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deltron3030 | 4 years ago

I'm wondering how you guys are searching, do you type in short word combinations like 20yrs ago or full sentences and questions? Thing is Google values search intent above anything else right now, and if you don't show clear intent they have to guess, and the selection of search results will be mixed in consequence.

Here's a up to date PDF from Google explaining search intent:

https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterh...

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DoingIsLearning|4 years ago

Very useful info but that reads like Apple's "you're using it wrong" press releases.

In my experience Natural Language queries return very poor results except when you are doing a largely popular search.

It is also far more verbose to write: "What is the frequency of the ultrasonic driver in phacoemulsification?"

Instead of: "Phacoemulsification+resonant"

The second query is shorter and gives me a correct answer in ddg whereas google returns irrelevant results mixed in with a long lists of patents.

deltron3030|4 years ago

Sorry but you're holding it wrong if you don't search intentful enough.

NL queries return poor results if the content creator didn't create it with searchers in mind. Most of these sites also often have a very poor UX.

There's of course a larger incentive to optimize for popular stuff, especially when there's commercial intent (or implied commercial intent by the absence of informational intent).

Bad search results can be opportunities, and many new bloggers focus on this right now which is why they often appear first in search results before the actual experts.

But it would only take experts to improve their content to outrank them because expertise and trust are also ranking factors right behind UX, and if you have both you win. Expertise alone just isn't enough.