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At the very least Google (or any search engine for that matter) should consider implementing a feature that allows users to explicitly signal query intent. For
by aragonite 2y ago
At the very least Google (or any search engine for that matter) should consider implementing a feature that allows users to explicitly signal query intent.
For instance, a 'noshop:' prefix could be used to signal that the user is not looking to buy anything. There are two distinct groups of users searching for terms like "massage ball" or (in my own case) "managed switch": those looking to buy the product and those who looking to learn about the technology. Serving ads to the latter group is not just irritating but also ineffective since those queries were never going to lead to purchases in the first place.
- varelse 2y ago[dead]
- rasz 2y agoWhich Google user would want to pay for ads about things you cant buy ('noshop')? Oh wait, you meant Google _product_. You want Google to cater to its product needs by sacrificing own money making potential and limiting its actual users.
- aragonite 2y agoGoogle already tries to infer whether a user is shopping or seeking information and serve results accordingly. If I search for "managed vs unmanaged switch" or "massage ball usage", I do not see any ads. All I'm saying is that Google should consider allowing users to explicitly state their intent, since some queries ("massage ball" and "managed switch") are ambiguous and so the intent cannot always be reliably inferred. Analogy: while type inference works well in many cases, there are situations where explicit typing is required because the type is ambiguous based on usage alone.