[bblost]

Just today, It took me forever to find free source code for a simple perl project.

IMHO, the old Google was way better.

[pranavt]

Originally Posted by aargee

I really cannot comment if Google is not better over the years. Few months ago, when I kept searching for some technical articles, it always threw up experts-exchange.com & I couldn't view the answers unless I subscribe to experts-exchange. So finally I made an annual subscription to experts-exchange. Recently I've observed that none of my queries are being directed to experts-exchanged, unless I specifically search the string on this website. Something really strange that I've been thinking over several weeks now & found this place to share.

1] Go to any experts-exchange page.
2] Keep scrolling down till you see the actual answers
3] Cancel your subscription to experts-exchange

Just an example:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Netw..._23793821.html

Scroll down. Only works if you navigate to EE from Google though.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by pranavt

1] Go to any experts-exchange page.
2] Keep scrolling down till you see the actual answers
3] Cancel your subscription to experts-exchange

Just an example:
How to read packets

Scroll down. Only works if you navigate to EE from Google though.

The attached pic is only what I see without logging into my account. If you see the solution without logging in, pls let me know.


Sorry about the

[HPP]

Originally Posted by pranavt

The search results are only as good as the quality of the query and keywords used for the search. For the record, all search engines are above average but the results are nowhere relevant as Google's.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by carboy

Pagerank is patented. The patent is owned by Stanford University & Google has exclusive rights to the algorithm till 2011. The patent expires in 2017. After 2011 till 2017, other companies can also license the patent from Stanford - i.e. Google exclusive license ends in 2011.

That may be the original algorithm. It has been tweeked and changed many times over the years.

By varying your search terms, you can almost always find what you are looking for. Worst case scenario is you have to scroll through a few pages of search results, but in general, the info is there on Google.

[pranavt]

Originally Posted by aargee

The attached pic is only what I see without logging into my account. If you see the solution without logging in, pls let me know.
Attachment 384365

Sorry about the

This is because a site cannot serve seperate results for users and google bots, so EE does this workaround. Fools most people. Have fun

Just google like so: "xyz query experts exchange" or "xyz query site:experts-exchange.com"

Sorry for going offtopic.

[mithun]

After the implementation of Caffeine, the Google's algorithms was tweaked a lot.

Official Google Blog: Our new search index: Caffeine

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Just curious, but if this algorithm is so good, why don't other search engines use it too? Is there some kind of patent or restriction that prevents other companies from using it?

They do. In fact, some major portals have their search powered by Google. They just pass the search term to the Google API and display the results provided by Google. Many people don't realize if the result is powered by Google or not unless its specifically mentioned.
There was a webpage which used to display the results from Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask etc, without actually telling you from where the result came from. Once you clicked on the result you are interested in, then you can see which result came from whom. Let me search and find that page. Google is not always the best but they must be doing something right to be at the top.

Originally Posted by aargee

I really cannot comment if Google is not better over the years. Few months ago, when I kept searching for some technical articles, it always threw up experts-exchange.com & I couldn't view the answers unless I subscribe to experts-exchange. So finally I made an annual subscription to experts-exchange. Recently I've observed that none of my queries are being directed to experts-exchanged, unless I specifically search the string on this website. Something really strange that I've been thinking over several weeks now & found this place to share.

There could be a possibility that EE somehow was taking advantage of the Google page ranking and after feedback from users, Google was able to rectify the flaw.

[GTO]

I'd say Google search has only gotten better with time! I love the recently added search parameters that let you filter on the basis of content type (discussions, blogs etc.) and time line (e.g. last 24 hours). On an average day, I'd run about 20 google searches of which 17 - 18 give me exactly what I want.

Originally Posted by CliffHanger

But off late, I've been seeing a drastic change in the quality of the results from this search engine.

This is primarily due to search engine marketers using inethical SEO. As an example, search for TeamBHP Micra and you'll see useless links from 24dunia.com, gaadi.com and other parasites. Their pages have NOTHING to do with TeamBHP; again, these websites are mere parasites riding on the goodwill of others.

There's also the case of websites with poor content, or little relevance to what you are searching, but they have figured out how to beat the Google system. Thus, thanks to their conscious SEO efforts, they'll rank above the more important content providers.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by GTO

I'd say Google search has only gotten better with time! I love the recently added search parameters that let you filter on the basis of content type (discussions, blogs etc.) and time line (e.g. last 24 hours).

I think google copied a few of these options from Bing which had it first.

[EssYouWe]

I would be out of a job if Google wasn't good enough. Care to venture a guess as to what I do?

In any case, I don't have an issue with the search quality as much as I have one with the new lousy interface. DAMN you 6006L3

[LonelyPlanet]

A lot of websites 'tweak' their pages to show up on first page of google search. This is called as SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This has gained a lot of ground with organisations in the recent past who using the algorithmn to their advantage by fooling the bots.
IMHO, the results from google are no longer the best.

[greenhorn]

what you see is the result of the war thats happening between Google and various SEO's pushing content. Google tries various algorithms to make sure that you get relevant info first, and all these SEO folks try to reverse engineer it so that they can get their clients up top. I know a few friends in the SEO domain, and knowing what they do ( which I feel is unethical, but I guess a lot of it is just running to stand still in the google rankings) If you see a lot of crap content, its only because people try to force feed google trash, for example the way GTO mentioned. I supposed Google will try to tweak their algorithms a bit more, but as long as this scourge exists, information will fall casualty

[Ketan]

I have not found that results from google are really loosing quality. However, I have found that Bing is getting better over the period of time.

I still believe that Google is better in terms of searching the local stuff - However, Bing has started giving meaningful results for standard keywards these days. Below is one small comparision, neither of them gave me more details on what is FFRA / SFRA. Bing brought me couple t-bhp links immediately while google doesnt seem to get what I want at all.



Okay,
I hit that suggestion from Google and it seems to get the results for FFRA / SFRA. However, none of them get me what I want at first attempt; looks like need to change (more detailed) the keywords.

[pranavt]

Originally Posted by Ketan

I have not found that results from google are really loosing quality. However, I have found that Bing is getting better over the period of time.

I still believe that Google is better in terms of searching the local stuff - However, Bing has started giving meaningful results for standard keywards these days. Below is one small comparision, neither of them gave me more details on what is FFRA / SFRA. Bing brought me couple t-bhp links immediately while google doesnt seem to get what I want at all.

Google corrected your query because it was assuming that you made a mistake in your spelling. Clicking on the link to show results for SFRA FFRA shows you the same results. Google does know what you want, usually more than what other search engines wouldn't even dream of.

[CliffHanger]

Google fined record $2.7bn by EU for favouring its own e-commerce service

http://www.hindustantimes.com/busine...OuXV63CTO.html

The action came after a seven-year long investigation prompted by scores of complaints from rivals such as US consumer review website Yelp, TripAdvisor, UK price comparison site Foundem, News Corp and lobbying group FairSearch.

This is the biggest fine for a single company in an EU antitrust case, exceeding a 1.06-billion-euro sanction handed down to US chipmaker Intel in 2009.

It is also the biggest regulatory setback for Google, which settled with US enforcers in 2013 with a requirement to stop “scraping” reviews and other data from rival websites for its own products.

The EU competition enforcer has also charged Google with using its Android mobile operating system to crush rivals, a case that could potentially be the most damaging for the company, with the system used in most smartphones.

The company has also been accused of blocking rivals in online search advertising, with the Commission warning of deterrent fines if Google is found guilty of breaching EU rules.