A WebmasterWorld thread has a story about an SEO's wife who complained to her husband that the search results on Google are poor. She asked her husband, "Is something wrong with Google? It seems like the first 6 or 7 results don't have anything to do with what I'm looking for."
This led into a conversation and discussion about the recent changes and direction Google has been heading.
In which the complaints about Google trying to predict your intention, which may lead to inaccurate results...
Tedster named this phase of Google the "Intention Engine," as a play on Bing's "Decision Engine" marketing line.
Reno, a member of the forums summed up his thoughts, describing how this point will be the downfall of Google. He said:
In a few years web historians will begin an evaluation of where Google started to get on the wrong track, or as others have said here, where Google "jumped the shark". I would suggest it was at the point where they announced that they wanted to "know what we wanted before we knew what we wanted" (that is a paraphrase from memory, not the exact quote). Telling me what I want before I "know what I want" borders on insulting, and if in fact Google management began to implement that sort of thinking within the 'plex, then it was the wrong way to go, and the current mediocre query results only drives home that point.
And Tedster, WebmasterWorld's administrator agreed, adding:
I agree, Reno - that whole "intention engine" thing is when experienced searcher began to scratch their heads. And don't get me started on query revisions. That's gone into Crazyville.
Do you feel Google's results are weaker from a year ago? Do you feel Google is acting too smart and giving us results we are not asking for?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Image from mmaxer/Shutterstock.
