# How to better use search engines? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-better-use-search-engines/358639 "2006-05-29T18:08:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-better-use-search-engines/358639/1 "2006-05-29T18:08:52Z")
I’m having a bit of trouble with search engines - any search engine. If I try and search for anything that is remotely saleable, I get flooded with hits for price comparison sites - Kelkoo, Pricerunner et al. This is consistent across multiple machines and both at home and at work, so I’m pretty sure it’s me doing something or not doing something. The machines have been checked for spyware and hijackers. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-better-use-search-engines/358639/2 "2006-05-29T18:11:59Z")
What’s the purpose of your search? Are you trying to buy something, or looking for more info on a subject - can you give an example? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-better-use-search-engines/358639/3 "2006-05-29T18:12:42Z")
Can you give us an example of the kinds of things you’re looking for and the exact search terms you used, and on which engine? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-better-use-search-engines/358639/4 "2006-05-29T18:35:22Z")
And, of course, the moment I test the examples I was going to post, Google, [Ask.com](http://Ask.com), and Altavista behave themselves. Typical. But basically, if I include a search term that might be something for sale, then I get lots of junk results, like the one below from Google: \>\>\> Uk Release Date For Battlestar Galactica Season 2 DvdUk Release Date For Battlestar Galactica Season 2 Dvd at [Freeskills.com](http://Freeskills.com). We have hundreds of online tutorials in a wide range of topics. [tutorials.freeskills.com/ps/uk\_release\_](http://tutorials.freeskills.com/ps/uk_release_) date\_for\_battlestar\_galactica\_season\_2\_dvd.htm - 26k - Cached - Similar pages \>\>\> This is clearly an autogenerated page which leads to nothing to do with BSG. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-better-use-search-engines/358639/5 "2006-05-29T18:36:48Z")
Bother - accidentally hit Submit. That result was from Google, searching on ‘battlestar galactica season 2 dvd -“Season 1” UK release date’. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-better-use-search-engines/358639/6 "2006-05-29T18:41:52Z")
“Release date is set for 14th August. Get your pre-orders ready!” - second hit I get, from [Digital Spy](http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=359665). The third hit is the one you quoted. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-better-use-search-engines/358639/7 "2006-05-29T18:45:10Z")
If I was getting spammed with fake pages, probably my next strategy would be to remove the whole “battlestar gallactica” part and just do “DVD releases UK” and see if I could find a site that did just that. Failing that, Wikipedia’s external links for the BSG might lead somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-better-use-search-engines/358639/8 "2006-05-29T19:00:45Z")
As **jjimm** mentions, that seems to be the real results Google gives you for [that search](http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=battlestar+galactica+season+2+dvd+-%22Season+1%22+UK+release+date&btnG=Google+Search&meta=). Unfortunately, Google isn’t 100% at detecting ‘fake’ pages like that, where auto-generated content is passing for useful stuff. I most often run in to this problem when searching for anime titles or… other stuff. 😉 Short of firebombing the ISPs who allow that crap, I’m not sure what one can do. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-better-use-search-engines/358639/9 "2006-05-29T20:00:47Z")
I have the same problem and I can give y’all a good example. I’m looking for sold-out shoes called “Rosy” by the designer “Betsey Johnson”. So I type in “Betsey Johnson shoes Rosy” and get [this](http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=betsey+johnson+shoes+rosy&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t&x=wrt). Pretty much every single link, save the ebay one and the Zappos one, is a fake page which if you click through, you get the sold-out page on Zappos (the largest and most popular shoe retailer on the web). Everytime I look for a specific shoe, if Zappos has carried it, I get a few real shopping pages like shopzilla and yahoo and the tons of fake pages. Why does this happen? Do the fake pages get money for click-thrus? It’s often a weird page too, like “[greatest-love-poems.com](http://greatest-love-poems.com)”. I guess these pages compile lists of teh inventory at Zappos and hope they get a hit? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2006, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-better-use-search-engines/358639/10 "2006-09-16T07:42:04Z")
It seems that someone has done something about it: > **[DuckDuckGo — Privacy, simplified.](https://duckduckgo.com/)** > > The Internet privacy company that empowers you to seamlessly take control of your personal information online, without any tradeoffs.