Thursday, March 10, 2011

Google Lets Users Block Sites

Search engine giant Google, in what might be a preview of a way for users to help filter out low quality web results, said Thursday that it has begun allowing user to block results from sites they do not want to see. Google--which said it is not yet using the data in search results, but will be looking at the data from the program--said the blocked sites will be linked to a user's Google account. Google said the feature should allow users to remove sites they dislike, whether because it is offensive, low quality, or otherwise. Google said it is not currently using that data to affect ranking of pages, but it will be looking at the data to see if the feature will be useful in the future. The move follows a recent major change to the firm's algorithm, designed to filter out what it calls "content farm"--sites which specifically create content to rank highly in search engine results. Those recent changes have been aimed at sites like Santa Monica-based Mahalo.com.

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