Is It Me Or Is Google Less Useful?
Going through the process of setting up a new apartment in the UK, I've found myself Googling a whole bunch of things that normally I wouldn't need to. For instance, where can I find a desk and chair to set up a home office? Back in Australia I know of a bunch of different stores that would have that kind of thing so I wouldn't bother searching for it. Here though, I wind up searching for "home office furniture" and get a whole bunch of online only retailers of widely varying reliability. Even if they're all completely legit - why doesn't something like IKEA turn up when that's what all the locals recommended (somewhat grudgingly admittedly)?
Now I'm trying to find a teleconferencing provider that offers at least UK dial-in numbers - preferably a range of European countries and all Google's turning up is a bunch of "free" providers that seem to offer free calls if you just call into their premium number. Seems to be about as free as calling a psychic hotline… Maybe they could at least tell me where to find some decent furniture…
The impression I get is that if you're looking to buy anything or are generally looking for information on anything commercial Google will just feed you a bunch of spam. I'd revert to the yellow pages but it doesn't seem to know the difference between teleconferencing and telecommunications since it's categories are so broad. I've found the same problem when I've been searching for information on various printers and digital cameras - nearly all the results were from online stores rather than less biased reviews and experiences using the products. I guess those SEO guys really do have an effect - sadly it seems to be a bad one.
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:27 am
Hi Adrian,
Your last couple of posts could easily have come from my own keyboard. I recently also moved from Australia to London, and have had similar experience searching for stuff. I’m at the point where I have essentially given up on web search and reverted instead to asking the copious numbers of Aussies around here that have just done a similar thing. As for office furniture: IKEA works for something decent and cheap (although it amazes me how difficult designing a decent computer desk appears to be). Argos is similarly cheap but you can’t physically try the furniture first which was a deal-breaker for me. As for internet, I also have 3 mobile broadband and am satisfied so far. However, this is only a temporary measure as I plan to switch to Be Unlimited if/when BT figure out how to connect a phone line (it appears to be quite a challenge for them). It’s faster, uncapped and you get a static IP thrown in, all for around 20quid/month (depending on which package you choose). Friends who use it appear to be happy customers, which is a rare thing when you are first setting up all this stuff…
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:04 am
An interesting point. I’ve had a poke about on Google for the three categories you’ve mentioned and found that maps.google.com does the best job of providing only local businesses, and of course shows you where they are. Perhaps there’s still hope :-)
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:31 am
Hi Jason,
We haven’t tied into the Aussie network yet - too busy getting set up and sight seeing. BT were quite good with connecting our phone line but we went with “Be” for internet (http://www.bethere.co.uk). It only activated today but I’m quite impressed. I also discovered Argos which seems ok for technical things but definitely not furniture. We’ve built up a few contacts we can get local advise from though and I think we have pretty much everything arranged now. Here’s hoping anyway….
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:58 am
Adding geographical data (zip code or city) to your Google search string can make all the difference. For instance, instead of “home office furntiture” I searched for “office furniture London” and the first result is a local business map of office furniture stores in the London, UK area as well as standard search results that are geographically close.. Cheers!
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:56 am
If you decide buy furniture from IKEA make sure the size of the /pre-assembled/ package fits through your door/hallway/window. We ordered a couch that “requires assembly” expecting it to at least somewhat flat-packed like everything else we’ve ordered from them, only to find that by “requires assembly” they meant you have to put the cushions on yourself. Of course the thing didn’t fit into our lounge and we had to send it back. We were promised a refund but nearly two months and 5 phone calls later that hasn’t arrived. A work colleague of mine said it took her 8 months to get her refund from IKEA when they sent her a couch with two arms in different colours.
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:45 am
> Seems to be about as free as calling a psychic hotline… Maybe they could at least tell me where to find some decent furniture.
hahahahahaha
Yeah, SEO is evil.
http://www.dpreview.com has been recommended to me for camera reviews.
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:02 am
Simple answer to google and ikea: ikea don’t have a website where you can buy. Nor even one where you can select what you want and order it by phone. Utterly useless if (like me) you don’t happen to have a local branch. So I wouldn’t blame google for not finding them.
If you get a bunch of crap from google, you probably picked a phrase the “seo” snake-oil merchants have targeted. Try something more specific and less spammed.
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Pete,
Fortunately the apartment came pre-furnished so we neither need to move couches in or out. The desk and chair were very much flat pack go get it yourself stuff.
ddoctor, yep I know about dpreview but it’s very technical reviews rather than experiences of real people who have used the camera.s
niq, sometimes it’s hard to make a phrase more specific - I added in location specific terms etc but the reality is I’m looking for a desk and chair for a home office. There are just a few areas that the SEO nonsense has gone so far that it’s reducing the value of search results. Also, IKEA UK actually do have an online store that lets you buy stuff though that came as a surprise to me. In large part I think it’s interesting because this is a key example of where Google isn’t the little text box on the internet that finds everything you need to know. It simply can’t handle giving you the “obvious” information about a local area (or even nation wide) when you want offline results more than online. Not exactly a search engine’s aim either but Google do want to make the world’s information available…
It’s worth mentioning that I didn’t just do one search - I spent a fair bit of time trying different terms etc and generally I’m quite good at using Google to find stuff, even if it is obscure. There just aren’t many keywords you can add to a search to filter it down to only companies where you can go and actually sit on the chair.