10. The first three spots merely give a rough explanation of my in-depth topic. Quite insulting actually. But upon further reflection I realized that most people these days only want a rough definition and no in-depth explanation. Google gives this to them. The people who used to search for my keyword now add 2-3 more words to get to my in-depth article. The typical long tail. What I find worrisome is that sometimes, the long tail query I use to find quality content gives me the same results as the unspecific short query. Some stuff is close to impossible to find without knowing a very topic-specific thing.

deleted 5y ago
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