Search
How fake sites trick search engines
In several posts (for example, here and also here) I have discussed how search results contain a lot of spam these days. Seattle PI has an article, How fake sites trick search engines to hit the top, which explains how scammers are gaming the search engine algorithms to get top ranking in search results:
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Follow-up on bad search results
A previous post cited Paul Kedrosky’s frustration with the search results he obtained while looking for a dishwasher. To further quote Kedrosky, he said:
The result, however, is awful. Pages and pages of Google results that are just, for practical purposes, advertisements in the loose guise of articles, original or re-purposed. It hearkens back to the [...]
Goggles
No, the title isn’t a typo. It’s a new Android smartphone feature from Google. Instead of typing in a search query, you snap a picture of an object and Google does a search. The service is still experimental but the Sunday New York Times business section thought the development worth an article:
THE world, like the [...]
More on bad search results
A few weeks back I posted about how Internet search results are filling up with spam, malware links and irrelevancies. Here’s some more evidence. Paul Kedrosky is in the financial business but he is savvy about technical things and he recently posted in his blog about his frustration with search results that he got when [...]
Google search tips
If you want to read all about Google, Joel May’s page, Everything Google, is a good place to go. However, for a quick tour of different tricks to use for enhanced Google searching, you might try the best Google tricks ever written at Web Talk. The title is a slight exaggeration and there are many [...]
Microsoft vs. Google search
How is Microsoft’s concerted attack on Google in the search front going? Microsoft Bing has received some good commentary and has inched up slightly in market share. Also, the Microsoft-Yahoo deal on search is nearly closed, which will give Bing a big increment in market share. However, Google’s market share hasn’t really been affected and [...]
Real-time search at Google
Google has announced real-time search results from blogs and social sites:
First, we’re introducing new features that bring your search results to life with a dynamic stream of real-time content from across the web. Now, immediately after conducting a search, you can see live updates from people on popular sites like Twitter and FriendFeed, as well [...]
Personalized search at Google
“Personalized” search means keeping track of what you search and tailoring the results of your search queries to take into consideration your individual preferences. It may improve the efficiency of your search but it also gives Google a dossier on your search activities. Previously, Google only “personalized” the searches of those who were signed in [...]
A plethora of Google updates
As I have commented before, it is hard to keep up with the constant flow of updates and added features in the various Google offerings. Even Search Engine Watch has trouble covering everything coming from Google and it has had to post a catch-up page called 17 Google Updates We Ran Out of Time For.
Beyond search- how far can Google go?
Google has come a long way in just a few years. Its market cap is now over two-thirds that of Microsoft, greater than IBM or Intel, and the same as Apple. Google dominates search but can it conquer other computing worlds? It certainly seems to be trying, with new software and services appearing regularly. InfoWorld [...]
Searching for meaning
The type of Internet search that we have now is mostly based on scanning for specific text although searching pictures is beginning to add some graphical features. The present search algorithms work remarkably well but have serious limitations and often turn up irrelevant links.
For example, if you ask a question, search engines will be [...]

