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Every Google result now looks like an ad

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Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#411

Post by tajstar »

neodymiumphish wrote: post #401

My issue isn't so much with the ads being prioritized; it's with when the ad link goes. For example, I often search for something vague because I can't remember the name or the site. When I use Google, the first or second ad is almost always relevant to what I wanted or exactly what I wanted. However, clicking the ad takes me to some sales-pitch link on the site that I don't care to go to. Instead, I'm trying to get…

This is more of the site's fault rather than google's since whoever set up the ads chose that as the landing page. The whole point of the ad is to rope in new business so if you are clicking on the ad for the login page you're just going to a page that was made to sell (and eating into that company's ad spend)

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#412

Post by dessant »

bduerst wrote: post #370
dessant wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The content is still served from their CDN regardless of the domain. There is no way to serve AMP sites from your own servers and appear in the search carousel among other AMP articles. Google is strong-arming the entire web to switch to AMP in order to increase their control over the distribution of content, and to be in a better position for tracking users. The fact that Microsoft and Cloudflare have joined the par…

That's not true. CDNs host AMP sites on their own domains and infrastructure, independent of Google: https://amp.cloudflare.com/

By "their CDN" I meant Google, Cloudflare and Microsoft. Can we set up our own CDN to serve our own content from our own servers and receive the AMP badge in search results?

Please disclose your affiliation to Google either in your bio or in comments, and don't post the same comment in multiple places.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#413

Post by cpeterso »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #386
rahuldottech wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know for a fact that Firefox can also implement bangs like Duckduckgo out of the box, although you have to manually set it up.

They used to have some default keywords, "g", "w", etc. (you enter "g key words" to search Google for the keywords. If they're not default anymore they're very easy to do. I like the way Chrome shows it has recognised the keyword after you press space though, neat feedback, good design IMO.

Firefox has a few builtin keyword searches like "@g" (Google) and "@w" (Wikipedia):

https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/rev/cfd1cc461f1efe0d66...

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#414

Post by elihu »

0xff00ffee wrote: post #316
LeftHandPath wrote: post #260

I've been using duckduckgo and bing for a while now. Google is just a fallback.

What does DDG use for an algorithm? Originally Google was just using pagerank but that was too easy to game by SEO. This means DDG needed to address this, and apparently they have (e.g, search for 'favicon' like the post). How long can we rely on DDG staying neutral in their algorithm?

I think DDG is mostly just a front-end on Bing, at least that's how they've been doing things in the past.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#415

Post by pbhjpbhj »

Jerry2 wrote: post #83
dehrmann wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For branded keywords, it's not just shady, it's racketeering. You wouldn't want your competitor to show up first when someone searches for your brand, would you? Then pay up. E.g. https://i.imgur.com/SfomkdQ.png ; the second result is a competitor's ad, the third result is the organic result.

This is what Basecamp has been complaining about for a while now too [1]. They even testified in front of Congress about it [2]. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/04/google-paid-search-ads-shake... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/17/technology/antitrust-hear...

Surely racketeering is legal in USA, the President described applying undue and immoral pressure through dominance as "perfect". Unclear how it could possibly be illegal, given USA's continued endorsement of such behaviour.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#417

Post by taurath »

milesskorpen wrote: post #393
Guest0918231 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand why it's happening and I mentioned it in my comment. However, I just find it incredibly inappropriate that... 1. When I search an exact domain Google will take money from a competitor and show their "advertisement" first. I say that in quotations, because it looks like they're showing a search result, not an advertisement. At this point it feels like companies are paying for their search placement. Pay e…

To play devil's advocate, these kind of brand ads are usually very cheap and frequently generate some incrementality - you're basically paying to have your links take over a larger part of page 1. Even if competitors weren't going to advertise, it might be worth it.

If I were a competitor, and it’s that cheap and effective for Expedia, then I’d never allow Expedia to have that real estate.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#418

Post by aquova »

enterabdazer wrote: post #72
lykr0n wrote: post #3

I wish there was a way to directly help Bing/DuckDuckGo/Yandex improve their search results. I've tried both, and it's just not the same. Google I can bang in cryptic queries like > centos 7 tuned no daemon and get the 3rd link about how to run tuned in a no daemon mode. Bing/DuckDuckGo have the article at around 7th or 8th place, but prefaced by a lot of "while technically not wrong, not what I'm looking for" links.…

I felt the same about Google alternatives up until about 3 months ago. Google's results have been declining in quality for a decade, with much more rapid decline over the past year or three. Google's results are uglier and blatantly revenue based. They have now lapsed behind DuckDuckGo in usefulness for me. I fall back to Google a few times per week, with inconsistent results when I need a "second opinion." I'd sugge…

Do you (or anyone else) have any recommendations for an email service? I've cut pretty much everything Google out of my life, minus Gmail, mostly due to not wanting to go through all the trouble of transferring everything over to a service that I end up not liking. I've heard ProtonMail is good, but other than that, I'm not sure.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#420

Post by anoncake »

josteink wrote: post #310
manmal wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can always prepend „!g“ before your query in DDG to fall back to Google.

No need to prepend. You can bang it at the end and retry your search if it doesn’t work with DDG.

I wonder why everybody (including me previously) thinks you have to prepend.
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