Google appears to have changed how it handles navigational queries
Previously when you searched for www.domain.com on google it would bring up one result and then ask if you wanted to view more pages from this site, pages that link to the site, pages that contain "www.domain.com" and similar pages.
Now when you search for www.domain.com it just returns all the results containing the term www.domain.com, the equivalent of searching for "www.domain.com".
This appears to have happened in the last few days.
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?p=1352665#post1352665
- Y! MyWeb
.
Just use info: instead of site:
I wasn't using site
I was just searching for www.domain.com
banned sites
I noticed this yesterday, as the prior results that Google gave were a good indication of whether or not a site was banned (used to say that they didn't have any information about a particular URL). It was also helpful to be able to see if searching for a particular URL would bring up another URL (indicating possible redirects).
Perhaps this is their way to bring users directly to search results when those users put a URL in the search field rather than putting it in the address bar by mistake.
Use info:
instead of 'nothing' then.
But yeah, it appears to have been changed.
billhartzer, I think you're correct. What good is it for Google to cough up an info: search every time someone (accidentally) enters a web address? We SEOs can put in a little extra effort, now can't we?
Smart move.
A TON more ads
No ads: http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=xmule
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&client=opera&q=www.xmule.ws
Tons of ads and most are targetted, and the same ones Goog stopped displaying back in 2003 when I sent them a nice little legal notice (after MPAA tried to sue me).
Well Done
If they know a substantial percentage of people type in www.example.com and that gives them the opportunity to show more ads that's classic.
example.com use to hold a webpage
BTW.
For 'educational purposes' (see archive.org)
Dunno why they took it off. Maybe people were offering big bucks for it, so the "restriction" had to come off hehehe.