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Google Previews New Search Infrastructure

Posted by kdawson on from the not-standing-still dept.

Google has announced a "developer preview" of a new search infrastructure, though one wouldn't have to be a developer to try it out. Google is asking for feedback on how the search results in the new regime stack up against the old. Matt Cutts has posted a mini FAQ. Some early testing indicates that the new search may be faster in some cases, and return more relevant results, than the old one. Those who attempt to game Google search for a living will be scrambling henceforth. Has anyone identified the new crawler bot in log files?

7 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. New crawler bot... by Gavin+Scott · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why would there be a new crawler?? How many more copies of the Interwebs does Google need?

    G.

  2. New algorithm = more relevant results by maxwell+demon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The more relevant results may be just because the algorithm is new, so the SEOs couldn't yet optimize for it. If it really gives more relevant results will be seen after it is the main search algorithm for some time.

    Remember, in the beginning the old algorithm used to be very good in finding relevant results.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    1. Re:New algorithm = more relevant results by CAIMLAS · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Too bad this can only be modded to +5. It needs to be made 'sticky' to the top of the thread (and every goddamn Google programmer's forehead, ever).

      Seriously: can we PLEASE have the ability to accurately filter things via syntax include/exclude and grouping again? I know it still 'works' but it doesn't work half a damn. Every once in a while I'll google for an error or some such and i'll have to prune it down to a handful of terms to even get results (and I know there should be more than just a handful for these kinds of things, because it's not uncommon.) Google is becoming almost useless for technical searches.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    2. Re:New algorithm = more relevant results by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I could live with the current semantics just fine if there were two Google modes: research and purchase. When I search for "Laserjet 4000" in research mode, I'm explicitly saying that I'm searching for pages ABOUT Laserjet 4000 printers, and absolutely not looking for a way to BUY a Laserjet 4000. Contextually isolating these two modes would be hugely helpful. When I want to buy a Widget and I'm simply looking for the best deals, I don't want a bunch of pages where people are reviewing or discussing the product. When I want to fix my Widget, I don't want a bunch of pages trying to sell me a new one. Sometimes a mixture is good, but for me it usually isn't.

      --
      "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
  3. Re:Major Disapppointment by ChienAndalu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since when is "putting cruft on search results page so that it is barely usable" and "not implementing sessions and cookies" evolution? Google won because it was nice and clean compared to altavista and yahoo.

  4. Re:Major Disapppointment by ChienAndalu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You seem to equate "features" with quality of the search engine.

    Some value

    - speed
    - a clean interface and
    - relevance of the search results (which can be improved by analyzing my previous searches)

    If you want to surf the web anonymously, use TOR. Trusting the site saying "we don't have server logs, PROMISE" is silly.

  5. Bye-Bye content spinners!!!! by Tsu+Dho+Nimh · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is going to mess up the content spinners and the paragraph swappers who are trying to either attract ads or build a link farm. Those who have well-build, informative, content-rich pages can sit back and watch the fun.

    "Content Spinning" explained, kinda sorta