Is google becoming less and less useful for searches or what?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Lately it seems that the first 2-3 pages are dominated by people trying to sell stuff, or on-the-fly constructed pages that build your search terms into something just to suck you into an ad page.

This was the case with a link or two up until recently. Now I find its getting pretty hard just to get a decent search result without sifting through 3-4 pages and clicking on 10-12 links.

Anyone else?

Is the public company and profits taking effect?

 

[sailor]

I noticed the same thing - my impression is that search aggregators are getting through the google filters.

 

[Cut-Throat]

yeah, I think the advertisers are learning how to use Google on the other end.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

I thought this was happening a few months ago, and then it got better. I conclude it's a cyclical battle. It is very annoying now that I'm used to getting the results I want on the first page.

What I don't get is how some sites seem to have every combination of words I can think of as the subject a fluff page in a web page ranked high on Google. I can't think of an example, but I've had some pretty obscure two-word combinations bring out these pages. eBay does it, too, but they're with the ads and presumably have a special all-keyword deal with Google unlike the search result pages.

 

[uncledrz]

that's why I switched to yahoo, seems better

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Hmm, I'll have to give 'em a try again. Before using Google I used to use Yahoo for any business lookups or anything that would make sense for their directory structure. More generalized or obscure searches would go to Alta Vista or other search engines. But at the time Yahoo was more-or-less directory-only and used different engines (including Google) for website matches.

 

[maddythebeagle]

I have been finding that yahoo has been less reliable of late also. . It's all about selling stuff....

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Time for a free new search engine that thinks something better than "dont be evil".

 

[retire@40]

Time for a free new search engine that thinks something better than "dont be evil".

I know, how about we take the best search engines and pile them into one...

http://www.dogpile.com

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

God is that thing still around? I remember poking that with a stick about 7 or 8 years ago.

 

[maddythebeagle]

I know, how about we take the best search engines and pile them into one...

http://www.dogpile.com

yeah, that one works pretty good. I entered "hummer deduction" and got several good results.

 

[gratefuled]

One thing to check:

What you're describing is symptomatic of browser-hijack malware.

Back before I switched over to Mac (ahem...) I had a horrible episode of my Yahoo and Google searches constantly turning up "Shop for..." sites. Turned out that I had contracted a malware program that redirected my searches to its own engine...which, of course, shoved sponsor sites to the top rows.

So I did three things. I scanned my hard drive for malware, removed it, and switched over to Foxfire from Internet Explorer for good measure. Wa-la...problem all pau and search engines hitting on the right cylinders.

Ed

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I most definitely have no hijack/malware.

I am already using firefox.

Enjoy your mac.

 

[Sheryl]

One thing to check:

What you're describing is symptomatic of browser-hijack malware. 

Back before I switched over to Mac (ahem...) I had a horrible episode of my Yahoo and Google searches constantly turning up "Shop for..." sites.  Turned out that I had contracted a malware program that redirected my searches to its own engine...which, of course, shoved sponsor sites to the top rows.

So I did three things.  I scanned my hard drive for malware, removed it, and switched over to Foxfire from Internet Explorer for good measure.  Wa-la...problem all pau and search engines hitting on the right cylinders.

Ed

ACK. What did you use to scan, Ed? I've got Semantec but it recently let a virus download onto my laptop.

I downloaded some free spyware removers, but got what I paid for. I'd appreciate advice from the computer nerdsexperts around here.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Microsoft antispyware. Free. They bought Giant Antispyware, who frequently got #1 spyware tool.

I've found that each of them may find one or two things that the others done. Try Spybot Search And Destroy and Adaware as well. Since put MAS on, neither of those two things has picked up anything other than a cookie or two.

Its my belief that microsoft will start charging for the product at some point, as its been 'in beta' for a long time

 

[Sheryl]

Microsoft antispyware.  Free.  They bought Giant Antispyware, who frequently got #1 spyware tool.

I've found that each of them may find one or two things that the others done.  Try Spybot Search And Destroy and Adaware as well.  Since put MAS on, neither of those two things has picked up anything other than a cookie or two.

Its my belief that microsoft will start charging for the product at some point, as its been 'in beta' for a long time

Thanks!