Robert_Charlton - 5:26 pm on Oct 23, 2010 (gmt 0)

When I type the fourth word I get spammy titles. Could it be this simple? The reason we can't find stuff as easily is because via the algorithm they don't want us to?

Yes, this is one aspect of the point I was making... but you could also view this behavior as a flaw in the system. It might also be expected behavior that falls within a margin of error one of Google's patent says they could live with. This is my untutored interpretation of the wording, and I have to revisit it. Still haven't managed to do that and get to the title thread.

Also, I posted a couple of weeks ago on Google's explanations/justifications of query modification. I'd expected more discussion to follow....

Google query modification - the official word
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4212716.htm [webmasterworld.com]

I'd love to see at least a "leave it alone" button in the advanced search options. That might now be a lot harder for Google than it sounds, as the new indexing system in part is intended to save storage space and processing time and to discourage highly unlikely queries.