Amazon affiliate clutter

[dkalweit]

Am I the only one that finds amazon affiliates selling books annoying? Every time I search in Google for certain topics, all I find is huge script sites trying to sell me Amazon books. I'm not looking for a book, I'm looking for the information IN the books-- which is freely available on the web if it was simply easier to wade through all the Amazon affiliate BS. I don't think I've found any other single thing as annoying when searching for something with Google as these Amazon BS sites... Hopefully Google will ban them soon...


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Derek

[fryman]

Maybe the problem is that you don't know how to do a good search using google's advanced options

[Nintendo]

And it's not just Amazon. There are thousands of AWS sites competing for 1st place in the results, there for Google has started de-listing A LOT of AWS site. I've lost almost all of my over 1,000,000 listings. :(

[fryman]

Well of course! Thjey all look the same, at least spend some time and put some template on them to make then unique

[dkalweit]

Maybe the problem is that you don't know how to do a good search using google's advanced options

If Google cares about having relevent results, they won't let the top 20-50 of the results for a natural term be clogged with affiliate spam, effectively. It makes the results useless.

FWIW, I use Google's advanced options every day. Sadly, there's no specific word that can be used, such as "-badspamstuff". I have, however, had better luck finding quality information by including "-fryman".......


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Derek

[fryman]

lol, you believe google cares about relevant stuff? Nah, finding what you need nowadays is a daunting task, but I don't see how banning affiliate site would help at all

[GuyFromChicago]

I have, however, had better luck finding quality information by including "-fryman".......

LMAO, I almost feel out of my chair laughing:D

(no offense fryman)

lol, you believe google cares about relevant stuff?

They care about people using Adwords first and foremost - everything else is a distant (and I mean distant) second.

[fryman]

Yup, and posting some stupid rant like "boo hoo, I hope they bann them because I can't find what I need, I'm going to tell my mommy" won't help either... :rolleyes:

[dkalweit]

LMAO, I almost feel out of my chair laughing:D

(no offense fryman)



Apparently Fryman didn't like it too much. -3 rep from my post above... who in this thread has 3 rep(I wonder how, based on every thread I've seen him in)? Hmmm....


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Derek

[mnemtsas]

"-fryman".......

Priceless!

[mnemtsas]

Maybe the problem is that you don't know how to do a good search using google's advanced options

Fryman if you actually knew dkalweit in any way shape or form you would understand the stupidity of this comment. Where do you come off trying to sound so superior? Let me just use your favorite smiley :rolleyes:

[kalius]

Maybe using : -intext:amazon would help

[fryman]

LMAO, mnemtsas, didn't know dkalweit had a bodyguard :D

Yeah, I don't know him... haven't really noticed his posts around the forum, don't know if that is a good thing or a bad one...

Anyway, my point was that just doing a simple search at Google won't get you much, you need to use all the advanced options you can if you want to narrow it and get rid of the off-topic stuff.

[RectangleMan]

This is why I use a custom aws script. Also if you are looking for a book why not just go to Amazon?

[jlawrence]

He wasn't looking for an actual book though, it sounds as though he was searching for a snippit from a book. There are sites out there that have search facilities various online books - perhaps that would be a better place to start rather than G.
As the web gets bigger and bigger, you need to get smarter and smarter with your searching. If you're not wanting amazon sites to show in the search then you need to specifically exclude them. If you do a basic search then you get all the crap back - as you should do - people have got to learn to use the tools. G has the options to allow you to exclude practically anything you want, if you don't use those options then you obviously wanted to see the crap so that's what G shows you.
G is a search engine that is aiming to cataloge everything on the net, that includes the crap as well. That's what their job is. They've provided the tools to filter results so you (in theory) only see what you want, so use those tools.

[dkalweit]

He wasn't looking for an actual book though, it sounds as though he was searching for a snippit from a book.

Specifically, I was trying to find the residential electrical code. Not quite a snippet from a book specifically, though the information is within books as well...


As the web gets bigger and bigger, you need to get smarter and smarter with your searching. If you're not wanting amazon sites to show in the search then you need to specifically exclude them. If you do a basic search then you get all the crap back - as you should do - people have got to learn to use the tools. G has the options to allow you to exclude practically anything you want, if you don't use those options then you obviously wanted to see the crap so that's what G shows you.
G is a search engine that is aiming to cataloge everything on the net, that includes the crap as well. That's what their job is. They've provided the tools to filter results so you (in theory) only see what you want, so use those tools.

Assuming that I don't know how to use the tools is an outright insult-- and that's what fryman did.

Sometimes negative search words still don't filter out the crap. Not to mention that Google is constantly doing things in the name of making better searches-- particularly natural(no negative terms) searches. Having the first 20+ results of search results stuffed with duplicate content of amazon affiliates is pathetic on their part.

Amazon affiliates rarely ever add anything to the web from a search user's perspective(having plugs for books on their site to SUPPLEMENT their content is good for visitors, but not useful to searchers who have already found the book many times over).


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Derek

[skattabrain]

if you are looking for a book why not just go to Amazon?
because money in pocket is better than money in amazons ... unless i sent the user to amazon that is.

besides .. it's my job to make sure you see my aws store at every chance i get ... and google's job to keep your search results relevant.

[tomek]

amazon shop were easy money in the past (not now anymore) - so what do you expect?

[skattabrain]

if aws sites continue to show in the serps in gerneral ... life is good, if they are in the serps ... you can be too.

however, i'm more concerned that they start to not show up anymore at all. if that happens life will be tough with aws.

[cprntr]

There are alot of site who are not amazon based but do carry a few amazon books who would be banned if google banned amazon affiliates.
How would they filter out the bad one's while keeping the good ones?

[skattabrain]

There are alot of site who are not amazon based but do carry a few amazon books who would be banned if google banned amazon affiliates.
How would they filter out the bad one's while keeping the good ones?

huge difference between "a few amazon books" and a 90% aws clone

[dkalweit]

huge difference between "a few amazon books" and a 90% aws clone

Exactly. I'm by no way a 'Google knows everything and thinks of everything' kinda guy, but I'm pretty confident they'd think of this and build technology to detect the sites that are almost purely aws scripts versus sites that promote a couple books that are relevent to their quality content...


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Derek

[Obelia]

Exactly. I'm by no way a 'Google knows everything and thinks of everything' kinda guy, but I'm pretty confident they'd think of this and build technology to detect the sites that are almost purely aws scripts versus sites that promote a couple books that are relevent to their quality content...

This seems to be an issue with their duplicate content filters, which may be getting steadily better. I honestly haven't seen so many AWS sites in the searches I've made lately. I suppose it depends on your keywords.

[skattabrain]

i honestly think they look for mass aws content and dock you for it. there is simply so much content available from aws ... on every conceivable topic ... i mean ... we are talking books here.

i think they would "have to" determine if your content is aws content to keep the serps from becoming piles of aws sites. as was the case in '04 and '05.

[noppid]

I love my Amazon Book Store (http://www.cpurigs.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=29)!