MetaChat - aaargh... where's that "Google Search thinks I'm an Idiot" post/thread?

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28 February 2009

aaargh... where's that "Google Search thinks I'm an Idiot" post/thread? That was here, wasn't it? I meant to bookmark, but I've lost it. GOOGLE IS DRIVING ME NUTS. [testicle steering wheel here] →[More:]

Did we find a way to make them stop including search results for what they think we want instead of we actually want? Latest atrocity: "soupies". Yes, Google, I'm actually searching for recipes for Greek cuttlefish, called soupies (pronounced "soopYES"), and any recipe that's posted using that term is likely to be authentically Greek, which is why I'm searching for "Soupies". No, I do not want results for "soupy". Please stop. Stop. Just stop. Don't. No. Stop.

post by: taz at: 05:13 | 13 comments

Stick a + in front of the word.

posted by cillit bang 28 February | 05:44

aaaaaaaaaaaaah!

posted by taz 28 February | 05:56

Mmmm. You made me think of soupy.
I could go for some right now.

posted by CitrusFreak12 28 February | 09:57

Mmmmm, soupy. One of the main things I miss about living in CT. Fortunately I have a friend here who is a transplanted RI kid, and he usually has soupy at Easter every year. And he shares.

posted by Miko 28 February | 10:48

If I were you, I'd search:

"soupies" -soupy

It'll force it to look only for "soupies" while filtering out pages with "soupy". Not the best solution if both terms appear on a page you need, but what can you do.

posted by Rhaomi 28 February | 10:49

Soupy?

posted by middleclasstool 28 February | 10:50

That's a great trick, Rhaomi. I never knew you could do that.

I got these results for "soupies +greek" and these for "soupies +recipe."

posted by Miko 28 February | 11:39

Yes, I did get those results, but I was looking for a certain specific recipe and the further I got in to results, the more the pages had nothing to do with my search term (as in, it wasn't included at all). I don't mind sifting through a ton and refining my search, if the ton is actually related to my term, and I don't mind seeing only a handful, if there's only a handful related to my term, I just don't want to wade through pages that are only there because Google thinks maybe I don't really know what I'm searching for.

I've been knowing about the "-" before a word to keep that from appearing, but I never knew about "+" before a word to indicate "no, really! this is the word I want to find!" Great tip.

posted by taz 28 February | 11:47

Oh, I forgot to say, I was searching with "soupies" plus other words in different searches ... Greek, Greece, recipe, wine, squid, cuttlefish... bunch o' different things in different combos. But it wastes my time to click on a link that has the words "recipe", "wine" and... "soupy". When it comes to that, I could end up at a page all about a greasy wino with a soup receipt.

posted by taz 28 February | 11:56

There was a search engine once that had a "search within results" thingie so you could slowly focus your search. I don't remember which one it was, but it eventually went overtly commercial and became the suck. This was before Google became endemic. It was a feature I liked, and worked with the way I thought.

posted by eekacat 01 March | 12:09

I totally remember the "search within results" - it might have been altaVista or the spider one...whatever that was called. Lycos?

posted by Miko 01 March | 12:12

Hmmm, in digging around, it might have been Infoseek which got bought and dumped by Disney when they made the go network thingie.

posted by eekacat 01 March | 13:58

I hate it when Google's results just lead me to some crappy third rate search engine.

posted by arse_hat 01 March | 23:58

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