More effective Googling

J

Josiah

Senior Member
Location
50 miles east of Cincinnati, OH
Some of the time when I'm using Google I'm looking to buy something and getting back a list of commercial offerings is exactly what I want, but then there are other times when the subject of my search is something I'm just interested in learning about and there I don't what to see commercial offerings. It would be really nice if Google added a check box to their search box which when checked indicated you are not looking for commercial opportunities. Maybe there is a way of achieving this objective that I just don't know about.
 

By "commercial offerings", are you referring to the dozens of "pop up" ads that appear when doing most searches??? If that is the case, there is an easy solution. Install AdBlock Plus....a free program that stops 99% of these annoying "commercials". I have used it for at least 3 or 4 years, and have had no problems. Here is the web-site.

https://adblockplus.org/

Merely select the browser you are using, and download/install.
 
Don M. said:
By "commercial offerings", are you referring to the dozens of "pop up" ads that appear when doing most searches??? If that is the case, there is an easy solution. Install AdBlock Plus....a free program that stops 99% of these annoying "commercials". I have used it for at least 3 or 4 years, and have had no problems. Here is the web-site.

https://adblockplus.org/

Merely select the browser you are using, and download/install.
Click to expand...
Thanks Don M. of the adblockplus link. No I was referring to the regular links with a summary that Google returns in response to a search. Say for example I search for "light therapy lamp" I get all commercial websites but if I search for "light therapy sad" I get half commercial and half informational. I'm not sure how I should have worded my search if I wanted just informational. That;s why I'd like the non commercial check box.
 

I hear ya...I also find that when I am searching for some specific information on a given company, etc., the Official Web site is usually the 3rd or 4th URL that Google/Firefox/IE shows in the results. I have found that it is usually necessary to quickly view the listed URL's, and reject the first couple that appear, as they are little more than Advertisements. I guess this is all part of the growing trend of using the Internet as just another means of getting people to spend money needlessly....kind of like watching the TV/cable/Evening News....you have to be willing to wade through endless commercials to get any details on what is going on around the nation/world.
 
Believe me...it doesn't matter Which Browser you chose....unless you take extra steps, virtually every keystroke you make is being tracked by someone. The Absolute Worst offenders are Facebook and Twitter. How do you think that Mark Zuckerberg has become so wealthy....by selling your personal information to anyone with a dollar. Unless you have extra Spyware/Malware installed on your computer, and Anti-tracking programs running at all times, where you go on the Internet and what you do is public knowledge.

There are some good, and free, anti-tracking programs available at either CNET.com or Filehippo.com. I have used one called DNT+, which recently changed its name to Blur, for the past 3 or 4 years, and so far it has intercepted well over a half million attempts to track my moves on the Internet.
 
I'm not very fond of the google search engine either, mostly I just move further down the page till I get to links that don't include the ad logos.

I have ABP running and ghostery to set tracking and other such features, but as far as searching, google is horrid, a lot of the returns are outdated or have nothing to do with what you type in the search box. Yahoo search used to be much better but even that's not as good as it used to be and I have no love for bing, you click on some of their searches and they send you to another with more listings of other searches. ACK!
 
Google is probably the best at searches. We must also realize too that google sells advertising and is very good at placing ads where they are most effective. All search egines try to do the same thing the same way but google got there first and they are the best at both search and generating revenue. They're just trying to help you spend your money.
 
Yes, I'm familiar with how the business industry works and product placement and all that goes with it and they aren't the only ones this has been going on quite a very long time, I used to own a website years ago and remember paying my way up the line for placement, but, it has gotten out of hand. When I was using IE, yahoo was my search engine and it was close to perfection for my needs, but even now when I went to switch my search engine back to them, they aren't that great anymore. But as with many things, I mostly skip over all those first listed sites to get to what I want, but sometimes the listings are so far from what you typed in on the google search, you end up saying forget it.
 
I use this from Holland. Europe has much better privacy laws.

Ixquick Protects Your Privacy!
The only search engine that does not record your IP address.
ixquick (dot com)
 

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