3 ms·

Demonstrably terrible results for the simplest of queries, returning drive by malware as preferred results etc, there is nothing subjective about that.

• verteu 3y ago
  Would you mind providing an example or two? I hear this often on HN, but it never happens to me (perhaps because I use Adblock?)
  • jhp123 3y ago
    a query for "why does my heater take a long time to turn on" will turn up many first-page results like this one: https://candcheat.com/10-reasons-why-your-heater-fails-to-turn-off/ https://candcheat.com/10-reasons-why-your-heater-fails-to-tu... which is shallow SEO content aimed at getting you to pay for a fix rather than answering the question. I run into these kinds of pages constantly as I try to debug common household issues (HVAC, electrical, automotive, etc.)
    • verteu 3y ago
      Good example, thanks. SEO spam like this is indeed a problem. Perhaps the underlying issue is that GSearch was originally designed to "find webpages," not "answer questions." (I'd expect that high-quality, official webpages exist for queries like "Nest Thermostat G4CVZ operating manual" or "HVAC enthusiast forum." But that's not the case for a question like yours, and SEO spammers have fooled Google to become the best result.)
  • throwaway67743 3y ago
    Adblock doesn't hide search results, child comment gave an example but in many cases it's worse, worthless SEO crap is annoying but not quite as bad as the ones that clone genuine content to obtain higher rankings and then attempt to deliver malware...