August 21, 2003
Lies Google Tells Me
A few weeks ago, I
noticed that Google seemed to think that one of my
blog entries is the best match for the search "Schwarzenegger
for governor"
In the comments, a crowd of people came to chide me for bashing Google. I suppose I deserve it, since I've complained about PageRank on more than one occasion.
But at that time, I missed the fact that Phillip Winn noticed that removing the word "for" from the query changes the results.
So let's look at this closely. The first screenshot on the right (click to enlarge) is from the first search on Google. Notice what I've circled in red using my high-tech crayon. For those who can't read it, it says:
"for" is a very common word and was not included in your search. [details]
You'd expect
then, that removing "for" from the query should produce the same
results. After all, Google is telling me in no uncertain terms that
they're ignoring "for" in my query.
Bullshit.
Try it yourself or look at the second screenshot no the right (click to enlarge). Notice that the result are different. Yes, I'm still in the results, but it's a different set of results with a different order to it. The number of documents matched is even different.
They're not ignoring the word "for" in my query. It clearly factors into the method they're using to produce those results.
This got me wondering what other lies Google tells? Have you run into any?
Contract Web Designer Needed (Bay Area)
I don't use my blog as a job board very often, but what the hell. If you know of a good web designer (someone who actually knows CSS and isn't afraid of dealing with a template-based content management systems) or if you are one and live in the Bay Area... please let me know.
A company that I do a lot of work with is looking for someone who can work on a contract basis to redesign several new and existing news and technology oriented web sites.
A good candidate will be local to the San Francisco Bay Area and have existing on-line work as well as references.
You know it's a busy day when...
You haven't even thought about touching your aggregator until after midnight.
Oh, well.
Better busy than bored, right?