5 ms·

Google Search for “Apple quietly”

10 points by zacharyvoase 14y ago

Piskvorrr 14y ago
"Speak quietly and carry a big stick", indeed.
jack-r-abbit 14y ago
It does that if you Google "Google quietly" or even just "quietly". It has nothing to do with Apple. Edit: Sorry. You should notice that the top ads and the crap on the right is missing.
- garethadams 14y ago
  Does what? Is this region specific or am I just missing what's going on here?
  - timtamboy63 14y ago
    Yeah, I'm not getting anything either
    - jack-r-abbit 14y ago
      Normally, your Google results will first have the yellowish ad box above the results and then some stuff on the right (more ads, maybe a map, whatever). But if you search for "Anything quietly" or even just "quietly", those things are missing.
      - timtamboy63 14y ago
        Ah right. I probably can't see it because of my AdBlock. Cheers
      - garethadams 14y ago
        Hey, if I search for "foobar" - https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=foobar https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=foobar then there's no yellow box, google doesn't have any relevant ads! But if I search for "life insurance quietly" - https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=life+insurance+quietly https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=life+insurance+quietly - ADS! This is a total non-story, caused by not understanding keyword matching algorithms. If you add words to a query, it turns out your query becomes less related to potential keywords that have been targeted for adverts, and this drop in relevance might be enough to cross the threshold where adverts are shown at all
        jack-r-abbit 14y ago
        ya. non-story. I see other examples of things that have the right side empty and others that have something even when you include "quietly". Weak sauce.
akavi 14y ago
What am I looking for? Edit: Apparently "quietly" in some search strings (Not just "Apple", "Insurance", for example, behaves similarly) removes the top yellow ad box, as well as the side map. I'm not sure there's any significance to this, as I think it's the result of the word having a tendency to bring up news results ("quietly" probably appears more in news articles than in generic content), which seem to take higher priority than the ad box/side info. It doesn't work, for example, in "Plumber" vs "Plumber quietly".
Achshar 14y ago
There seem to be two major stories. One about dropping macbook pro 17 inch and another about the ipad smart case. What am i missing here?
akashshah 14y ago
If the missing ads and side bars is really what your post is alluding to, then googling for "Apple forcibly" http://www.google.com/search?q=Apple+forcibly http://www.google.com/search?q=Apple+forcibly also gives you the same result.
sprobertson 14y ago
I'm not sure the submission's point was to showcase disappearing ad boxes; I think it was commentary on the headlines, something about how creative web reporters are.
zacharyvoase 14y ago
The point is: searching for "Company X quietly" is a good way to find out about news burying. It's especially relevant for Apple: they make big product announcements very rarely, and when they do they typically update a wide range of less-important products. I don't think they're burying the news per se, but you can cut through and directly find out what happened that wasn't announced loudly. It's a useful trick.
fjdsklf 14y ago
Apple removes claim Macs are safer than PCs from website following months of negative headlines.

10 points by zacharyvoase 14y ago

"Speak quietly and carry a big stick", indeed.

It does that if you Google "Google quietly" or even just "quietly". It has nothing to do with Apple. Edit: Sorry. You should notice that the top ads and the crap on the right is missing.

garethadams 14y ago
Does what? Is this region specific or am I just missing what's going on here?
- timtamboy63 14y ago
  Yeah, I'm not getting anything either
  - jack-r-abbit 14y ago
    Normally, your Google results will first have the yellowish ad box above the results and then some stuff on the right (more ads, maybe a map, whatever). But if you search for "Anything quietly" or even just "quietly", those things are missing.
    - timtamboy63 14y ago
      Ah right. I probably can't see it because of my AdBlock. Cheers
    - garethadams 14y ago
      Hey, if I search for "foobar" - https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=foobar https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=foobar then there's no yellow box, google doesn't have any relevant ads! But if I search for "life insurance quietly" - https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=life+insurance+quietly https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=life+insurance+quietly - ADS! This is a total non-story, caused by not understanding keyword matching algorithms. If you add words to a query, it turns out your query becomes less related to potential keywords that have been targeted for adverts, and this drop in relevance might be enough to cross the threshold where adverts are shown at all
      - jack-r-abbit 14y ago
        ya. non-story. I see other examples of things that have the right side empty and others that have something even when you include "quietly". Weak sauce.

akavi 14y ago

What am I looking for? Edit: Apparently "quietly" in some search strings (Not just "Apple", "Insurance", for example, behaves similarly) removes the top yellow ad box, as well as the side map. I'm not sure there's any significance to this, as I think it's the result of the word having a tendency to bring up news results ("quietly" probably appears more in news articles than in generic content), which seem to take higher priority than the ad box/side info. It doesn't work, for example, in "Plumber" vs "Plumber quietly".

Achshar 14y ago

There seem to be two major stories. One about dropping macbook pro 17 inch and another about the ipad smart case. What am i missing here?

akashshah 14y ago

If the missing ads and side bars is really what your post is alluding to, then googling for "Apple forcibly" http://www.google.com/search?q=Apple+forcibly http://www.google.com/search?q=Apple+forcibly also gives you the same result.

sprobertson 14y ago

I'm not sure the submission's point was to showcase disappearing ad boxes; I think it was commentary on the headlines, something about how creative web reporters are.

zacharyvoase 14y ago

The point is: searching for "Company X quietly" is a good way to find out about news burying. It's especially relevant for Apple: they make big product announcements very rarely, and when they do they typically update a wide range of less-important products. I don't think they're burying the news per se, but you can cut through and directly find out what happened that wasn't announced loudly. It's a useful trick.

fjdsklf 14y ago

Apple removes claim Macs are safer than PCs from website following months of negative headlines.