7 replies to this topic

[suzstephens]

Holy crap!!! Google has suddenly decided to give me primarily search results based on my search history even though I am logged out of Google. I've logged into my Google account and told it to delete my search history, and logged back out again and it's still showing mostly  sites that I've previously visited. This is making it nearly impossible to figure out where my clients sites rank for certain key phrases. How the heck can I get Google to give me clean, unbiased search results?

 

By the way, someone just told me to try Chrome "incognito." I usually use Safari. Is there any way to get rid of my search history in Safari Mac?

Edited by suzstephens, 16 January 2013 - 07:30 PM.

[suzstephens]

I got a quick solution from some folks on Facebook: there's an "Incognito" extension for Safari.

[Mikl]

How the heck can I get Google to give me clean, unbiased search results?

 

I suspect the answer is that there is no such thing as "clean, unbiased search results". The point is that Google will always do its best to bias the search results towards what it thinks the user wants. If it can't do that through the search history, it will look at other factors, like the searcher's location, and whatever information it has about the searcher's social circle.

 

In other words, whatever search results you happen to see, that won't tell you anything about what other people will see. (At least, that's my understanding.)

 

Mike

[SelfMade]

The point is that Google will always do its best to bias the search results towards what it thinks the user wants.

 

No. G will do it's best to show it's users what it wants it's users to see.

 

Which is not the same as saying "G does it's best to show the user what it thinks the user wants."

 

Have you seen the search results lately? It has nothing to do with revelance to what the user is ACTUALLY searching for.

 

There is a world of difference between G ASSuming what the searcher wants by looking at their social avtivities and what the user ACTUALLY TYPED IN THE BOX.

 

The only variable G SHOULD be considfering or the only thing that matters is what actually got typed in the search box.

 

Not what FB page they liked and what Best buddy dave had for dinner last night and liked his photo, so let's show him a plate of spaghetti when he's actually typing "local restaurants in London".

Edited by SelfMade, 21 January 2013 - 11:36 AM.

[torka]

I dunno, most of my searches lately have taken me straight to pages that have, in fact, been pretty darned close to what I was looking for. Just last night, I was watching a true crime show on TV that was a few years old. I wanted to know if there had been updates in the case, so I fired up Google and searched on the name of the perpetrator... and up popped a bunch of results that told me exactly what I wanted to know. And the same thing happened a little later, while I was watching the next episode of the show!

 

I know, right?

 

Of course, I'm using Google like most normal searchers do -- in a quest for information. I'm not running searches to check rankings or to try to compare my site against my competitors, so perhaps that biases my results.

 

--Torka

[Jill]

Have you seen the search results lately? It has nothing to do with revelance to what the user is ACTUALLY searching for.

 

Could you please show us an example of this? Curious what you mean as they typically seem fairly relevant to me. (Not always, though, and I noticed UK results can be much worse than US ones.)

[SelfMade]

 

Could you please show us an example of this?

 

No that wouldn't work.

 

Exactly, Google will show you something different to what I see.

 

That's exactly my point.

 

 

 

"(Not always, though, and I noticed UK results can be much worse than US ones.)"

 

UK results almost always returns crap.

 

I couldn't possibly show an example for the whole point I'm debating proves it won't work.

Edited by SelfMade, 21 January 2013 - 03:51 PM.

[zephyr]

"Could you please show us an example of this?"

 

massage new haven=

0 actual sites

3 ads

7 maps listings

2 yellowpage pages

yelp

backpage

craigslist (!)

 

for years, that search from anywhere in CT actually produced a useful lsit of actual legtimate local business's sites