Google search has been unusable for a couple years now. I’m using DDG which isn’t as good as Google used to be, but it’s still better than the dumpster fire it is now.
I’ve even considered paying for Kagi but the idea of logging in and having my searches non-anonymous bugs the shit out of me.
Does anyone else find Google results seem to he favoring YouTube videos as well?
I dont want a god damn 10 minute video claiming to answer my question. I want the website that has the 2 sentences that would solve my problem or question.
So it’s often a bunch of ads, then videos, then blog spam none of which quickly or properly address things.
Honestly the biggest issue is all the garbage websites using SEO to try to be at the top of the results without having actual meaningful content.
It seems like whenever I search for a problem, a bunch of websites come up with pages dedicated to that exact issue, but all of fixes are generic and don’t actually help. And that whole website will be filled with pages like that, pages that claim to have solutions for specific problems but lack any content of substance.
Add in paywalls to access sites, that lawsuit to have google remove the “view image button” from image results, and websites like Pinterest that require an account before you can view anything. People were relying on content from websites like reddit to get actual real answers to searches, and now reddit is looking at getting itself removed from google search as well.
I don’t think it’s that Google is specifically getting worse, but rather that the internet is becoming an increasingly unhelpful place where everyone is competing to sell you answers and drive clicks.
Google creates that problem though by continuing to use a ranking algorithm that promotes that type of content. It’s been an issue for many years and they don’t change it
I’m sure it’s a bit of a cat and mouse game, the algorithm was designed to get accurate results, they can’t just change it completely to avoid SEO abusers without losing out on real results too. And even if they did change it, SEO abusers would just change to match resulting in the same issue with worse non-abuser results.
For all of google’s search issues, they’re still the best search engine when it comes to results (outside of a few topics that are censored by google but not other search engines). I use DDG most of the time, but it’s bing-powered results are just straight up worse most of the time, especially on technical or more complicated topics. The fact that Google is still the best search engine tells me they’re not being lazy with their search algorithms, but that there’s a bigger reason why they can’t just filter out SEO abuse.
Google started off like any new tech company years ago and they did have a superior product. Then they went public and Wall Street started expecting certain revenue numbers every quarter, growth slowed because they saturated the market, so the core product was pushed toward making money instead staying true to the original goals.
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Google search has been unusable for a couple years now. I’m using DDG which isn’t as good as Google used to be, but it’s still better than the dumpster fire it is now.
I’ve even considered paying for Kagi but the idea of logging in and having my searches non-anonymous bugs the shit out of me.
Does anyone else find Google results seem to he favoring YouTube videos as well?
I dont want a god damn 10 minute video claiming to answer my question. I want the website that has the 2 sentences that would solve my problem or question.
So it’s often a bunch of ads, then videos, then blog spam none of which quickly or properly address things.
Honestly the biggest issue is all the garbage websites using SEO to try to be at the top of the results without having actual meaningful content.
It seems like whenever I search for a problem, a bunch of websites come up with pages dedicated to that exact issue, but all of fixes are generic and don’t actually help. And that whole website will be filled with pages like that, pages that claim to have solutions for specific problems but lack any content of substance. Add in paywalls to access sites, that lawsuit to have google remove the “view image button” from image results, and websites like Pinterest that require an account before you can view anything. People were relying on content from websites like reddit to get actual real answers to searches, and now reddit is looking at getting itself removed from google search as well.
I don’t think it’s that Google is specifically getting worse, but rather that the internet is becoming an increasingly unhelpful place where everyone is competing to sell you answers and drive clicks.
Competing to sell you non-answers, which is even worse.
IDGAF if the SEO-robot-optimized site actually contains useful information. Invariably, they don’t.
Google creates that problem though by continuing to use a ranking algorithm that promotes that type of content. It’s been an issue for many years and they don’t change it
I’m sure it’s a bit of a cat and mouse game, the algorithm was designed to get accurate results, they can’t just change it completely to avoid SEO abusers without losing out on real results too. And even if they did change it, SEO abusers would just change to match resulting in the same issue with worse non-abuser results.
For all of google’s search issues, they’re still the best search engine when it comes to results (outside of a few topics that are censored by google but not other search engines). I use DDG most of the time, but it’s bing-powered results are just straight up worse most of the time, especially on technical or more complicated topics. The fact that Google is still the best search engine tells me they’re not being lazy with their search algorithms, but that there’s a bigger reason why they can’t just filter out SEO abuse.
Isn’t this standard enshitification?
Google started off like any new tech company years ago and they did have a superior product. Then they went public and Wall Street started expecting certain revenue numbers every quarter, growth slowed because they saturated the market, so the core product was pushed toward making money instead staying true to the original goals.
Typical stuff, really