Google Chrome: Many of you have been noticing that Google's search results have been less useful lately, and Google's listening: with their new Personal Blocklist extension, you can block sites from your search results and send the information back to Google. More »

Google has made it clear that it wants to clean up its search results -- eliminating worthless cruft like the content farms which spam searchers with low-value (and often plagiarized) content. Now, the company has announced a new Google Chrome extension which they hope will aid in the fight.

Called Personal Blocklist, the extension allows Google Chrome users to blacklist certain domains when results appear in Google Search. Click the icon in the browser actions area to see which domains you've blocked, unblock a site, or edit its particulars.

At least one other Chrome extension which provides this functionality has been listed in the Gallery for some time, but the difference here is that blocks will be reported to Google. Google, in turn, will look at user data and possibly use that information to improve its search quality.

Install Personal Blocklist for Google Chrome, and start helping fight search spam!

If you run a WordPress blog (or more than one!) and use Google Chrome, you might be interested in a handy new extension called WordPress Checker. It keeps track of unmoderated and spam comments, so you can approve or delete them. It puts a little WordPress icon next to your search bar, with a badge for the number of comments you currently have to deal with.

There's another, slightly more popular extension that you might also want to keep an eye on: HelloLogic's WordPress Comments Notifier. It doesn't support multiple accounts, the way WordPress Checker does, but the developers promise that future versions will do so.

WordPress Checker Chrome extension monitors your blog's comments originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 11 Apr 2010 15:00:00 EST.