Google changed its search algorithm? Or is it just me?

[bobalot]

I noticed my searches have a whole bunch of worthless links that come up as the first links. For example when I used to go to PZ Myers blog (He's relatively famous on the internet for his anti ID stuff), I used to just type "PZ Myers" into the search, and the wiki article and his blog used to come up as #1 and #2. Now literally the first page is full of bullshit links.

Linka

It is the same for this site by Steve Keen, he has a economics blog that I like to read. Used to be the first link when I previously searched for it, now it's nowhere to be found under a search.

Linka

Like have I done something stupid here or has something changed?

[bobalot]

I'm finding google search at the moment totally useless. I just tried the New York Times and it didn't come up on the first page. Just bullshit links to sites like "teensearcher"

[General Zod]

What makes you think Google's changed anything, as opposed to the overall search trends changing?

[Darth Onasi]

Seems fine to me.
Perhaps you've got some malware that's redirecting searches to spam sites.

[bobalot]

What makes you think Google's changed anything, as opposed to the overall search trends changing?

Well, Just tried the same searches on yahoo and they came up fine.

PZ myers -> his wiki article and his website #1 and #2.
Steve Keen's Debtwatch -> first link that came up.
New york times -> first link that came up.

My problems with google at the moment. I guess I'm going to to have stick with Yahoo.

[General Zod]

What makes you think Google's changed anything, as opposed to the overall search trends changing?

Well, Just tried the same searches on yahoo and they came up fine.

PZ myers -> his wiki article and his website #1 and #2.
Steve Keen's Debtwatch -> first link that came up.
New york times -> first link that came up.

My problems with google at the moment. I guess I'm going to to have stick with Yahoo.

Spyware is always a possibility as mentioned above. But search engines are always making modifications to their algorithms, so it's possible that something has changed, or maybe not. I don't think anyone here would be able to really say for certain.

[bobalot]

Shit, just looked through my startup files on msconfig and found something called "Googleupdate.exe". I'm pretty sure it's malware.

[General Zod]

Shit, just looked through my startup files on msconfig and found something called "Googleupdate.exe". I'm pretty sure it's malware.

It's not Malware. It's apart of various Google utilities like GoogleEarth, the Toolbar and Chrome (possible any of those are affecting your results), but unfortunately Google were dicks when they wrote it and made it a bitch to uninstall. There's various articles on the web detailing how to get rid of it if you don't need it though.

[bobalot]

Ah, right. Well, I just ran some anti spyware programs. Couldn't find anything. Maybe they just changed how their search engine works. Totally sucky for me though.

Thanks for your help.

[Bounty]

It's not Google, it's you. When I put in the search terms I get the exact same content - but the links under the blurbs go to the correct sites, not the spam junk that your browser has been redirected to. Something is hijacking your search results and putting in new links, either through your browser or through that proxy you appear to be using.

But hey, by all means keep blaming your shitty security on Google. I'm sure if you whine loud enough about "search algorithms" the problem will go away!

[Beowulf]

Yeah, it's your shitty ass computer. There's nothing wrong with Google.

[Shogoki]

Just here to confirm that Google is fine, and yes, something is hijacking your results.

[bobalot]

But hey, by all means keep blaming your shitty security on Google. I'm sure if you whine loud enough about "search algorithms" the problem will go away!

I wasn't whining. Like where did I blame google? Like for fucks sake the title of this thread is "Google changed its search algorithm? Or is it just me? ". I asked, and someone pointed out that search engines change their search algorithms all the time. I ran Spy Bot and Adaware and came up with nothing so I assumed nothing was wrong. No reason to act like a shithead.

Just here to confirm that Google is fine, and yes, something is hijacking your results.

I will run that online cleaner Housecall and see what happens.

[apocolypse]

Do you happen to use Facebook by any chance? I saw a head's up that there's some virus called "Koobface" that's apparently been more rampant than other previous attempts. The reason I ask is because one of the symptoms is that it hijacks all search engines such as (Google obviously being one) and redirects users to "contaminated sites" as it's called when they try to run a search.

[bobalot]

Do you happen to use Facebook by any chance? I saw a head's up that there's some virus called "Koobface" that's apparently been more rampant than other previous attempts. The reason I ask is because one of the symptoms is that it hijacks all search engines such as (Google obviously being one) and redirects users to "contaminated sites" as it's called when they try to run a search.

No, I don't use facebook. It's a bit weird because it only seems to effect google, not Yahoo. It's not forcing you to actually redirect, it just messes up the search results.

I have run housecall, Kaspersky, Adaware & Spybot. It came up with some stuff (mainly stuffed placed in "Quarantine" by this other program I once used Super Anti-Spyware, and some dodgy registry entries).

I cleared all that out and still my google search results are linking to BS sites. I'm wondering what to try next.

[bobalot]

Just in case anybody else ever has this problem. I got Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (there's a free version) and I used the ESET Online cleaner.

Not sure which one did the trick. Both of them separately found some crap and cleaned it out. Now I can use google again!