Blocking Websites

1. 67

   lrohnerposted 13 years ago

   W.A.Leon posted this in another thread: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/ … -from.html
   
   Basically, Google just launched a Chrome extension that allows each user to block certain websites from appearing in their search results. Supposedly Google is going to monitor the results and use the information to help them decide where sites should rank, I think.
   
   I just blocked a ton of the nuisance sites, and from a user perspective, this is as fabulous as Edweirdo's forum filter. From a hubber perspective, ruh roh... This could be very good or it could be very bad -- or it may not impact us at all. We'll just have to wait and see.

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   1. 87

      IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Did anybody look at the link Google used on their post? contentfarm tumblr or something. It is hilarious! I haven't laughed so much for so long!

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2. 71

   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   Interesting. Sounds quite bias and appears to distort one's ability to get ranked. But, then again, what do I know.

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3. 0

   W. A. Leonposted 13 years ago

   I'd love to hear more thoughts on this issue. What does it mean? Is Google trying to shut down eHow/Demand Media, Associated Content, etc.?

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   1. 67

      lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Who knows? IMHO, eHow/Demand Media, WiseGeek, About and Suite 101 are heads and tails above Buzzle, Squidoo, InfoBarrel, Triond, Helium, et.al. mainly because they are edited sites. You don't just write whatever you want however you want and POOF! it's published. They do have strict standards and human eyes that read the articles. I really believe that sites like HubPages have to really just work harder to keep junk off of them.
      
      I also blocked Ezine Articles, GoArticles, Article Alley and most of the article marketing sites I could think of.

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      1. 60

         Enni82posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I heard about this earlier today. Not sure if it is good or bad for sites like HubPages yet...??? What is the overall consensus?

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         1. 67

            lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            From a user perspective, the darn thing is fabulous. Who knows what it will mean to any particular website down the road. I think it's a "wait and see" thing right now.

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   2. 92

      Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Not necessarily.
      
      But if 200 million people say "I don't want to see any more results form that site", yeah, it looks like that will affect their SERP.
      
      And it should.

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      1. 92

         Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         And, that is even MORE reason for HP to tighten up on the junk that gets published here.  Bad content can cause a vote against the whole site. Collect enough bad votes and we all suffer.
         
         Remember, this is Google collecting the data and they have flat out stated it is part of an effort to identify junk content.
         
         The writing is on the wall and here it is:
         
         We’ve been exploring different algorithms to detect content farms, which are sites with shallow or low-quality content. One of the signals we're exploring is explicit feedback from users
         
         ...
         
         we will study the resulting feedback and explore using it as a potential ranking signal for our search results.
         
         
         I don't think that is subject to interpretation.

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4. 57

   rieomposted 13 years ago

   I think we need to see where the dust will fall.  I have read on a forum earlier today that possibly HubPages could be ranked lower in the Google System.  I sure hope not.  I have not written many hubs but I enjoy it here.

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5. 87

   IzzyMposted 13 years ago

   http://thecontentfarm.tumblr.com/
   Here's the link. Mods feel free to remove it, but the site carried no ads - it's just a spoof site.

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   1. 79

      skyfireposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      It looks similar to eHow, About and suit101 content.

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      1. 67

         lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Those are totally eHow spoofs. They've got the template and everything down pat.

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6. 87

   IzzyMposted 13 years ago

   I wonder if a google employee put it up?

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7. 69

   ThomasEposted 13 years ago

   Seriously... I can see it now, on fiverr, "I'll block your competitors sites in chrome... for a fiver".
   
   There has to be blackhat opportunities in this

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   1. 0

      W. A. Leonposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Funny!

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8. 60

   Smart Rookieposted 13 years ago

   I think that's the heart of the issue. Sites with an editorial process scrutinize every bit of content before it's published. These sites are bound to be rated more favorably because there is no chance of running across poorly written, or spun garbage that slips under the radar.
   
   It will be interesting to see how much of an impact this Chrome extension will have.

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9. 81

   Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

   I downloaded Chrome, then threw it away after I read about cloud computing and the long arm of the government.  That may be neither here nor there.  Anyway...:
   
   I could see a high value in having an extension that allows people to bump certain websites lower in rankings without suppressing them entirely.  That is, that kind of extension in addition to the one that totally suppresses sites.

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10. 92

    Pcunixposted 13 years ago

    I think this is great. I will immediately block those annoying sites that rank well for technical questions but actually don't have good answers or demand a paid subscription to avoid a long, long section of junk to parse through before finding the answer.

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11. 92

    Pcunixposted 13 years ago

    I just blocked experts-exchange.com.
    
    It felt so GOOOD. Those results have been ticking me off for years!

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    1. 67

       lrohnerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I have a ton of sites blocked. I felt a bit like a traitor (no -- I didn't block HP), but it did feel almost as good as blocking the religion forums here.

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12. 79

    skyfireposted 13 years ago

    I simply don't get the pitch. I need to use chrome to block the autoblogs or spam site ? (Monopoly alert)
    
    
    

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    1. 92

       Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       The pitch is to help Google learn what people think useless sites are.
       
       There's no reason they couldn't do a Firefox extension too and IE.. perhaps they will.

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