Help! Google's Search Engine is Broken !!
By Mark Knowles
Good grief!. There has been an awful lot of hoo ha over the recent google "farmer's" algorithm changes at google's search engine. Google's stated intention is to weed out "poor results" from search queries. Put simply - when you go to google and type a search into their search bar - they say they want to provide the best quality results possible.
I find this hard to believe on a number of levels, not least of which being the fact that I do not particularly want some faceless, ethic-less corporate entity deciding what is best for me. Especially not a corporate entity that happily kow towed to the Chinese government and censored the search results in google.cn when it was asked to and then proceeded to tell the entire world that copyright laws do not apply to them and they are cheerfully copying the entire world's books and putting them online - whether they own the copyright or not. Well - I will qualify that. They do not apply to them when they copy every book ever written, but - go copy some of google's patented software and see how far you get.
I understand they need to apply some criteria to the results they return, but this change does not seem to be a positive one. Google may be the top search engine - they may even be the best search engine - but they are dominating the Internet.What they have supposedly done is weed out so-called "content farms," but I am not seeing this as a good thing right now.
My political opinions aside, whatever google may have been trying to do with their recent changes have not done any favors to the smaller Internet marketers and have actively damaged some people and some sites. Hubpages included. On top of that - their search results are noticeably worse.
I like hubpages - it has an awful lot of great writers and provides a vast repository of useful information and opinion. like the rest of the internet - it also has a lot of garbage, lies, misinformation and spam. I am not going to go into the damage wrought to hubpages, but one thing is clear - google is broken at the moment,. Specifically - their search results are badly skewed towards a few so-called "authority" sites and those of us who make a living online can (probably) rest easy that these changes cannot be permanent, becaus the returned results on almost any search term at the moment are horrible.
I am not going to bother speculating as to their actual intentions with this change. Suffice to say - I think it has more to do with the proposed introduction of Internet sales taxes than it has to do with providing quality results. We shall see - but the only thing that makes any sense in a capitalist society is a monopoly. ;)
An Example
This is an example. I was researching coffee related terms and wanted some information about coffee beans. So - I did a google search for the term "coffee bean" and this is what I got:
Seriously ? That is it? Above the fold (all I can see) in my results is 4 references to a company called coffeebean.com, a wikipedia entry and some images of coffee beans. Underneath the fold - 2 more references to the same coffeebean.com and more rubbish from people wanting to sell me coffee beans. Good grief! One single solitary informational reference and the entire front page dominated by one company that sells coffee beans?
Total garbage - where is the information I want telling me about different coffee beans; how to grow coffee beans; which coffee beans taste best etc etc. So - I try one result purporting to offer "everything there is to know about coffee" and this is what the site looks like:
Really? That is on the front page of search results?
Meaningless keyword dominated drivel and a big block of google ads - not what I want.
"Must be a mistake," I mutter to myself and head on over to my trusted scroogle scraper - an illicit version of google that scrapes the results from all their US data centers and gives an unbiased result. Crap! - even worse - look at these results:
This time coffeebean.com dominates the first 7 results, wikipedia is 8 and then back to coffeebean.com after wikipedia. Whatever they may have been trying to do - this is not the sort of sales-dominated rubbish I want in my returns.
So - as far as I am concerned - for the time being - google is broken, which means the internet is broken. If you make money on hubpages - chill out, take a week off and wait to see what happens when the dust settles, because this cannot be right.
Comments
Totally unreal as Coffee Bean is a well searched phrase but like you I have found many examples of this over the last few days.
Nice hub Mark, I am still reeling from their changes in October, I think they haven't heard of the saying "If it isn't broken, don't mend it"
I hope it all works out in the coming weeks, cheers !
@PC - Really? 7 results in the first 10 for the same company. All sales pitches.
When I want to buy coffee beans I type in "where to buy coffee beans" in the hope of getting appropriate results.
I thought you weren't religious. lol
Awesome Mark, Google is broken. I just hope it's not broken beyond repair. I think there's many an example thrown up this last week that demonstrates just how broken the SE actually is.
Not to mention the amount of people that have, overnight, lost their income. Something is very very wrong at Google Inc :(
The multiple same sites results is something Google needs to fix. I stand by my comments about how to search, though.
Google isn't broken.
I'm from India, tried this in google.co.in... For the "coffee beans" (without quotes) query I get the first two results from wikipedia followed by "Show more results from wikipedia.org"
The other results on first page also seem good..!
Nice hub Mark. Google is broken and they need to fix the results soon.
Also, it seems like google is favoring exact keyword domains. Like in your example of coffee bean. I also did a random search for many more keywords and there is atleast one exact keyword domain on the first page of google.com. Another example is "make money online", I see makemoneyonline.com on 9th position in google.com and it is nowhere to be seen(atleast in the first 3 pages) on google.co.uk and others.
I hope they fix it soon.
PC - that would bump up the MFA site I showed to number 3 in that case. Something is very wrong at the moment.
Google *is* Broken for sure - the search results are horrendous. When you're forced to go further than page 2, as I have for the hundreds of searches I do daily, then something is very wrong.
I know how to search and I know what to type in to get the info I want, despite what Pcunix is implying. (Will we now need to take a three week course on how to use google search?!)
@webbyavatar - if you're in India, you'll still be seeing the old search results as the algo change hasn't been rolled out yet past the US.
Google has messed up big time and it will be interesting to see if they ever admit it!
Try searching "bird cages for sale" from any possible google channel. You get an autoblog at top position. I mean seriously, you're ranking plagiarist at number one position ? If that's not enough broken then i don't know what else needs to be fixed ;)
@sky - I tried it and what made me laugh more than the the keyword inurl site, basically a MFA, was one result from a co.uk domain and one from a co.za domain. If I'm in the US searching on .com why show results from other countries?? Do I really want to ship a birdcage from South Africa?! Utter crap
It looks like to me they are centering their search on the people who pay the most ads adn google can make the most money off from, yet I am not really that internet savy.
Keep on hubbing!
Right now this hub is #5 on google.co.uk for the search term 'google search engine broken', and halfway down page 9 on google.com
It's great on Google.com - you get to wade through loads of old and dated forum posts first :)
The jury is still out here. It does seem that one has to be very precise in what they are searching for. Since sometimes I'm not really certain which terminology I need to use, it can be a pain. Nice hub.
The whole buzz about the new Google changes reminds me so much of the South Park episode "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes".
Not to be too blunt, but if you thing Google is broken, then stop using Google. Yahoo and Bing are both still up and running.
Google doesn't cater their business model to Internet Marketers, nor should they. I for one was getting tired of always having to sift through "junk" content, that was simply posted for SEO, when trying to get information.
If you have a good business model, you'll adapt and find a way to succeed. If not, you'll fail and be out of business, either way, it's not such a bad thing for the market in general.
@BGollihue, the "junk content" used to annoy me too, but now we seem to have a different kind of junk in search results. The revenue-sharing sites may have gone from page 1, but instead we're getting multiple results from one site, and some of those sites are junk too. I predict Bing will be getting more business at the moment!
Very interesting! I agree that something is rotten in the state of Google. But... what is the tie-in to internet taxes? Could you spell out the connection?
We like hubpages - it dose have an awful lot of great writers here! Is you search results noticeably worse?
One thing is clear is one thing is clear, -is Google really broken? What to do? Google say they want to provide the best quality results possible... Now Honestly, do you believe it's possible? Well Google is the top search engine, also the best search engine, Yes they are dominating the Internet... So find a way to get over it. Change is good and necessary it is now part of our every day life! $ Money! "Authority" sites vs.
"content farms" who do you think will win? ... It has to be that some sites will go up and some will go down.
A few months ago Google introduced a new service called Google Place Pages, basically it has created a 'Place Page' for every business in the western world and placed each place page on a map 'Google Maps' where that business is physically located. Keep in mind Place Pages and Google Maps is localcentric and is ultimately designed to be used in conjunction with a smart phone. The idea is if you search for a product or service through Google, the search engine will decide if the search is localcentric, if so it will get GPS data from your smartphone and provide local results for your search query on Google Maps. CNN: Growing Backlash to AdSense Farm Update Google SEO News- Any suggestions?
Number Crunchers: Who Lost In Google's “Farmer” Algorithm Change? (Google algorithm update knocks 'content farms' off the radar) "Google has launched this big algorithmic change in the U.S. only" (providing quality results);
If you make money, take a chill pill and chill out.
Soon the dust will settle...
and just like when making butter, the cream will come to the top.
and just like when making beer, the drags will settle down to the bottom of the barrel.
so never give up!
When I would use google to search for some kind of a review of a new product, I would usually get links to stores saying "read reviews of product X... currently there are no reviews. Be the first to write a review!" Yet, I don't look for an opportunity to write a review, I want to read already written reviews.
I want to know who's doing the SEO for 'The Coffee Bean'! or is this a subtle marketing ploy of your Mark, and maybe you actually OWN 'The Coffee Bean' :LOL:
Glad I don't look to earn money from Google or Hubpages!
John
I wish I did John. At least for as long as it takes to sort this out. Everything is broken at the moment. Should be interesting when it all sorts itself out.
I do agree with you that Google's search algorithm it is broken. But it has been broken before. I have many times gotten garbage or obvious stupid useless information in searches and have wondered why Google allows that!!!.
Google has a complex algorithm and they are working hard and trying to improve it.
As for what works...They take into account what your likes and dislikes are. As well as your location. Yes, they know this about you from prior searches you've done. So if I would type "coffee beans" in a search I would get different results than you because of my differing tastes. I also got a link to a local coffee bean reseller. I guess Google uses the IP address to know my general location.
In the example you gave, there is no way Google can guess that you want to know how to grow coffee beans if you just search for "coffee beans". I tried a search for "how to grow coffee beans" and I got great results right on target.
No - they do not take into account my likes and dislikes. And Scroogle specifically keeps no records of past searches.
I agree - coffee bean is a wide ranging term. Therefore I should get wide ranging results. Not 7 returns from the same sales company a couple of MFA sites and a wiki entry.
They have a problem - and until they have foxed it - we are not going to know where we are.
Maybe the way people search will begin to change in response to this.
Hey mark,
Google's search algorithm is far from perfect. And I have to agree with you that the search results don't always come up with the best results. I think the main problem is there are a lot of people trying to manipulate the search engine results by exploiting the way Google works. The end result is some crappy content pages with a bunch of ads that are really not useful for the end user.
I agree with you completely Mark, Google is broken in my opinion also. There are the favored sites which aren't necessarily the best, sitting on the top of the search results which also dominate most of the front pages.
Who wants to see pages that have little information and the best thing to look at on that page is a bunch of Adsense ads, i know i don't.
Hey bryan - you think that has anything to do with adsense rewarding garbage content? lol
Lol Mark,
I think I know what you mean. I see plenty of adsense sites with some content there, but essentially, it's just an adsense optimized site. The content on these sites are just not good at all. Even if they are, they totally should fail being ranked on the first page of Google.
You should see the amount of people offering Adsense Optimized ready made sites with good SEO rankings for sale on the WarriorForum and they are tons of buyers for it. So is it going to end? Far from it!
Gosh, this incredible. Thanks for the info.
Uh oh...broken is bad indeed. :(
I loved the way you worded this hub, Just had to rate it funny. Great hub AND made me laugh. Thank you.
Good points Mark. I heard the new algorithm just came into effect a few weeks ago for the purpose of wiping the Google slate clean of all the hypers,scamers and just generally those who have nothing but duplicate content on their sites/pages, which is a good thing of course, but as you say, how can a mechanical brain really tell what is quality and what is not?
That is the question that perplexes me. Especially if one writes humor--how can the algorithm tell that something is not supposed to be factual, but rather 'funny' or 'satirical'. I know it cannot. So I am perplexed about what they programed into this algorithm to tell the computer brain "this is a joke. This is not fact. But it is a good joke so give it a good rank."
Really! That's impossible to do, (at least in the present stage of artificial intelligence.) Too bad Google does not explain more of what they do behind those closed doors where they keep the secret Coke recipe, the Secret of Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe, and the secret recipe for Google-brain. :)
I totally agree that Google can't keep the search results like they are now. Evertime I search for something , I get crap in return, a bunch of useless ehow articles that in no way I would use as a reference, where are all the medical sites???? ARGGGGG!!I hate Google right now.
Google powers that be have a sinister motive I do believe. They say they want to make the internet search on google easier and with less crap coming up!
Makes me wonder have they got their favorite companies, ie websites they want to direct their searchers to.
Most people have figured out it's all about money. Google's new way of searching is based on this model. Once Google and Hub pages figure out more people use word links to take them other places on the web the better off we are all going to be.
Thanks for the info. - the thing I retained is that that coffee bean site must be doing something right in Google's eyes - so I am off to have a good look at what it is they are doing !
Wikipedia is certainly doing well with all the changes, isn't it? Anytime I google anything, Wikipedia is always in the top 2 now. I don't recall it doing that well before. I basically just go straight to Wikipedia now since that is where I will end up anyway.
Yea well great points made here Mark.
I'm of the opinion some guy at Google who's job was to create and launch this amazing new change at Google was spending all his time playing solitaire online while time flew by the deadline was in his face and he tossed crap to the fan. Hence, Googles really crappy search results, it is really frustrating.
Search is the lifes blood to all we breathing humans and it's as if Google took our addiction away cold turkey! The results suck and leaves us all frustrated and not to mention we the content providers who are being out placed by some pathetic results that TOTALLY don't EVEN relate to your search.
Please, Really, As If, Don't get me started... Great Read, Voted Up and much appreciated! :) Katie
Hey Mark,
It would seem to me that anyone intending on making any real presence on the internet anymore must abide and comply to God Google. Now being from the US of A I think that everyone that has something worthwhile to say has just as much right to be heard as well as, well coffeebean.com. But apparently Google has the power to pick and choose who will make a world presence. Now one might ascertain that Google just may possibly have more control over the media than one company should. I don't know exactly how one would determine this , since in fact there are different search engines, and they obviously don't have a monopoly on the internet, but it may very well be that they have more control and power than any one company should have ,, and we are talking about on a global scale here.
Mark have they changed things back? For a while I had nothing coming from Google, now when I search my nickname I have over 160 search results which lead to hub pages. This is much more like it was before "panda". My Google numbers have started to climb again also.
Life is an advertisement! What you selling Mark? :0
Love and me :)
I agree that the search results have worsened, but the basic principle of how to rank well have not changed - it's just that many people had forgotten the basics.
A long time ago I read a simple article, I have forgotten where, posted on an ugly looking site (just the most basic html) but it ranked very well and explained how they did it.
The basic advice was: have one tag matching the search term you want people to use to find you, a bulleted list (google loves lists relevant to the content of the page), one image at the top of the page with an alt tag relevant to the content of your page, and at least a few links from you page to meaningful, better ranking sites relevant to your content.
And that's it, inbound links and PR really don't count as much as people think they do.
A simple page which is easy for the google spider to analyze and categorize is the key.
People who are upset that their sites are not ranking as well as they used to are probably overlooking the basics and over complicating their SEO strategies.
What a load of crap. Set up a site on Foreign exchange trading using that approach and let me know how you get on LOL
Interesting article. On one hand its hard to figure out exactly what you are searching for with the general phrase "Coffee Bean" notice if you search for "Coffee Beans" plural you are probably more intersted in buying coffee beans and the results will be different.
Google is a bit broken I guess but they are looking at bounce rates to see if people back away for your site quickly so Its always important to follow their guidelines somewhat and keep quality content on your pages .. Just like your hubpages are quality Mark
Google adwords, keyword tool and all other SEO-related tools is working for the ones ho pay for them. Marketing and advertising is truly powerful.
Very interesting! I am relatively new to Hubpages, I basically started to write in March. I am about to write my 15th article and I am raring to go..well...I was! After reading this hub and another one complaining that Google Adsense suspends people on getting paid as soon as they start to gain something, with a non totally clear click violation ban, maybe I need to relax about Hubpages, enjoying the writing without expecting too much. It seems to me that this Google making money strategy of clicks and be paid, is another internet scam. By the way I am really impressed by your articles, you are a real authority. All the best
Very interesting, although not surprising! Let's face it, the Panda update has punished article directory sites like Hubpages, with the thinking that these sites have low quality content, when in reality, there is a mixture of low quality and some very high quality content. Google better make the required adjustments.. u would think?
I agree with TravelinAsia, Panda update is punishing article directories such as Hubpages when we all know here is the place where we get the most out of some topics. It's hard to work when the rules make no sense or there are no rules at all until Google says so, it's challenging but it's also tiresome.
Google's search has been in decline for 18 months or so. I've frequently had to go to yahoo maps for more accurate results and in the last two months bing, bing of all places, gave me far more informative links than google.
I think their main concern has turned to finding a platform and a mechanism to pump out ads to cell phones and tablets.
They have succomened to capitalism 101. Why give away free what you can charge for. The searches you do now will return mostly sites that want to sell you something barely related to you quandary. the end is near to searches untethered to AdWords.
oh woe is me! the evil bad google. Of course they won't succumb to 'capitalism 101'. everyone is already on capitalism 201 now- content marketing: Give enough away free material so that people will love you enough to pay for the rest.Can be really good when its done right. Can be crap as well.
Behind all the moaning many people who have good quality 'authority' sitss with established page ranks have weathered the alogarithm perfectly well. Google is a blunt instrument at the end of the day and in its ongoing evolutionary war again 'black hat' some innocent victims are going to get caught in the crossfire.
Coffee bean site is at the top of the search because it has something like 1000 HIGH quality back links to the site. Google still obviously still places a lot of importance on backlinks. So there's not much they can do if someone manages to nuclear power boost their SEO like this.
Yeah- I hear those old wives tales of people getting banned from adsense as soon as they make too much money. What nonsense. As if it makes sense for Google to cut off a nice revenue stream. Yes there are some unfair cases no doubt- click bombing has been one instance. But most of the banned people have been buying crappy back-links for their site or some other dubious practice and only have themselves to blame.
Pcunix 15 months ago
I disagree.
If I want to know about how beans taste, I Google for "coffee bean taste" and I get appropriate results.
Same for "coffe bean growing".
Google may indeed be slightly crooked right now, but it is not broken.