How to Get Better Search Results: Seek and Hide
Google recently announced a new option that allows users to block sites from future search results. When it comes time to search for information on the same or related topic, your results won't include the sites you have blocked.
The goal of this new feature is to improve the quality of search results by weeding out websites with poor or useless content. Here's how to make this handy option work for you.
Blocking websites
You must be signed into your Google account so that your preferences can be noted and stored for future use. If you don't have an account, you can set one up with a current e-mail address and password. Once you've signed in, you'll notice the header on the webpage says "iGoogle" instead of just "Google." Now go ahead and type in your search term on Google. Look at each listing. Immediately following the Web address, you will now see three choices to refine your search instead of the usual two.
The first choice is "Cached" that, if clicked, will display an earlier version of the website corresponding to the last time Google indexed the page.
Second is "Similar" that will show a listing of similar sites when selected.
The new third option reads "block all example.com results" and when selected will block this site from appearing in future search results. You'll have an opportunity to confirm or undo your selected block before Google stores it.
The next time you’re searching and a blocked page would have appeared, you’ll see a message telling you that results have been blocked, which will appear at the top or bottom of the results page.
Change your mind?
The blacklisting of a site doesn't have to be permanent. Should you want to give a domain a second chance, you can always bring it back into the fold.
You can see a list of your blocked sites in a new settings page, which you can access by visiting your Search Settings or clicking on the “Manage blocked sites” link that appears when you block a domain.
On the settings page you can find details about the sites you’ve blocked, block new sites, or unblock sites if you’ve changed your mind .
Check your browser
The new feature will be available to people using the following browser versions: Chrome 9, Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3.5.
Not sure what browser version you are using? No problem. Chrome users can find out by clicking on the wrench icon and then on "About Chrome." Internet Explorer should click on the gear icon to access the tools menu. And finally, Firefox users can look under the help menu and select "About Mozilla Firefox."
