The reports of the death of google are greatly exaggerated.
Ask HN: Is Google Dead?
51–60 of 75 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?
#52There are still no better alternatives, but the market is very ripe for some kind of new search paradigm. When it comes Google will lose it's share overnight.
Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?
#53Has anyone else noticed that Google doesn't index source code from GitHub anymore? I could have sworn that you used to be able to search for source code that is on GitHub (e.g. error message strings), but today the index doesn't seem to include the source code at all. The pages with the source code are in the index but you can only find them by file name. Big loss for Google if so. I also mourn the Google cache. I be…
"I also mourn the Google cache."
Google cache still works. Too early to mourn.
For example,
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https:...
I do all searches from command line. This allows me to control the SERP, e.g., make own basic HTML metasearch SERP with no JS or CSS. I can put cache links in if I want. I can mix results from different search engines. I can do temporally separated continuation searches to avoid rate limits. And so on.
I can also rewrite URLs with the local forward proxy to use any cache I want. I can also rewrite response bodies.
If Google disables public access to their cache, there are many other options. I have never relied on it.
Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?
#54Google isn't dead because it still has a massive user base, generating more money than ever. Many people think Google is the internet, and Android and Chrome users have Google as their default search engine. Google even pays Apple billions to be the default on their devices. So from a business perspective, Google is thriving and will continue to do so for years. However, the quality of Google's search results has dec…
> Google isn't dead because it still has a massive user base, generating more money than ever. Do you remember when iPhone was introduced and Nokia/Symbian was still the king? This is exactly the reasoning line that Symbian/Nokia devs kept repeating when iPhone was released. I remember arguing with them endlessly. It took around 4 years for the company to collapse completely.
Well, as long as Google doesn't do something similarly stupid (like, say, announcing discontinuation of their search and suite or whatever and that they will offer a great new Bing/O365 integration experience in a year), they will be fine.
Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?
#55[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which company is better? When it comes to that level of data and maturity I think there is no valid competition. I've consciously made the decision that I don't care what Google does with my data. They're going to attempt to track me regardless of if I use their services or not. I have friends who live off grid to get away from internet tracking but I don't envy their lifestyle. So I think like most conscious people…
Why does a single company have to be better? Fastmail or Migadu for mail, Kagi for search. I still use YT on a semi regular basis. Just because you’re used to using their products and it’s convenient to use them doesn’t mean there aren’t valid alternatives, or that using those equals “suffering”. That has to be the most first world rant I’ve seen in a while.
I was looking for a new e-mail provider recently and migadu was a top candidate but I can't get over the fact that they price based on number of e-mails received. Isn't that easily exploited? Someone could potentially DoS your account.
We're not that different on a daily basis. I use proton but I'm looking for a new less complicated provider so I can handle all e2ee myself. Posteo.de, migadu or fastmail. I still have my gmail, 20 years now, but it's mostly a spam trap for sign ups on popular services.
I've tried some different search providers like DDG, not Kagi, but nothing compares to Google so far.
And of course I use YT, Premium even because I don't have the energy to participate in the adblocking arms race.
I think the biggest reason I'm still using mostly Google services is eID. Sweden depends a lot on eID and as far as I know it requires a stock Android phone to work. I've heard people getting it working without device integrity, but I just don't have the mental energy to deal with when it might stop working. My focus is on life, enjoying life, not fixing device issues.
So therefore eID drives me to use stock google Android, and then it's just easier to use the rest of the Google ecosystem for calendar, notes, search and so forth.
Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?
#57> Ask HN: Is Google Dead? > Betteridge's law of headlines: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." Google will remain dominant because of the ease of returning to something familiar. It is the same reason that MS is pushing OpenAI - once they become the familiar brand, people will stay there even if Anthropic blows them out of the water in terms of quality. All the more so here whe…
"Is Betteridge's Law Always Right?"
Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?
#58Has anyone else noticed that Google doesn't index source code from GitHub anymore? I could have sworn that you used to be able to search for source code that is on GitHub (e.g. error message strings), but today the index doesn't seem to include the source code at all. The pages with the source code are in the index but you can only find them by file name. Big loss for Google if so. I also mourn the Google cache. I be…
"I also mourn the Google cache." Google cache still works. Too early to mourn. For example, https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https:... I do all searches from command line. This allows me to control the SERP, e.g., make own basic HTML metasearch SERP with no JS or CSS. I can put cache links in if I want. I can mix results from different search engines. I can do temporally separated continuation se…
Yeah it works, but a button leading to it has been removed. It operates more like a hidden feature now.
Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?
#59I don't get it. People around me have been saying Google is shit for years now but I can't see it. I still reach for google for any minor query, and it's super responsive and it's super helpful. Yes of course I am aware that for certain queries you get a lot of results that have manipulated their way to the top. I just think I have a very good natural bullshit-filter.
1) How would you be able to detect that Google quality is slipping away?
2) There was a German research that it degraded [1]. I do not remember by how many percents it got worse, but how would you be able to tell that search engine is worse by 8% year by year?
3) Internet just got worse. There are walled gardens everywhere. Access to data has been more restricted for people who do not want to create accounts. Internet is not so tough for people who do not care about their privacy. It is not necessarily that Google search became worse
4) There always been spam, but it just got worse
5) Corporations are becoming more greedy. I have read about SEOs complaining that what has been previously not allowed, now is. Malvertising is more common
6) If Google focuses on big media companies, then small sites do not have revenue. Small sites are closed, and we have Internet without traffic for personal sites. Internet is getting boring if search focuses on big media companies.
7) Google is focusing on 'content', not on 'quality' content. Therefore what is 'new' is more important. Therefore you will be less likely to find a good article from 2011
8) Personal sites are hard to quantify. How would you be able that small domain with one good article is reliable? You don't. That is why Google prefers vice, or bbc news. It is just easier. There are more investor money there, etc. etc.
9) DYI projects, or game formus are tricky. They may contain Nintendo stuff, they may contain ROM files, or other untrustworthy comments. It is easier for search engines to ditch such sites altogether.
10) I am running a web crawler that indexes domains [2]. Let me assign you a task. Find interesting domains about "Amiga" using google search. How many domains you will find? I have more than 200 domains. Sure "Amiga" is a niche keyword, however that makes me wonder if I am just as inexperienced with Google search, or if Google in fact is a Potemkin Village for folks living in Matrix.
Links:
[1] https://mashable.com/article/google-search-low-quality-resea...
Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Google isn't dead because it still has a massive user base, generating more money than ever. Do you remember when iPhone was introduced and Nokia/Symbian was still the king? This is exactly the reasoning line that Symbian/Nokia devs kept repeating when iPhone was released. I remember arguing with them endlessly. It took around 4 years for the company to collapse completely.
Well, as long as Google doesn't do something similarly stupid (like, say, announcing discontinuation of their search and suite or whatever and that they will offer a great new Bing/O365 integration experience in a year), they will be fine.
Nokia did the „stupid” things only when their business was already collapsing due to Symbian, not the other way around.
Took them around 4 years from iPhone’s premiere to get to that point. And I remember people saying that Symbian’s user base is too big to fail even weeks before the WP announcements and later up until the burning rig memo.
Ditto Blackberry, although blackberry had a shorter history at that time.