Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Blogs Google Watch
    • Blogs
    • Google Watch
    • Search Engines

    Google, Methinks Thou Doth Search Too Much

    By
    Steve Bryant
    -
    June 21, 2006
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      [UPDATED: to include quotes from Yahoo and MSN.]

      Google Search is good. Maybe too good?

      Reports from the Monetize blog last weekend demonstrated that a spammer–since revealed to be a Moldavian malcontent–managed to get 5.5 billion spurious pages indexed by Google. Google has removed the pages from its index and is reportedly working on a solution, according to several sources.

      Google, however, has not returned requests for comment.

      The Moldavian spammer’s pages, which were created using a variety of readily available and easily learned techniques, were also partially indexed by Yahoo. MSN’s new live search, meanwhile, indexed less than 100 pages.

      “It is important for the entire Search industry to continue to focus on reducing spam, and this an area our development teams are working on as we build out Windows Live Search,” said Justin Omer, senior product manager for Windows Live Search, in an e-mail to Google Watch. “Our goal is to help our customers find the information they are looking for vs. useless information that clog results pages and reduces relevancy.”

      Yahoo, for its part, said in an email to Google Watch that the number of spammer pages indexed was “several orders of magnitude lower” than the numbers reported on John Battelle’s Searchblog. However, that particular entry did not specify how many spurious pages Yahoo indexed. Yahoo has not returned a request to clarify this statement.

      Representatives from Yahoo did say that “a very tiny percentage of our index was impacted by these spam sites and most of these spam sites are already eliminated. We believe our user experience was not compromised.”

      The big problem, however, remains to be Google, which apparently indexed more spurious domains faster than any other search engine.

      Some critics see Google’s indexing problem as more evidence that its core business is hurting. Others have noticed that Google is having problems with its site: operator, which allows a user to search a single domain or multiple domains for keywords.

      “Since they introduced the new infrastructure, it has been a state of constant change,” said Merge Database‘s Alex Firmani in an IM interview. “It is like swapping out the engine of a car while it is still running … in fact, going 80 mph down the highway. So now Google has swapped the engine and all sorts of flaws are showing up. Flaws that were not evident in their previous infrastructure, but are hurting the new methodology.”

      Firmani also noted that Google, which recently made major changes to its indexing engine, dropped quite a few non-spam sites from its index at the same time it was indexing the spurious results.

      In some cases, Google has also reverted to two-year-old page caches for sites.

      In April, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told The New York Times that Google’s indexing servers are running near capacity. “Those machines are full. We have a huge machine crisis.”

      The Times revealed recently that Google is building a large facility in Oregon, presumably to house more computing power.

      Steve Bryant

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×