Has Google lost some of its magic touch?

rypt

rypt

rypt

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There was a time when Google results would give you exactly what you wanted; lately I've been finding that when searching for something VERY specific [but containing an otherwise common word] Google results are being all but useless as the otherwise common word throws all sorts of junk into the results.

It seems that Google's algorithm for ranking pages ranks junk far too high; for example see: here - none of these top results are actually that useful as they are all junk.

Each of the 3 words searched for are very common on their own; however the combination used is pretty unique in that it wants information about windscreens for kit cars.
 
To be fair though, the top three (in the yellow box) are sponsored links and so pretty much pay to be up there.

The first three normal results all seem pretty relevant to me though :confused:
 
"slinky" said:
To be fair though, the top three (in the yellow box) are sponsored links and so pretty much pay to be up there.

The first three normal results all seem pretty relevant to me though :confused:
Click to expand...

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/modernads/nova_kit_car.htm
A pretty useless site with lots of text; but none of it really useful with respect to the phrase searched.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260287238286
And ebay link to windscreen repair - nothing to do with kit cars really - or their windscreens.

http://www.nfauto.co.uk/cbs_products3.htm
Better perhaps; but again very general overall rather than a specific result.


Surely, the ideal result for the search is a website that deals with kit car windscreens (different kit cars; different screen manfuacturers and so on) - rather than just general matches that seem to fit the words individually bot do not fit the "meaning" of the searched phrase?

And results get worse and worse as you go down with more and more spam that should never be this highly ranked.
 
The problem doesn't lie with Google, it's the fact that people have got a lot better at SEO and can push their spam sites higher.

I'm sure you could post a nice message to Matt Cutts and he'd have a look at this for you.
 
nikebee said:
The problem doesn't lie with Google, it's the fact that people have got a lot better at SEO and can push their spam sites higher.
Click to expand...

But by the act of the SEO on spam sites it surely means that the Google algorithm is not being updated fast enough to keep pace and outwit the SEO spam?
Surely the point of Google is not see though all the SEO and to actually work out whether the content on the site is meaningful for the data it wants.

Google is still one of the best searches for uncommon terms; however it seems that SEO spam is winning on the combination of common terms.
 
I suppose the issue you have though is that "kit car windscreens" probably isn't a very popular search so there hasn't been a lot of data collected on what is most relevant.

I've always found google to be very good, so good in fact that usually if I can't find any info on something, it'll usually be because there isn't a website about it in the first place.

But then that's my experience I guess and I don't make kit cars :p
 
rypt said:
But by the act of the SEO on spam sites it surely means that the Google algorithm is not being updated fast enough to keep pace and outwit the SEO spam?
Surely the point of Google is not see though all the SEO and to actually work out whether the content on the site is meaningful for the data it wants.

Google is still one of the best searches for uncommon terms; however it seems that SEO spam is winning on the combination of common terms.
Click to expand...

My point on trying to contact Matt wasn't a ridiculous one by the way, it was a genuine suggestion as he's now head of spam and does tend to interact with us regular folk an awful lot. I've been to a few of his seminars and some of his lectures at SES :)

I totally agree with you though, after two seconds of being on that page that is ranked #1 in Google I could instantly tell that it was a spam site.

The Google Bot should be able to see the positioning of the Google Ads, the quantity of the advertising on the page and realise this.
 
ignoring for a moment the junk pages I dont think your search term would be sure to return results relevant to what you want, the more common phrase out of the three unordered words you've put in would be '"car windscreen" kit' I'd have thought
 
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