Google Adds Site-Filtering Feature To Search

Ever wish you could keep certain sites from showing up in your Google search results? Thanks to a new feature being rolled out right now, you can.

Google announced the debut of a site-blocking search tool via its official company blog on Thursday. The tool is simple to use: When you click on a site in a Google search and then go back to Google -- presumably because you weren't satisfied with what you found -- you'll see a new option on the results page to block the site from future searches. All you have to do is click it, and the site will never show up for you again.

Your search site-blocking preferences are saved in your Google account, so you'll have to be logged in for the feature to work.

And don't worry: Your search-blocking changes aren't set in stone. Anytime a site is omitted from a search because of your blocking, Google will display a small message letting you know something's been removed. You'll have an option to unmask the hidden results, if you're so inclined. You can also manage your virtual blacklist via your Google search settings.

The Google search-blocking feature will become available to everyone over the next few days. As of now, it'll function only in English and only for users on Chrome 9 or higher, Internet Explorer 8 or higher, and Firefox 3.5 or higher.


Google Search Filtering: The Bigger Picture

If this whole thing has you feeling a sense of deja vu, don't worry: You aren't losing your mind. Google announced a similar search-filtering feature about a month ago in the form of an extension for the Chrome browser. The extension did almost the same exact thing as this new feature, except for the fact that it worked on the browser-level instead of on Google's own servers.

It's all part of Google's steady efforts to combat the presence of search spam -- a fancy term for low-quality entries that show up in search results. Google has increasingly come under fire for search spam in recent weeks, with some bloggers and pundits saying the company's level of search-result junk is spiraling out of control. The concerns revolve largely around so-called "content farms," or sites that generate lots of pages with little real value. Many of these sites monitor popular search queries and create pages for the sole purpose of attracting traffic, even though they have no original or relevant content to offer.

Google also recently adjusted its search algorithm to try to keep those sites from cluttering up results. The change, announced in late February, is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites and give higher rankings to sites with more original and in-depth material.

Related Articles:
Google's New Content Farm Algorithm In Action


Many thanks to JR Raphael of PCWorld for the content of this article. If you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

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Move To The New Domain Now Complete

I am pleased to announce that the transition to the new domain (http://www.derekjones.co) is now complete and the 301 Redirect is now operational on the old domain. Blog posts have also been updated (where applicable) to include links to the new domain.

There's still a little bit of work to do but the majority of online services such as blog directories etc have been updated to the new domain. The new domain is also starting to be listed on the major search engines such as Google thanks to the 301 Redirect I've put in place. To ensure no traffic is lost, I will keep the old domain active indefinitely.

What's strange is that I've seen no drop in traffic since the transition. In fact, visitors to my blog is actually increasing which is great news. Another thing I've noticed is I no longer have to enter any Captcha (also see reCAPTCHA) when posting the new domain on Facebook. Now this got me thinking...

Had Facebook implemented the Captcha just on the co.cc domains to try to prevent spamming? If so, why did they feel the need to block ALL co.cc domains if the Captcha was in place? Since I didn't received a reply from Facebook, we will never know!

Changing the domain wasn't a preferred option as it caused a considerable amount of work, but it was better than being held to ransom by Facebook because of spammers. At least now I can only be blocked through my own actions and not through the actions of others. In fact, changing the domain is actually a blessing in disguise, although it didn't feel like it at the time :)

As I mentioned in my previous post and because I don't want you going through the same experience as I have, try to avoid free domains such as co.cc at all costs. Free domains are subject to abuse by spammers, which in return are easily blocked from social networking sites such as Facebook. May I suggest that if you decide to obtain a domain for your blog or website, that you purchase one from services such as Go Daddy for example.

Now that the transition is complete, I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their patience and for the kind comments and support I've received on here and the Bloggers Network. Your support has made this transition process as painless as possible. Thank you..!!

Just give me another few more days, then it's business as usual :)

Related articles:
Derek's Home & Business Blog Is Moving
Facebook Website Blocking Update
Has Facebook Blocked Your Website?


As ever, if you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509 and on Facebook at:
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http://www.facebook.com/DereksHomeandBusinessBlog

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Derek's Home & Business Blog Is Moving

Given the recent problems I've been experiencing with Facebook and with receiving no reply from their support team, I have no alternative but to change the domain for my blog. This change is going to start within the next 12hrs and be fully completed within one week.

During the transition, the blog will be offline as I implement the new domain for the blog and transfer the old domain to new servers. Hopefully, this transition should take no longer than 24-48hrs.

Once the transition has been completed, anyone who accesses blog posts on the old domain via search engines, articles, blog directories or social networks etc, will automatically be forwarded to the same post on the new domain. For the technically minded, this is done via a 301 Redirect (domain forwarding) which will ensure web users are forwarded to the new domain and the post they requested, no matter where they clicked the link on the web.

The 301 Redirect also tells search engines that the blog has permanently moved which in return, will automatically update the search results with the new domain.

If you're a follower of the blog via Google Friend Connect, NetworkedBlogs, Email or via the RSS Feed, you do not need to do anything as the changes I make on these services will automatically transfer you to follow the blog on the new domain. However, if you've bookmarked the blog via your browser, you will need to change the bookmark to point to the new domain: http://www.derekjones.co

The bulk of the work is going to be updating blog posts, blog directories and other online services to the new domain. This unfortunately is going to take some time to complete, so please be patient if I don't publish any new blog posts or I'm not on Bloggers Network as often during the coming week.

As a word of caution and because I don't want you going through the same experience as I have, please be warned when obtaining free domains such as co.cc. Free domains are subject to abuse by spammers, which in return are easily blocked from social networking sites such as Facebook. May I suggest that if you decide to obtain a domain for your blog or website, that you purchase one from services such as Go Daddy for example. Try to avoid free domains such as co.cc at all costs.

Finally, the transition should go smoothly and without any problems. However, if any problems do arise, I will let you know as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience and support during this transition period.

Related articles:
Facebook Website Blocking Update
Has Facebook Blocked Your Website?


UPDATE 3:15am: Transition complete! New domain (http://www.derekjones.co) is now live and the 301 Redirect is now operational on the old domain. Blog posts have also been updated (where applicable) to include links to the new domain. Now it's time for bed :)

Bing Searches More Accurate Than Google's, Study Finds

Microsoft's search engine Bing, and even Yahoo, are providing users with more accurate searches than their rival Google, according to a report out this week.

Bing and Yahoo, which is now using Microsoft's Bing search technology, had the highest search success rates last month, reported Experian Hitwise, an Internet monitoring firm. More than 81% of searches on their sites led users to visit a Web site.

However, Google, the dominant player in the search market, wasn't as successful with its January searches. According to Experian Hitwise, Google had a 65% success rate.

"In my business and personal searching, I feel like I'm seeing less on-point results and more garbage, even on pretty specific queries," said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. "Search success is a big deal for both advertisers and users. This same study also pointed out a significant increase in multi-word, more complex searches. To me, this means that users are looking for more specific results."

Olds said the search engine that delivers the most accurate results will win over users in the long run. That's good news for Microsoft, which has been chasing Google from a long distance ever since Bing was released. Even if Google's results haven't been as accurate, it's still the highly dominant search engine in the market.

Experian Hitwise also reported that Google accounted for 67.95% of all U.S. searches in January. Bing-powered searches, which encompasses Bing and Yahoo, accounted for 27.44%. Yahoo alone came in at 14.62%, while Bing had 12.81%.

"If the inaccurate searches are a trend and not an isolated result, then this does point to the need for Google to improve on its search success," Olds said. "In the short term, it gives Microsoft a great angle they can use to tout Bing vs. Google to advertisers."


Many thanks to Sharon Gaudin of Computerworld for the content of this article. If you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509 and on Facebook at:
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Bloggers Network:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_144476842272032

Bing Accuses Google Of Click Fraud

Without a doubt, the biggest storyline in search this week has been Google accusing Bing of cheating and stealing its results, Bing semi-denying this, and the back and forth that's gone on between the two dominant search engines.

The whole thing came to light when Danny Sullivan posted an article detailing Google's "sting operation," which Bing would later call "spy novelesque" and even "click fraud". Essentially, Google rigged up some forced search results to test Bing, and found that Bing was indeed displaying the results in question.

Just hours after Sullivan's article came out, Google's Matt Cutts and Bing's Harry Shum took to the stage at the Farsight search event to publicly argue about what Bing had done and the ethics of it. Bing also put up an official blog post showcasing its position on the matter. "We use over 1,000 different signals and features in our ranking algorithm. A small piece of that is clickstream data we get from some of our customers, who opt-in to sharing anonymous data as they navigate the web in order to help us improve the experience for all users," wrote Shum. "To be clear, we learn from all of our customers. What we saw in today's story was a spy-novelesque stunt to generate extreme outliers in tail query ranking. It was a creative tactic by a competitor, and we'll take it as a back-handed compliment. But it doesn't accurately portray how we use opt-in customer data as one of many inputs to help improve our user experience."

"The history of the web and the improvement of a broad array of consumer and business experiences is actually the story of collective intelligence, from sharing HTML documents to hypertext links to click data and beyond. Many companies across the Internet use this collective intelligence to make their products better every day," Shum continued. "We all learn from our collective customers, and we all should...We never set out to build another version of an existing search engine."

It didn't take long for Google to offer up its own official blog post, rehashing the tactics described in Sullivan's article, with added commentary from Google Fellow Amit Singhal, who said, "As we see it, this experiment confirms our suspicion that Bing is using some combination of: Internet Explorer 8, which can send data to Microsoft via its Suggested Sites feature, the Bing Toolbar, which can send data via Microsoft's Customer Experience Improvement Program, or possibly some other means to send data to Bing on what people search for on Google and the Google search results they click. Those results from Google are then more likely to show up on Bing. Put another way, some Bing results increasingly look like an incomplete, stale version of Google results-a cheap imitation."

"At Google we strongly believe in innovation and are proud of our search quality," he added. "We've invested thousands of person-years into developing our search algorithms because we want our users to get the right answer every time they search, and that's not easy. We look forward to competing with genuinely new search algorithms out there-algorithms built on core innovation, and not on recycled search results from a competitor. So to all the users out there looking for the most authentic, relevant search results, we encourage you to come directly to Google. And to those who have asked what we want out of all this, the answer is simple: we'd like for this practice to stop."

Google did not get the last word in the war with Bing (at least not yet...I'm sure we haven't seen the last word at this point). Bing took to its blog again, this time with some words from VP of the company's online services division, Yusuf Mehdi. "We do not copy results from any of our competitors. Period. Full stop. We have some of the best minds in the world at work on search quality and relevance, and for a competitor to accuse any one of these people of such activity is just insulting," he said. "We do look at anonymous click stream data as one of more than a thousand inputs into our ranking algorithm. We learn from our customers as they traverse the web, a common practice in helping to improve a wide array of online services. We have been clear about this for a couple of years (see Directions on Microsoft report, June 15, 2009)." No link is provided unfortunately.

"Google engaged in a 'honeypot' attack to trick Bing," he added. "In simple terms, Google's 'experiment' was rigged to manipulate Bing search results through a type of attack also known as 'click fraud.' That's right, the same type of attack employed by spammers on the web to trick consumers and produce bogus search results. What does all this cloak and dagger click fraud prove? Nothing anyone in the industry doesn't already know. As we have said before and again in this post, we use click stream optionally provided by consumers in an anonymous fashion as one of 1,000 signals to try and determine whether a site might make sense to be in our index."

He also mentions some design elements Google has employed since Bing's launch that are rather Bing-esque, which we've also pointed out in previous articles. "At the same time, we have been making steady, quiet progress on core search relevance," he said. "In October 2010 we released a series of big, noticeable improvements to Bing’s relevance. So big and noticeable that we are told Google took notice and began to worry. Then a short time later, here come the honeypot attacks. Is the timing purely coincidence? Are industry discussions about search quality to be ignored? Is this simply a response to the fact that some people in the industry are beginning to ask whether Bing is as good or in some cases better than Google on core web relevance?"

Search quality certainly has been in question lately, particularly with regards to content farms, but Bing doesn't appear to be doing anything much differently in that regard so far. Blekko is the only one that has really clamped down on those at this point, though Matt Cutts did finally acknowledge that the recent Google algorithm change is not the search engine's answer to content farms, and that they still have some projects they are working on in that department. He said they want to do it all algorithmically, as opposed to in a human-edited fashion like Blekko. Meanwhile, it looks like we might have a whole new kind of content farm emerging that doesn't even use humans to create the content.

Another side note in all of the Google/Bing drama is that Microsoft has now released a Chrome extension for support for the H.264 video codec, which Google recently announced would no longer be supported by Chrome. As WebProNews mentioned in a previous article on the subject, Microsoft has offered similar plug-ins for other browsers, so to say that this is in any way related to the search dispute is a bit of a stretch, but the timing is interesting.

While Bing and Google continue to duke it out, there is no clear winner in who is right and who is wrong. User opinions are widely varied.

What do you think of the whole situation? Has Bing done anything wrong in its practices? Was Google wrong to set up its "sting operation"? Share your thoughts.


Many thanks to Chris Crum, editor of WebProNews for the content of this article. If you want to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, don't forget to follow via Google Friend Connect (button on sidebar), on Facebook or subscribe to our feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/DereksHomeAndBusinessBlog

You can also follow me on Twitter @djones1509 and on Facebook at:
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Until my next post, have a wonderful weekend!