Using search engines like Google or Yahoo is becoming no more useful than going to an old style Library, standing in front of enormous stacks of books and hoping to find a simple way to divine the answer to life's questions.

In other words, it has become frustrating and bordering on useless.  SEO engineers in an effort to show that their jobs are worthwhile, essentially by demonstrating that their algorithms are able to pump out the maximum possible answers to any given question, regardless of their relevance, have chosen to misapply their skills. They have completely missed the real purpose for their existence; to supply an answer to a question. To be a cyber-oracle, a crystal ball that holds the answer.

And all we have to do is ask the question... properly.

Now dear reader you are probably thinking to yourself that I am somehow misusing this powerful tool. I must be entering the wrong questions, or expecting too much in return from this wondrous free service.

Most of us have seen the recent ad which Microsoft has run for 'Bing'. You know, the one were someone asks an easy question and are subjected to the drone of non-sequesters in response...  "A little bit of Monica in my life....food fight!"

I have been using search engines for many years and have noticed, that whoever is in charge has decided to ignore that actual question that I have asked and answer the question that they think that I have asked. 

"NO!" You say "This can't be true!  Piffle!"

But alas the answer is there, you only have to look. I first noticed this trend on Ebay several years ago. I had devised a complicated method of searching only for the things that I was interested in on the site. When the thing that I wanted wasn't there, eBay would return a null...no answer... Satisfied I would go on about my business.

One day I booted up the 'Bitbox' typed in my search and was greeted with "Your search  for .......  did not match any documents. Did you mean?.... " and eBay had actually changed my search parameters and instead, returned answers that had nothing to do with which I was actually looking for. Rather, the satisfying 'null' response that told me that, either I had asked the question improperly or that the thing that I wanted wasn't there, was gone. Instead, I was presented with someone elses idea of what I might be looking... and they slyly changed my question. WTF!@!

I didn't know how to react. So I just got angry and quit using eBay for a time.

Most people probably don't use these sites and search engines as precisely as I do, when I am looking for something it is usually quite specific. A part number for a rare electronic device or a project that requires that I get the thing that I am looking for. Not a "Needlepoint Kit depicting Bill the Cat and Opus".

I can't lay the blame solely at the feet of eBay and Google et al. There is a cottage industry of folks out there who are using "Search Engine Optimization" techniques to guarantee that your widget will get front page placement. As a result; my search for a 2356722323 LG Stator Interrupter Module (totallymadeupanduselessnomenclaturehere) will return a hit for that a fore mentioned needlepoint kit.

**sigh**