Google becoming less and less useful for technical use

[DaveJ]

When I put words into Google, it is frustrating when I get pages that do not contain the words I type.

For instance, I just typed the words: report builder iif field visible

And this first result contains not a single instance of the word "visible". Instead, it has a half dozen instances of the word "visibility". This might be hard for Google to believe, but in many cases, I actually know the words that I want, so there is not really a need for Google to be think "nah this is what you really meant." Google does not even provide the traditional link to show pages with the words I typed. Putting the words in quotes makes no difference either.

Just griping. Maybe I should try another SE that *gasp* returns pages with words that are in the search box.

[ChromeFoundry]

1. Try quoting your search keywords...

"Report Builder" "IIF" field "visible"

would return much better results. You can even prefix quoted keywords with a plus sign (+) to force existence of the keyword on the page. Helpful if you have many keywords defined in your query.

[DaveJ]

2. Ok, yeah, that did work.

Thanks, I thought I'd tried that in the past and it didn't work. But now it does. Awesome.

[pscot]

3. Google is being overwhelmed by hucksters

Google searches used to turn up lots of idiosyncratic personal sites. Now everybody expects to get paid. And what are you supposed to do with 500 iterations of the wrong thing?

[Earth Bound Misfit]

4. You absolutely & succinctly nailed it. Wish I could rec your reply,

[catabryna]

5. You can also put a

plus sign in front of the word(s) that you want in your search results, or a minus sign in words you would like omitted.

Example: +coffee -french

I use quotes when I want an exact phrase.

Example: "The longest day of the year"

I do agree with you. Google's business model has destroyed a great search engine.

[mojowork_n]

6. Yes, the paid for ads are all at the top. Nothing but clutter. n/t