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Google Conducts Trial on User-Voted Search Results

Posted by Zonk on from the wisdom-of-the-what-now dept.

Grim Reaping writes "A feature in testing at Google Labs allows users to not only prioritize their favorite results, but also move, ignore, and add search results to personalized records of their preferences. The experiment features a simple 'thumbs up' and 'thumbs down' option for each search result; users can also suggest a URL that might be more relevant to their query. 'Other Google users will not be affected by the individual tweaking: instead it will be stored along with the users' own personal information for the next time they search for this word or phrase, so users are required to log in to avail of it.'" The company is also clear on the experiment's page: this feature may never see full release on the site.

15 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. MOD LINK UP by noidentity · · Score: 3, Funny

    Obligatory.

  2. Implications by explosivejared · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This will work wonders for their advertising model. You are essentially telling them what you to see advertised right off the bat. I couldn't see why this is a bad idea. I know they say "it may never be fully released," but everything with google is always a beta. Another win-win provided from google. It just goes to show business people everywhere that actually providing a service (ie not harming your customers or trying to milk them) is an extremely effective model for business.

    --
    I got a catholic block.
    1. Re:Implications by richlv · · Score: 2, Interesting

      that might seem like a good idea, but i rarely log in to search for something (that is, i almost never log in).
      but i quite often encounter obsolete pages being in the first spots with actual search targets pushed even to second and further pages - in these i cases i really would like to provide information on which page has the actual information - but this would do little for me as next time i would now what to look for.
      i'd like to give a quick feedback to help other users, but i also understand that such a system would be abused to hell. how to solve it ? i don't know. maybe some levels of trusted reporters or something...

      --
      Rich
  3. Reminds me of a 4-panel manga by Sciros · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Bob: "Hey Phil you mind telling why Google gives me porn and Youtube videos as the top 10 results for *anything* I type on your computer?"
    Phil: "Heh heh, it is quite bothersome using other peoples' computers , is it not?"

    --
    I like basketball!!1!
    1. Re:Reminds me of a 4-panel manga by Sciros · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well there's a 4-panel manga called Lucky Star (also an anime now) that has a very similar bit in it (a joke to do with romaji-to-kanji transformation by word processors on JP comps -- specifically homonyms where the best-guess transformation is "learned" by the software from frequency of use). The first two panels in this case would have been 2 successive attempts at a Google search with the results being all porn/Youtube videos. Then my dialogue would have been in panels 3 and 4.

      --
      I like basketball!!1!
  4. What about personalized filtering? by pseudorand · · Score: 2, Funny

    What I really want is a personalized filter for all my Google searches. Maybe there is already a way to do this, but I want -site:expertsexchange.com as an argument to every search I do. I don't have an account with them, so I hate it when they appear in search results. And more importantly, I'm only interested in armature sex changes, so I simply never want to see search results from that site.

  5. Wait a minute... How is this useful? by SwordsmanLuke · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So, you can adjust your personal search results, which are then saved for your use next time... How is this useful? If the search results aren't what I want the first time, I'm not likely to dig through them looking for better links - I'm going to try a different search phrase.

    On top of that, once I find what I'm looking for, I'm either going to bookmark it or forget about it. I'm not going to search on the same keyword/phrase every time I want to visit a website.

    I realize this is just a trial, but seriously, can anyone explain to me how this a good idea?

    --
    Any plan which depends on a fundamental change in human behavior is doomed from the start.
  6. Personal results? by calebt3 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Other Google users will not be affected by the individual tweaking: instead it will be stored along with the users' own personal information for the next time they search for this word or phrase, so users are required to log in to avail of it Wouldn't this defeat the purpose of voting one site a better result than another? Why bother ranking sites when bookmarking the results would achieve the same result (as well as be independent of a login). Actually, a plugin that bookmarks the top ~15 search results automatically might be a useful FF plugin...
    Back on topic: Why not allow a "standard search" or "community-moderated search" toggle switch? The only downside to a community-modded search that I can see in goatse being voted up by hoards of trolls.
  7. I'd like to see... by shotgunefx · · Score: 2, Insightful

    the ability to tell Google "NO" when it suggests alternative phrases. You would think that would be valuable feedback.

    --

    -William Shatner can be neither created nor destroyed.
  8. Hooray by soxos · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No more experts-exchange.com results!!

    1. Re:Hooray by Nimey · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you click on the cached copy, you can usually see the answers on that site.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    2. Re:Hooray by fbartho · · Score: 3, Informative

      In addition, the responses are just rot13 in the html source overlayed with a blur jpg. Someone should make a firefox extension or greasemonkey script that decrypts it. Btw isn't it against the rules to feed the googlebot something other than what a user finds?

      --
      Gravity Sucks
    3. Re:Hooray by TheSpoom · · Score: 2, Informative

      You know you can just scroll down to see the answer, right? It's usually about halfway down the page, they just don't want you to know it's there.

      --
      It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
      - E. Debs
  9. Re:Useful by jackpot777 · · Score: 2, Funny

    This at least will get rid of E x p e r t s E x c h a n g e
    ...and there I was, thinking it was E x p e r t S e x C h a n g e.

    I'll get my coat...
    --
    Shiny. Let's be bad guys...
  10. Re:Wait a minute... How is this useful? by Hunter-Killer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The workaround to get at the info on ExEx is to use Google's cached version of the link, and then browse just the cached text.

    Is it wrong to do this? I'd assume ExEx thinks so, as their business model depends on it. However, their links would not appear as often on Google unless they indexed the answer too. It's wrong to offer search engines information, but users less or different stuff (which is why they're hated). Having the info accessible by other means is a price they find willing to accept in order to compete on the Internet.

    As for other technical info, I would not mind if search relevance was aggregated by usergroup/tag. I doubt I'd be the first to search for a solution to a problem, so I'd find it beneficial for someone else to mod the solution (or relevant info) up. I'd tag myself with sysadmin and cisco, and contribute while reaping the benefits of a preexisting group. If there was a limit to the number of tags, link spammers would have a hard time influencing results. If the idea proved popular, one could create membership requirements for adding new members (everyone can use results, but only certain people can mod results).