im getting wikipedia as number one for news searches. What gives?
santapaws
10:02 am on Dec 5, 2011 (gmt 0)
ok im now seeing for some searches the top web result is shown at the top of the news results with an <hr> line under it. Scratch my head time. You have a dedicated button for news stories then show a web result as top spot?
Andem
7:32 pm on Dec 5, 2011 (gmt 0)
Google used to say that wikinews was not fit for listing in Google News because it lacked journalistic integrity. So quickly has Google changed its view.
santapaws
9:43 pm on Dec 5, 2011 (gmt 0)
they are showing regular wikipedia not wikinews. But im now seeing its actually showing the regular web result as number one for news if its strong for the search term. I dont understand why given that im searching for news.
Andem
10:08 pm on Dec 5, 2011 (gmt 0)
@santapaws: It is exactly the same concept. Neither service provide reliable information. Though like most news organizations, both are very partisan. Wikinews and Wikipedia are a web 2.0 version of those old FFA link pages from the 90s, except much more organized.
santapaws
11:43 pm on Dec 5, 2011 (gmt 0)
yes please dont focus on wikipedia. Its any site that is very strong for the search phrase will be shown on the news results even though they are not news sites. You search for news and get a normal website. Thats the point. Is google on a mission to show you everything except what you are looking for unless its an ad? If i go on google news then i want news stories. If i go on videos i dont expect images. same concept.
Andem
11:35 am on Dec 6, 2011 (gmt 0)
I'm not disagreeing with you santapaws. I was just pointing out Google's old policy of only showing real, verified news sources in news searches. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I remember griping about seeing low-quality scrapers dominating news search results in the financial sector a month ago.
I also agree that ads are becoming a lot more relevant than the actual search results these days.
