Search Results

The Google advanced search dialog still shows file types: But search using the operator filetype: and keywords no longer works. For example, filetype:xlsx attendees returns all sorts of pages. For now, you can use a workaround: filetype: will still work if your search contains either site: or inurl: operator. We can use them with the minus, essentially excluding nothing, like this: …

I have been missing a convenient tool for Google search results scraping ever since Google redesigned the output screen. The tool’s need arose from Google switching the output format to scrolling with “more results” from the previous convenient page-by-page view. The change broke the beloved Instant Data Scraper. Julia Tverskaya is our long-term Partner, Sourcer, Recruiter, and a good friend. …

image created with DALL-E Did you realize that since Google had replaced the convenient multi-page display with the "More results" button, its users have encountered fewer results? If previously we got up to ~300-450 results, now, by pressing the "More" button until there is nothing left, gets us no more than 130-140. (Searching using quotes and operators, or Verbatim does ...

As I have been reviewing the search links in the “Search Is No Longer Boolean” class, I see one obvious change: the number of results for more-or-less complex strings has dramatically declined. lisp “developer” anna jones – 10 (was 94) results lisp “engineer” anna jones – 9 (was 233) — that is 3%! lisp “engineer” OR “developer” anna jones – …

I appreciate the “code red” that Google had experienced seeing ChatGPT success. However, Bard, Google’s response to AI, is quite underwhelming. Google should have given it time and effort to mature, I think. The web is full of hilarious dialogs with Bard like ChatGPT and Bing Chat seem to know more about Google than (its own) Bart. This is ridiculous! …

The post reflects my current understanding of how Google works. I hope to share extra detail with you as we do more testing or if we hear more from Google Search people. SUMMARY When you write a search string, Google assesses whether it is: Open-ended (assuming you, the user, require assistance) or Specific, or “restrictive.” Google decides on “restrictive” in …

[Edited: apparently, there is an explanation – see Danny Sullivan‘s comments below. Bottom line: if you are a researcher, consider using quotes! My summary.] To Whom It May Concern At Google Search: There is currently a problem with Google search, specifically, quotes. It might be an unintended outcome of How we’re improving search results when you use quotes. We welcome …

If you drag an image into Google’s reverse image search, you now arrive at Google Lens. It (often): identifies an area on your photo that looks like goods for sale and produces “visual matches” (payment links to such goods) on the right. People and faces are ignored. Do you want to dress like your candidate? Use their photo (Someone joked …

It was not the case 10-15 years ago, but now, Google pays attention if you repeat a keyword or a key phrase. Repeating, in theory, should not be necessary; you would expect the same results if Google followed formal Boolean logic and displayed “all” results. However, Google puts some informal “thinking” into the string interpretation, so: If you repeat a …

Until about a week ago, Google provided us with synonyms and variations – “auto-stemming” – of every search term (unless we put it in quotes). It still does, but noticeably less so. Previously, searches like supervisor -supervisor -supervisory -supervisors gave us synonyms for the word “supervisor,” like “manager”. Now the search produces no results. Previously synonyms readily made it to …