A little ahead of schedule,
Yahoo,
AOL and
Bing have released their lists of items most often searched for in 2010. Google hasn't released their list but you can see popular searches using their
Insights program.
posted by morganannie
on Dec 2, 2010 -
53 comments
Blackhat Search Engine Optimization Techniques. Through the use of a
DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) complaint, you can have competing web sites thrown out of Yahoo's search index. If you file a DMCA report against a site, Yahoo will quickly remove the "offending" site, leaving no trace of the site in its index. This has led to a rise in so-called "Blackhat
SEO," wherein one seeks to become the leading search result not by improving one's own site, but by having competing sites removed through the DMCA.
posted by nlindstrom
on Jul 12, 2005 -
15 comments
Can't Find On Google . Com While many people seem to think that Google can find anything (and knows everything), experienced web surfers know the results are often a bit lacking. So this site allows you to post what you are really looking for and what you punched in to the "Big G" to try to find it. The owner claims to know someone who works at Google that is "always interested in what people can't find on Google" - doubtful IMHO if they will really change anything based on this site. But semi-interesting stuff that highlights the inadaquacy of search engine technology.
posted by RonZ
on Jul 10, 2005 -
36 comments
A large number of people really don't know the finer points of search. For those people, Google has a
suggestion.
posted by Mick
on Dec 10, 2004 -
46 comments
Gmail is too Creepy "Dear Gmail user: Due to privacy considerations, we cannot respond unless you resend your email from a different account."
posted by o2b
on Jun 10, 2004 -
53 comments
Searching MSN for the phrase "Linux" yields some pretty amusing (but yes, unsurprising) results. The first site seems moderately legit - Amazon stuff related to linux. The second one - MSN has a tech section about Linux? Not exactly. It doesn't really have much linux content at first glance. The third link is most amusing - see for yourself.
Comparatively, a
google search for "linux" yields much more useful results.
This makes me wonder: should ethics be taken into consideration on search engines? MS has every right to have whatever they want come up when you type in "linux" - but they are willfully contaminating search results, which makes one wonder what
other search terms Microsoft might want to rig the output of, and also, which they might have
overlooked...
posted by twiggy
on Jun 30, 2003 -
44 comments
Nationalise Google? "Perhaps the time has come to recognise this dominant search engine for what it is - a public utility that must be regulated in the public interest." Bill Thompson from the BBC tells me that Google puts a cookie on my computer that can't be deleted till 2038: "This means that Google builds up a detailed profile of your search terms over many years. Google probably knew when you last thought you were pregnant, what diseases your children have had, and who your divorce lawyer is. It refuses to say why it wants this information or to admit whether it makes it available to the US Government for tracking purposes." Are they "a secretive, hyper-competitive company with no respect for the personal privacy of its users"? Are other search engines better behaved? And is this the beginning of
search ethics?
posted by theplayethic
on Apr 14, 2003 -
60 comments
Google.ac is some kind of fake Google site that seems to return nothing but sponsored results. Is it supposed to fool somebody?
posted by hammurderer
on Mar 28, 2003 -
14 comments
Google makes another killer app? Rackmounted servers devoted to googling your own intranet or website. Just look at those
specs and features. Google is selling 1 server, retail $28,000, and they are marketing especially for corporate intranets. But imagine the power that would be at the fingertips of archivists, students, and researchers everywhere with a dedicated,
customized Google for their own website. Imagine being able to do a detailed search that would literally comb the
content of every page published by
Project Gutenberg. In seconds, you could call upon thousands of years of writing for any and all information on any specific subject. What kind of implications will this technology have long-term for students, researchers, and archivists?
posted by insomnyuk
on Aug 21, 2002 -
21 comments
Google Labs is a public beta testing area for some pretty cool things they are currently working on: an amazing glossary, voice search by telephone, search results navigated without the mouse and finding additional items to sets defined by words you enter.
With every new feature, they seem to be getting even further beyond the competition. Even though Google is very likable company: is a monopoly on web search a good thing?
posted by c3o
on May 21, 2002 -
45 comments
"Google effect" reduces need for many domains. Dan Gillmor says effective search engines can and should stop people from freaking out that "Wah! All the good .com names are taken" and compulsively registering all the .biz, .info, .tv, .to, and other .crap domains which the registrars would like us to believe are vital.
Bob Frankston agrees, [link via Ev] adding that reducing our dependence on semantic (i.e. keywordy) web addresses will improve the stability and usefulness of the web.
(I agree too!)
posted by Tubes
on Jan 14, 2002 -
5 comments
From the googlebot FAQ: "For most sites, Googlebot should not access your site more than once every few seconds on average"
I thought it was a mistake at first, but they go on to say that you should contact them if "we are placing too high a load on your site"
Do they really hit some sites that hard? If so, is it really necessary?
posted by Nothing
on Jun 5, 2001 -
17 comments
It's become second nature for many of us to head straight to
Google when trying to find something, and more people seem to be discovering the site all the time. These days, savvy New Yorkers are
Googling for love.
posted by Aaaugh!
on Feb 9, 2001 -
32 comments
Everyone's favorite search engine
Google has opened their
GoogleStore. They've got shirts, mugs, and bags, some with the "I'm feeling lucky" slogan, but the strangest thing for sale? That'd have to be the
Exercise Ball, which I suspect secretly carries
Happy Fun Ball-style disclaimers.
When not in use, Google Exercise Ball should be returned to its special container
and kept under refrigeration. Do not taunt Google Exercise Ball. [thanks
RasterWeb]
posted by mathowie
on Mar 18, 2000 -
4 comments
