Will Truth Prevail?

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Mon Mar 09, 2015 10:34 am

Google is considering changing it's search page ranking based on truthfulness and accuracy instead of linking. On it's face this sounds like a great idea and a welcome change.

Google wants to rank websites based on facts not links - 28 February 2015 - New Scientist

The trustworthiness of a web page might help it rise up Google's rankings if the search giant starts to measure quality by facts, not just links THE internet is stuffed with garbage. Anti-vaccination websites make the front page of Google, and fact-free "news" stories spread like wildfire. Google has devised a fix â€“ rank websites according to their truthfulness. Google's search engine currently uses the number of incoming links to a web page as a proxy for quality, determining where it appears in search results. So pages that many other sites link to are ranked higher. This system has brought us the search engine as we know it today, but the downside is that websites full of misinformation can rise up the rankings, if enough people link to them.Buh-bye, Pahu!

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Mon Mar 09, 2015 11:50 am

Ahso!;1475651 wrote: Google is considering changing it's search page ranking based on truthfulness and accuracy instead of linking. On it's face this sounds like a great idea and a welcome change.

Google wants to rank websites based on facts not links - 28 February 2015 - New Scientist

Buh-bye, Pahu!

ROFL. And Mail Online.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Mon Mar 09, 2015 2:33 pm

Google is a search engine, it should return searches based on the request.

They shouldn't 'tailor' the result, like they do now.

Who rates the veracity of the rankings ? Google ?

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Mon Mar 09, 2015 3:25 pm

Bruv;1475669 wrote: Google is a search engine, it should return searches based on the request.

They shouldn't 'tailor' the result, like they do now.

Who rates the veracity of the rankings ? Google ?You'd prefer to continue to be manipulated by people and companies who've become proficient at gaming the current system?

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Mon Mar 09, 2015 3:32 pm

Ahso!;1475674 wrote: You'd prefer to continue to be manipulated by people and companies who've become proficient at gaming the current system?

Google calls all the shots as far as I can see.

It is Google's system delivering returns based on MY past searches, that is NOT a search engine that is a marketing tool.

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Mon Mar 09, 2015 3:39 pm

And they see it's been gamed so they're tweeking it. How many pages do you actually vet when you search a topic? I think most people pick something towards the top of the first page because they often believe those answers to be the most accurate when in fact they're not there based on anything resembling accuracy at all, they're there because the traffic was diverted to them for other reasons.

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Mon Mar 09, 2015 11:12 pm

How often have you searched for something, only to find that the result is nothing but a page made up entirely of links to Spam sites? Is this the sort of thing you want to Google to continue to encourage? All these sites do is to turn the Search on it's head & take the subject of the search keywords & use them as a variable, adding them to the header, so it looks like it's a positive hit.

How come everyone seems to complain about Google being a marketing tool? Of course it is. It's a business - and a very successful business. If you don't like it you have the option to use one of the myriad of alternative Search Engines out there. You know the ones. They're the ones that you find hiding in the links of pages filled with the crap you never wanted in the first place, forcing their bloatware onto your system like viri. Face it, Google is so good at what it does it has earned a place in the Dictionaries as a verb - "To Google". How many other Search Engines have earned this status? If you don't like what they're proposing, simply remove Google from your list of Search Engines & replace it with something like Bing or Yahoo, etc.?

flopstock · Post by **flopstock** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 7:17 am

Still freaks me out when I look for anything through google and then for the next week every site I go to running google ads is delivering that item to me in their ads.

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 7:27 am

Better than running from store to store comparing prices and products. Google brings it all to you instead. OTOH, there's adblocker.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 7:29 am

FourPart;1475678 wrote: How often have you searched for something, only to find that the result is nothing but a page made up entirely of links to Spam sites? Is this the sort of thing you want to Google to continue to encourage? All these sites do is to turn the Search on it's head & take the subject of the search keywords & use them as a variable, adding them to the header, so it looks like it's a positive hit.

How come everyone seems to complain about Google being a marketing tool? Of course it is. It's a business - and a very successful business. If you don't like it you have the option to use one of the myriad of alternative Search Engines out there. You know the ones. They're the ones that you find hiding in the links of pages filled with the crap you never wanted in the first place, forcing their bloatware onto your system like viri. Face it, Google is so good at what it does it has earned a place in the Dictionaries as a verb - "To Google". How many other Search Engines have earned this status? If you don't like what they're proposing, simply remove Google from your list of Search Engines & replace it with something like Bing or Yahoo, etc.?

Oh purleeeeeze don't go on so.

Google is the the most popular search engine because it got in early and returns what most people want to see..................under the paid for advertising that pushes more relevant searches down the rankings.

It's strength is it's weakness, it's dominance of the game. When Google asks advertisers to jump they ask 'How high?'

Google is the kiddie for mobile apps, they demand to know where you are or the app might not work properly. Your provider 'knows' where you are, but Google also needs to know, why? They are invasive collecting far more about you than they need to provide the service you want from them.

I will continue to use the service, with location turned off, they can glean whatever they need from me, but I will not give it to them. They are the latest monopoly following in the wake of Microsoft, so much market dominance is never good, unless you are a shareholder.

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 9:48 am

When it comes to the biggest ones, far from getting in early, Google was one of the later ones, not launching until 1998.

History of Search Engines - Chronological List of Internet Search Engines (INFOGRAPHIC) | Wordstream

The preceding ones are still going strong - and are still (in my opinion) ones to be avoided because of their high levels of spam.