First Google made over its algorithm to deal with content farms. Now, the search engine giant is experimenting with another way to help you personalize your search results. This time, the aim is to help you block sites you don't want to see -- for whatever reason.
"You've probably had the experience where you've clicked a result and it wasn't quite what you were looking for. Many times you'll head right back to Google," Amay Champaneria and Beverly Yang, search quality engineers at Google, wrote in a blog post. "Perhaps the result just wasn't quite right, but sometimes you may dislike the site in general, whether it's offensive, pornographic or of generally low quality."
Blocking Porn
The latter is what Google is working to address with a new option that blocks particular domains from future search results. The new feature is rolling out now on google.com in English for people using Chrome 9 or higher, Internet Explorer 8 or higher and Firefox 3.5 or higher.
Here's how it works: When you click a result and then return to Google, you will find a new link next to "Cached" that reads "Block all example.com results." After you click the link, you will get a confirmation message, along with the opportunity to undo the ban if it was an accident. The blocked domains are connected to your Google Account, so you have to be signed in to use the new feature.
"Once you've blocked a domain, you won't see it in your future search results," the Googlers wrote. "The next time you're searching and a blocked page would have appeared, you'll see a message telling you results have been blocked, making it easy to manage your personal list of blocked sites. This message will appear at the top or bottom of the results page depending on the relevance of the blocked pages."
Staying Ahead of Bing
Google said it's adding the feature based on the belief that giving you more control over the results you find will make for a better search experience. Essentially, Google is at once trying to address spam or low quality content and allow for greater personalization and user control, explained Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence.
The innovation follows a toolbar plug-in recently introduced on Google's Chrome browser, where users can block sites, and a companion to the "farmer" algorithm update which seeks to demote and penalize low-quality sites.
"Users who block specific sites will provide Google with valuable information about spam and low-quality domains that Google can factor back into its algorithm. It's real time human editing of search results," Sterling said. "Most people are unlikely to use the feature extensively but Google's audience is so larger that Google will receive a lot of data back. Ultimately Google is acting in its own self interest to protect the quality of page one search results and stay one step ahead of Bing."
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