Therea4ぎa4г been a lot of discussion about the quality of Googlea4ぎa4г search results recently, particularly its ability to filter out a4ぎAcontent farmsa4ぎ filled with low-quality articles that are written to appeal more to search engines than readers. Today, Googler Matt Cutts revealed a new weapon in the companya4ぎa4г attempt to block spammy content.
With a new extension for Googlea4ぎa4г web browser Chrome, people will be able to block websites that they dona4ぎa4д want to see anymore, presumably because the content is always useless. (You can always click a button at the bottom of your search results to show what was blocked, and you can also edit your list of blocked sites, so these decisions arena4ぎa4д permanent.) Google can then use the extension to collect data about which sites are being blocked, which it can feed back into its search results.
It seems like there are some big risks involved in letting the data shape general web search results. Google is famously secretive about the details of its ranking system, even when it announces improvements, because it doesna4ぎa4д want companies to know how to game the system. By creating such an explicit way to influence results, Google might be opening the door to content farms that hire people to download the extension and manipulate the results.
Plus, therea4ぎa4г the inherent uncertainty about why someone is blocking a site. For example, there are a number of tech news sites that I might block because their content never interests me, but that doesna4ぎa4д mean Ia4ぎa4m telling Google that the content is spammy.
At least this system seems a little harder to game, since therea4ぎa4г no way for someone to say something should be ranked more highly. So spammers might be able to attack their rivals, but if a bunch of real users block their content, therea4ぎa4г no way to erase that. Plus, Google is still being a bit cagey about its exact strategy, saying a4ぎAwill study the resulting feedback and explore using it as a potential ranking signal for our search results.a4ぎ So presumably it will find ways to avoid gaming and other irregularities, or it will just scrap the experiment if it doesna4ぎa4д seem to be working.
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Anthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.
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