Google Search Engine Workaround

by unclesam in Circuits > Computers

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Google Search Engine Workaround

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Google Search Engine can intentionally lead you astray, rather than help you find the information you need. Here are some tricks for using Google to still get what you seek. Google Search has recently been modified to maximize the owners' profit while sacrificing utility for the user. There are many other search engines available, and this Instructable is not intended to compare them to Google. This Instructable is about using Google and getting good results from it. To see my related Instructables, click on unclesam in the INFO box on the right of this page, then repeatedly click "NEXT" see them all.

Never Click on the Sponsored Links

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A Google search will have a short list of sponsored links at the top of the page of hits. These links appear solely because the owners of the sites have paid money to Google. They typically will have only a vague connection to the object of your search. Never click on any of them, they are a waste of your time.

A Typical Example

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In this example, the search term "online cd rates" has been entered into the Google search box, resulting in a short list of sponsored links at the top and many pages of other hits that follow. Google no longer ranks hits by relevancy to your search topic, they are listed in order based on money paid to Google, or by clever manipulation by the owners of the sites. You may determine which hits to explore further by reading the short description within each hit or by examining the URL listed at the bottom of the hit. In the past, you would click on the title of a hit and Google would connect you to the site described. Now, Google will often no longer take you to the desired site when you click, but lead you to completely unrelated sites that have paid money to Google. Here's how to get to where you want to go in spite of Google's diabolical manipulations.

Strike One!

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In the example, one of the hits is for www.emoneycentral.com, and its URL appears at the bottom of the hit description. A left-click on the title for that hit was routed to another site, not emoneycentral.

Strike Two!

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At another time, a left-click on the emoneycentral.com Google hit led to yet another unrelated site. You could click all day and never actually get to the desired site.

Open a Second Browser Window

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You can get the actual link to the desired site from the Google hit and enter it into a second browser window's address line. The second browser window is shown on the left and the Google search window on the right.

Copy the Shortcut

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The trick for getting to the desired site is to NOT left-click on the hit's title. Instead, right-click on the hit to get the pulldown menu shown. Scroll down and select "copy shortcut," which copies the true link onto your computer's clipboard.

Paste the Shortcut

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In the second browser window, right-click on its address line to get the dropdown menu shown. Select "paste" to put the true link from your clipboard into the browser's address box, then hit your keyboard "enter" key. If you do not get the desired result, you may need to first completely clear (delete) the address line, then right-click and "paste" the link from the clipboard into the blank address line, hit the "enter" keyboard key.

Home Run!

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You will be linked to the desired site in the second browser window, in this example www.emoneycentral.com. This procedure can be used to visit as many of the sites identified by Google, in turn, as desired, without being led to unwanted unrelated sites. There is no need to close the second browser window, just "copy shortcut" and "paste" each new Google Search link into its address line for each site you want to visit. In the example shown, you could just as well highlight www.emoneycentral.com at the bottom of the Google Search hit description, perform a "copy," then "paste" that into the second browser window address line. However, if the URL is very long for a particular hit, it will appear in abbreviated form. Merely copying then pasting an abbreviated URL will not work, so it is better to always right-click somewhere on the hit, perform "copy the shortcut," then "paste" it into the second browser window's address line. That will always take you to the desired site, then you can have a giggle at beating Google's greed.
Unclesam