Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

Google becoming less and less useful for technical use

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
Home » Discuss » DU Groups » Computers & Internet » Computer Help and Support Group Donate to DU
 
DaveJ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-01-11 01:41 PM
Original message
Google becoming less and less useful for technical use
When I put words into Google, it is frustrating when I get pages that do not contain the words I type.

For instance, I just typed the words: report builder iif field visible

And this first result contains not a single instance of the word "visible". Instead, it has a half dozen instances of the word "visibility". This might be hard for Google to believe, but in many cases, I actually know the words that I want, so there is not really a need for Google to be think "nah this is what you really meant." Google does not even provide the traditional link to show pages with the words I typed. Putting the words in quotes makes no difference either.

Just griping. Maybe I should try another SE that *gasp* returns pages with words that are in the search box.
Refresh | 0 Recommendations Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
ChromeFoundry Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-01-11 02:11 PM
Response to Original message
1. Try quoting your search keywords...
"Report Builder" "IIF" field "visible"

would return much better results. You can even prefix quoted keywords with a plus sign (+) to force existence of the keyword on the page. Helpful if you have many keywords defined in your query.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
DaveJ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-01-11 04:35 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. Ok, yeah, that did work.
Thanks, I thought I'd tried that in the past and it didn't work. But now it does. Awesome.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
pscot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-01-11 09:52 PM
Response to Original message
3. Google is being overwhelmed by hucksters
Google searches used to turn up lots of idiosyncratic personal sites. Now everybody expects to get paid. And what are you supposed to do with 500 iterations of the wrong thing?
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
Earth Bound Misfit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-01-11 10:58 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. You absolutely & succinctly nailed it. Wish I could rec your reply,
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
catabryna Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-02-11 08:02 AM
Response to Original message
5. You can also put a
plus sign in front of the word(s) that you want in your search results, or a minus sign in words you would like omitted.

Example: +coffee -french

I use quotes when I want an exact phrase.

Example: "The longest day of the year"

I do agree with you. Google's business model has destroyed a great search engine.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
mojowork_n Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Dec-08-11 11:33 PM
Response to Original message
6. Yes, the paid for ads are all at the top. Nothing but clutter. n/t
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Sat May 04th 2024, 02:38 PM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » DU Groups » Computers & Internet » Computer Help and Support Group Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC