What is this?

Google's search results now are filled with garbage from "content farms." These are websites that are the equivalent of junk food: they give you something, but it's not really very useful. Wouldn't it be nice if you could block the junk out of your search results? Now you can!

The list of domains

These are the domains I've chosen to block. You may find some of these useful; if so, feel free to remove them from this list. I'm finding that my searches have far less crap in them, however, so I'm happy with this list.

 *.123people.com/*
 *.absolutelyrics.com/*
 *.activehotels.com/*
 *.allexperts.com/*
 *.answerbag.com/*
 *.answers.com/*
 *.ask.com/*
 *.associatedcontent.com/*
 *.azlyrics.com/*
 *.bizrate.com/*
 *.brothersoft.com/*
 *.buzzillions.com/*
 *.bytes.com/*
 *.chacha.com/*
 *.copygator.com/*
 *.download3k.com/*
 *.efreedom.com/*
 *.ehow.com/*
 *.elyrics.net/*
 *.elyricsworld.com/*
 *.encyclopedia.com/*
 *.experts-exchange.com/*
 *.expertvillage.com/*
 *.ezinearticles.com/*
 *.fixya.com/*
 *.freewebs.com/*
 *.helium.com/*
 *.hubpages.com/*
 *.infobarrel.com/*
 *.livestrong.com/*
 *.lyrics.info/*
 *.lyricsbay.com/*
 *.lyricsdownload.com/*
 *.lyricsfreak.com/*
 *.lyricsmania.com/*
 *.lyricsmode.com/*
 *.lyricsondemand.com/*
 *.mahalo.com/*
 *.mail-archive.com/*
 *.metrolyrics.com/*
 *.mp3lyrics.org/*
 *.naymz.com/*
 *.networkedblogs.com/*
 *.petitionspot.com/*
 *.questionhub.com/*
 *.robtex.com/*
 *.shopwiki.com/*
 *.sing365.com/*
 *.songlyrics.com/*
 *.squidoo.com/*
 *.suite101.com/*
 *.thefreedictionary.com/*
 *.twenga.com/*
 *.wisegeek.com/*
 *.wonderhowto.com/*
 *.wowxos.com/*
 *.xomba.com/*

(Thanks to http://www.jongales.com/blog/2011/02/14/list-of-content-farms/ and the commenters on that page for this list!)

How to use this list

Google Chrome

The easier but more tedious method

Search for the first of the above domains using Google. When you see a result, click on "Block all www.baddomain.com results". Repeat for each of the domains above. 50 times.

The harder but more efficient method

Note: after using this method for several months, it seemed to me that it slowed Chrome down, so I instead started using The easier but more tedious method above. This does not seem to have slowed Chrome down, so I'm happy.

Click the wrench > Tools > Extensions.

Click on Developer Mode.

Under Personal Blocklist, click background.html.

In the new window, click Console.

To see what's currently on the blocklist, enter the following and press Enter:

localStorage['blocklist']

To overwrite the current blocklist (which may very well be empty if you've never done this before), copy the following, paste it into the Console, and press Enter:

Firefox

If you use Firefox, install the OptimizeGoogle extension, available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/optimizegoogle/. After it's installed, restart Firefox.

Go to Tools > Add-ons and find OptimizeGoogle.

Click Preferences.

On the All Services tab, check the box next to Always Enable Filters.

Go to the Filter tab.

Copy the lines above under "The list of domains" that start with *.123people.com/* and end with *.xomba.com/*. Paste them into the box on the Filter tab and press OK.

Safari

Unfortunately, I can find no way to duplicate the functionality of Personal Blocklist or OptimizeGoogle in Safari, which is a pain, because I really like Safari. Any suggestions are welcome.

Internet Explorer

No idea. I don't use IE, and you shouldn't either.