i ask this because i have noticed lately that when i google something specific, like user reviews for a product like a laptop, all i get is results for websites that sell laptops online and for that reason in do not consider to be objective. the objectiveness of the websites aside, i have been thinking that the way the search engine works and how google funds itself through advertising, lately seems to be undermining what made google such a great search engine.

as far as i can tell the other search engines are no better.

does any one disagree about this or have noticed this at all, i can remember when the top results for my searches where always what i was looking for but lately its been links to people agressivly trying to sell products.

Top results (besides advertised results, which you should NEVER click) are determined by aggregate data of user actions (and evil SEO... but that's a story for another matter), not by Google's ads.

You need to learn to use search operators if your searches aren't returning relevant data.

I get an ad when I search sometimes and often times the top link is a website that sells the product I'm searching for. I never really notice as I usually quickly go through and find what I'm looking for. As for getting websites that sell laptops when you're searching for a review, that just makes sense. If they're selling it, they probably have some type of review system. Such as newegg.

The top couple of links, usually in a slightly different background or spacing than the rest, are ads. The rest all are legitimate links, the highest ones being the ones deemed most useful. I think Google's ads are great, they can be really useful and the targeting is spot on.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/16/bing_yahoo_malware_ads/


That's the way it's supposed to work, in reality the top 5 are dark-side SEO results...

... i wonder if thats been slowly changing, and it wasn't that i did not get results that were not relevent they were about what i was searching for but instead putting links to online sites that sell laptops. (i never click on sponsered results, there should be a Umad? version of the feeling lucky button to click on for those results)

lately my top results are sites that sell the product i google, and the non commercial sites with hard information have been on the next few pages.

Google has a policy on addition?

It's not google's doing. It's a result of user actions and http://www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk/blog/brighton-seo-2011-black-hat-john-mcelborough/

I thought everyone who regularly uses google develops an instinct on what's relevant and what's not.