Is Google wildcard search severely broken right now?
Thread poster: Artem Vakhitov
Artem Vakhitov
Artem Vakhitov  Identity Verified
Kyrgyzstan
English to Russian
+ ...
Nov 17, 2016

Suddenly, a search string such as "that * is most popular" returns 7 hits for me. Is that normal?

 
Mikhail Kropotov
Mikhail Kropotov  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:33
English to Russian
+ ...
I get 3 pages Nov 17, 2016

Artem Vakhitov wrote:

Suddenly, a search string such as "that * is most popular" returns 7 hits for me. Is that normal?


Aren't you missing 'the' before 'most'?


 
Artem Vakhitov
Artem Vakhitov  Identity Verified
Kyrgyzstan
English to Russian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Strange Nov 17, 2016

Mikhail Kropotov wrote:

Artem Vakhitov wrote:

Suddenly, a search string such as "that * is most popular" returns 7 hits for me. Is that normal?


Aren't you missing 'the' before 'most'?


No, I'm not, because in this case I mean smth. like "it's no secret that (among all places) X are most popular in Y area".
Besides, the variant with "the" returns 11 hits.

[Edited at 2016-11-17 19:29 GMT]


 
Mikhail Kropotov
Mikhail Kropotov  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:33
English to Russian
+ ...
Still I get more than 11 Nov 17, 2016

See the screenshot: http://dl2.joxi.net/drive/2016/11/17/0001/1619/124499/99/13938ca482.png

 
Artem Vakhitov
Artem Vakhitov  Identity Verified
Kyrgyzstan
English to Russian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Curiouser and curiouser Nov 17, 2016



Now I get 31 hits total for this variant, of which 11 are real and all the rest aren't exact.
Without "the", it's now 20 hits total, of which 2 are proper.

Bummer.


 
Natalie
Natalie  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 15:33
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...

Moderator of this forum
SITE LOCALIZER
I get Nov 17, 2016

1,290,000,000 hits:

most popular


 
Mirko Mainardi
Mirko Mainardi  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 15:33
Member
English to Italian
Look at the bottom of the page Nov 17, 2016

Natalie wrote:

1,290,000,000 hits:



Yeah, Google does that... but if you look at the bottom of the page you should only see 3 pages, and if you click on the third, you'll get the actual number of hits (22 in my case).

Even when you do a search and get a lot of pages, if you keep moving toward the last page, sometimes you realize the results/pages actually shown are much less than those mentioned on the first page.


 
Artem Vakhitov
Artem Vakhitov  Identity Verified
Kyrgyzstan
English to Russian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Even if you're getting slightly more hits Nov 17, 2016

Even if you're getting slightly more hits than I am, doesn't it seem to you that this number is too low anyway?

[Edited at 2016-11-17 20:09 GMT]


 
Rolf Keller
Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 15:33
English to German
Google is different Nov 18, 2016

Artem Vakhitov wrote:

Even if you're getting slightly more hits than I am, doesn't it seem to you that this number is too low anyway?


Google treats "that" as a stop word in English, anyway.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stop_word_list/google_stop_word_list

So the results may differ depending on the search language.

Apart of that, there is another issue: As "is" and "most" are stop words as well, your scheme might fail.

In order to complicate things further, Google uses a special algorithm to deliver hits in certain cases where a certain stop word is meaningful.
https://www.quora.com/What-constitutes-a-stop-word-in-the-context-of-a-Google-search

Whether we like it or not: Google Search is no machine that delivers exactly predictable results. Google want to sell ads, that's Google's business. Ads are for the bulk of the population, so the search algorithms are tailored to this clientele. Translators etc are fare dodger only.


 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Is Google wildcard search severely broken right now?






Protemos translation business management system
Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!

The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.

More info »
TM-Town
Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business

Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.

More info »