Last couple of months, it seems like Google suggest wants to complete searches at the word level, rather than the phrase level.
This is really irritating to me, because I often use the Suggest feature as a sort of “sanity check” - that I’m on the right track for what I’m searching for, since others have searched for the same phrase. But now it looks like Google will autocomplete your search words even if they never occur together.
For example, start typing in the search box: straightdope throatwarbler man
As soon as you hit “man”, it offers “mangrove”. I think previously it wouldn’t have offered that suggestion since “straightdope” and “throatwarbler mangrove” aren’t search terms that commonly occur together.
This has hugely decreased the value of Google Suggest to me, to the point of making it almost useless.
Anyone else experienced this? Anyone get what I mean?
I am not entirely sure I do get what you mean. Is there something else likely to follow “throatwarbler” apart from “mangrove”?
That said, Google is indeed getting more and more useless. The way things are going, before long it will be impossible to search for “throatwarbler” followed by anything else apart from “mangrove”.:rolleyes:
Incidentally, as was determined in a Café Society thread not too long ago (sorry, I can’t be bothered to tussle with Google, let alone the Dope’s search in order to find it), the original name used by Python’s Graham Chapman (as opposed to the well known Doper) was Throatwobbler Mangrove (or as it is more correctly spelled, Luxury Yacht).
Yeah, I guess the "-" operator still works, for now. Not the "+" any more, though, and if Google thinks some of your search terms are too weird it often now either automatically “corrects” them without notification, or simply ignores them. And yes, even if you put them in quotes. (Sometimes quotes work like + used to, but not always. The worst of it is that the rules are not clear or clearly consistent any more).
And the latest thing, I can’t even change my search settings from default without signing in so Big Brother can track me everywhere. And I can’t get to Scholar anymore without three clicks and a scroll.
I used to love Google, not so long ago, but recently I am getting to hate it. But these days, since virtually all the competition except the heavily subsidized and even more commercialized Bing has been squashed (whilst Google was masquerading as the good guys), TINA.
I realize this post is more IMHO than GQ, but, frankly, I think that is probably where the OP should have been anyway.
I completely agree (getting to hate it) and was thinking the same thing yesterday. Wishing I had the control I did long ago with Alta Vista for those searches that aren’t just a quick simple one.
To the point of wondering what I can do to programmatically use google as a base but get me to the results I really am searching for.
Since Google started blocking Scroogle, I use StartPage, which uses Google and which is run by ixquick. From ixquick’s about:
StartPage uses Google’s search conventions. I’m not sure whether ixquick does, because it’s search page is of the “advanced” variety, so I’ve not bothered to experiment.
I was pleasantly surprised at ixquick. I’ve turned to it often since Google’s steady drift downhill and the loss of the dependable Scroogle.
Not really. GQ is for questions with factual answers, and that’s exactly what I was looking for: has Google changed the behavior of “Suggest”? A factual answer might be, for example, “Yes - here’s a post on the Google blog explaining it.” Despite extensive googling (oh, the irony) I couldn’t find any such announcement.
Others are welcome to offer their opinions on Google’s decline, and on alternatives to Google, but that wasn’t the question I was asking.
you guys haven’t noticed that Google now offers to complete whatever word you’ve started typing, and then only after that offers search suggestions? Sure, you only notice it when you type directly into Google itself, and not some search bar, but it’s there. It’s like a cellphone’s autocomplete.
I think this is closer to what I’m describing - and I’m pretty sure Google didn’t use to work that way. I remember it only used to complete phrases, which was much more useful to me at least. I know how to spell individual words, but sometimes the phrasing of a search query is more difficult. The fact that Google now “confirms” that every word I’m typing is valid, without attention to context, decreases its value for me.
[IMHO part]: I agree that Google has, or is in the process of, jumping the shark. With all the extra clutter on the home screen, “bubbling”, including social networking search results in a desperate attempt to push Google+ - well, those are exactly the things that other search engines did, until Google came along witht their single text box and “submit” button, and stole the market. (Plus extremely relevant search results, of course.)
What bugs me is that if your mouse happens to be in the vicinity of the search box while you’re typing, it’ll automatically assume you’re typing whichever suggestion your mouse happens to be over. This has led me to many moments of “Wait, that’s not what I typed at all!”.
Are you signed in to any Google service? This can make a different in your search results. If you’re signed in to gmail for example, it will default to a “personal search.” You have to click a button on the right to see search results form everyone.
I wish there was a “Google Simple” option to present just the basic, old-school Google page.
Barring that, how the $#@%! do I get rid of that $$!!_!Y@-ing web page preview?! I don’t mean how do I get rid of one that pops up, I mean how do I go back to a one-column layout? I DO NOT use the preview function at all. Never. It is wholly useless to me and does nothing but take up screen real estate and annoy the fuck out of me–it’s terribly visually distracting.
If you’re running Firefox, the NoScript add-on can do that automatically.
A different Firefox add-on, Prefbar, includes a check box at the top of the screen to turn JavaScript off with a click (though if you go to a page with it turned on, then turn if off, you’d have to reload the page).
Thanks. I’d like to keep Google.com and gstatic for other services and switching them on/off is a PITA (unless NoScript can remember settings on a per-page basis even after a browser restart). Plus, that takes care of the blinky-blinky (which may be worth it after all) but still leaves the results crammed into a *quarter *of my available screen.
Yes, it does. NoScript (scroll down for the About and user reviews) is a PITA for the first session or so, until all the pages you usually visit are set up the way you want them — JavaScript, Java, Flash on or off for each. After that, it’s clear sailing.
All that being said and FWIW, I use Prefbar and its JavaScript check box instead, since Prefbar gives me instant access to cookie control and much else. Not that I couldn’t run both. Maybe I should.