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digitalmars.D - Google is apparently now better at searching programming-related

reply Andrej Mitrovic <andrej.mitrovich gmail.com> writes:
https://9to5google.com/2017/03/02/google-search-technical-queries-programming-languages/

I just used a private session and opened google, searched for "d 
libs" and the first three results were the DWiki and a Github 
project, https://wiki.dlang.org/Libraries_and_Frameworks, 
https://wiki.dlang.org/GUI_Libraries, and 
https://github.com/zhaopuming/awesome-d.

Pretty decent!

I don't know what it looked like before, but I do know a lot of 
people complain about D being unsearchable. I also heard these 
complaints about Go as well, so D isn't alone in this.

If any of you have had issues with searching for D, could you 
give us an update on whether these rolled-out changes by Google 
have had any effect?
Mar 02 2017
next sibling parent Inquie <Inquie data1.com> writes:
On Thursday, 2 March 2017 at 22:17:44 UTC, Andrej Mitrovic wrote:

 https://9to5google.com/2017/03/02/google-search-technical-queries-programming-languages/

 I just used a private session and opened google, searched for 
 "d libs" and the first three results were the DWiki and a 
 Github project, 
 https://wiki.dlang.org/Libraries_and_Frameworks, 
 https://wiki.dlang.org/GUI_Libraries, and 
 https://github.com/zhaopuming/awesome-d.

 Pretty decent!

 I don't know what it looked like before, but I do know a lot of 
 people complain about D being unsearchable. I also heard these 
 complaints about Go as well, so D isn't alone in this.

 If any of you have had issues with searching for D, could you 
 give us an update on whether these rolled-out changes by Google 
 have had any effect?


The proper term to use for google is dlang. When I use that I 
rarely have issues finding what I need.
Mar 02 2017
prev sibling parent reply Ola Fosheim =?UTF-8?B?R3LDuHN0YWQ=?= writes:
On Thursday, 2 March 2017 at 22:17:44 UTC, Andrej Mitrovic wrote:

 https://9to5google.com/2017/03/02/google-search-technical-queries-programming-languages/

 I just used a private session and opened google, searched for 
 "d libs" and the first three results were the DWiki and a 
 Github project,


Not sure what you mean by private session, but they build up a 
model of your fields of interest which is why you are getting 
relevant results.

I get those same results when using my regular browser, but when 
using another browser I get "ad lib" etc, nothing about 
programming.
Mar 02 2017
next sibling parent reply Andrej Mitrovic <andrej.mitrovich gmail.com> writes:
On Friday, 3 March 2017 at 07:51:06 UTC, Ola Fosheim Grøstad 
wrote:

 I get those same results when using my regular browser, but 
 when using another browser I get "ad lib" etc, nothing about 
 programming.


You may be right. :)

I mistakenly thought the lack of cookies would be enough to get 
clean results. So much for that!
Mar 03 2017
next sibling parent reply "Nick Sabalausky (Abscissa)" <SeeWebsiteToContactMe semitwist.com> writes:
On 03/03/2017 04:50 AM, Andrej Mitrovic wrote:

 On Friday, 3 March 2017 at 07:51:06 UTC, Ola Fosheim Grøstad wrote:

 I get those same results when using my regular browser, but when using
 another browser I get "ad lib" etc, nothing about programming.


 You may be right. :)

 I mistakenly thought the lack of cookies would be enough to get clean
 results. So much for that!


startpage.com is another way to get clean (or at least clean-ish) 
results. Although, it's conceivable (probable?) it's really giving out 
results based on a "user" that's really an aggregate of startpage.com's 
users.
Mar 03 2017
parent Ola Fosheim Grostad <ola.fosheim.grostad gmail.com> writes:
On Friday, 3 March 2017 at 18:28:50 UTC, Nick Sabalausky 
(Abscissa) wrote:

 startpage.com is another way to get clean (or at least 
 clean-ish) results. Although, it's conceivable (probable?) it's 
 really giving out results based on a "user" that's really an 
 aggregate of startpage.com's users.


I'm getting completly different results from startpage.com too... 
But I assume Google also have geographical bias... Too much AI...
Mar 03 2017
prev sibling parent XavierAP <n3minis-git yahoo.es> writes:
On Friday, 3 March 2017 at 09:50:58 UTC, Andrej Mitrovic wrote:

 On Friday, 3 March 2017 at 07:51:06 UTC, Ola Fosheim Grøstad 
 wrote:

 I get those same results when using my regular browser, but 
 when using another browser I get "ad lib" etc, nothing about 
 programming.


 You may be right. :)

 I mistakenly thought the lack of cookies would be enough to get 
 clean results. So much for that!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble

If you're looking for a search engine that doesn't "track" or 
"bubble" you (and it's quite good too), try duckduckgo.com

https://duckduckgo.com/privacy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuckDuckGo

If you want to get neutral results from Google in particular (as 
far as possible), duckduckgo has "bang" searches, for example 
searching for "!g dlang" redirects to a Google search of "dlang" 
in https and as anonymous as Google allows.

https://duckduckgo.com/bang
Mar 04 2017
prev sibling parent reply Vladimir Panteleev <thecybershadow.lists gmail.com> writes:
On Friday, 3 March 2017 at 07:51:06 UTC, Ola Fosheim Grøstad 
wrote:

 Not sure what you mean by private session, but they build up a 
 model of your fields of interest which is why you are getting 
 relevant results.


Most browsers have a private browsing mode, which separates 
cache/cookies/etc. from your regular browsing. Doing this will 
usually allow you to temporarily reset your filter bubble.


 I get those same results when using my regular browser, but 
 when using another browser I get "ad lib" etc, nothing about 
 programming.


You might be hitting a different Google server. It's a common 
misconception that all search queries go through the same 
algorithm and database all the time; I remember reading somewhere 
that Google might have up to hundreds of variations of search 
algorithms available at any single point in time.

The results I get on all browsers (incl. my cell phone in a 
private session on 3G):

1. "Libraries and Frameworks" on our wiki
2. awesome-d
3. D-Lib Magazine (unrelated to D).

I think Google has a local data center here in Moldova, so it's 
likely that all my search queries go there.

I do get a "Did you mean" suggestion for "ad libs", is that what 
you meant?
Mar 04 2017
parent reply XavierAP <n3minis-git yahoo.es> writes:
On Saturday, 4 March 2017 at 11:16:17 UTC, Vladimir Panteleev 
wrote:

 Most browsers have a private browsing mode, which separates 
 cache/cookies/etc. from your regular browsing. Doing this will 
 usually allow you to temporarily reset your filter bubble.


As Andrej said above, clearing cookies (or browsing privately) 
had not been enough, although it might have some partial effect, 
or not. Google try their best and they may track individual IP 
addresses (even dynamic) or whatever data is available to them, 
besides localizing results per countries and regions of course.
Mar 04 2017
parent reply Vladimir Panteleev <thecybershadow.lists gmail.com> writes:
On Saturday, 4 March 2017 at 11:26:31 UTC, XavierAP wrote:

 Google try their best and they may track individual IP 
 addresses (even dynamic)


I am not going to debate this but it might be worth considering 
that this is simply not true, as far as search result 
customization goes.
Mar 04 2017
next sibling parent reply Vladimir Panteleev <thecybershadow.lists gmail.com> writes:
On Saturday, 4 March 2017 at 11:29:05 UTC, Vladimir Panteleev 
wrote:

 worth considering that


worth considering the possibility that*
Mar 04 2017
parent XavierAP <n3minis-git yahoo.es> writes:
On Saturday, 4 March 2017 at 11:30:44 UTC, Vladimir Panteleev 
wrote:

 On Saturday, 4 March 2017 at 11:29:05 UTC, Vladimir Panteleev 
 wrote:

 worth considering that


 worth considering the possibility that*


I almost always consider that anything may not be true, and I am 
definitely considering it whenever I use the verb "may" ;)

More than speculation, my concern was Andrej's report that 
clearing cookies was not enough, or whether you or anyone knows 
for a fact if it's false or true, or any additional test people 
may do to shed light. Specially since most mechanisms used by 
most search engines have secret elements in this aspect -- the 
Wikipedia article on filter bubbles does not provide any 
information about the mechanisms, just the effects.
Mar 04 2017
prev sibling parent Ola Fosheim =?UTF-8?B?R3LDuHN0YWQ=?= writes:
On Saturday, 4 March 2017 at 11:29:05 UTC, Vladimir Panteleev 
wrote:

 On Saturday, 4 March 2017 at 11:26:31 UTC, XavierAP wrote:

 Google try their best and they may track individual IP 
 addresses (even dynamic)


 I am not going to debate this but it might be worth considering 
 that this is simply not true, as far as search result 
 customization goes.


Maybe I typed "d lib" instead of "d libs", but Google is doing 
regional IP based changes to results.
Mar 04 2017