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Comment by dmn001 | Hacker News Reader

They are relevant to him.* He is currently logged in, and his location is visible on the left side of the image. Google uses his previous search queries as well as information about him and his location to provide a relevant result. He has probably searched for Java and R before. If you try searching pdf in your own browser, it is likely there will be different results.

*I meant that it is what Google thinks is relevant to him based on the data that they have.

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I came here to post the same thing. However after doing a search for "PDF", I also got the link to R. I've never searched for (or even heard of) R until now. Instead of Java, I got IRS related results (W-4, I-9) and a link to Advanced Bash Scripting (a subject matter I've never searched before as well...)

They might look at sequences of searches, i.e. "pdf" is followed by "pdf w4" enough that it ranks more highly. I got similar results; I thought it was because I read some R articles recently and work in HR...

I too have never searched for R or anything of that nature before. However, if you look closely you see some microdata that is being pulled in "Cited by 148 - Related articles". this is one reason why it is so high and is the actual basis for how PageRank works (the most cited papers/journals are those that are deemed higher quality).

I'm pretty sure he's the best determinant of whether the search results are relevant to him, and he says they aren't.

We all know what causes this problem, but it's still a problem.

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