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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

#511

Post by rijoja »

baxtr wrote: post #496
cytzol wrote: post #26

I've been in this A/B test for a couple of months now, so I've had time to adjust, and I still hate it. I've just become so used to seeing the complete URL in green. The complete URL! If you hover over the results, you'll see that they like to take bits like numeric components or the query string out. This is part of Google's attempt to de-prioritise the URL. Their destructive AMP service confusingly shows you Google…

Google hates strong SEO sites, because they won't make them any money. So that's a clever way of pushing them further down. I wondered when all results on the first page will be Ads only.

Do they really? Wouldn't a "strong SEO" site be ideal for their spiders?

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#512

Post by crispyporkbites »

Guest0918231 wrote: post #300
333c wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They display both because Google is selling ad space on searches like these, where people search the name of a site. If that site doesn't buy the ad, their competitor will. So sites are being forced to buy ads on their own trademark.

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…

I aggree with your point #1, if you search for an specific term / domain it should always appear first if there's a direct match.

but for #2 there's a pro-competition argument here. If you search for Expedia and all you ever get is Expedia and expedia pages underneath that, in theory that's good. But what if you don't know about other online travel sites? You'll never see them, so it kind of makes sense that you are shown other sites in there.

Google should recognise that a search for Expedia is either: a) For Expedia b) For a travel holiday

and let other competitors rank for b), showing Expedia as the biggest and main CTA on the page.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#513

Post by wolco »

naravara wrote: post #509
cytzol wrote: post #26

I've been in this A/B test for a couple of months now, so I've had time to adjust, and I still hate it. I've just become so used to seeing the complete URL in green. The complete URL! If you hover over the results, you'll see that they like to take bits like numeric components or the query string out. This is part of Google's attempt to de-prioritise the URL. Their destructive AMP service confusingly shows you Google…

>Thanks for ruining the Web, Google. When does the mass-migration to DuckDuckGo go mainstream?

It slowly moves a little bit more each day.

Not useful results will change habits.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#515

Post by rijoja »

undefined1 wrote: post #428
Guest0918231 wrote: post #252

It's funny, because if you run AdSense on your website, Google has very strict guidelines about not misleading users and making a clear distinction between advertisements and your content. However, when Google shows ads on their site, they don't need to follow those rules, they blend them in as closely as possible. Also, what's the deal with showing an advertisement for the same result that's number one? See the belo…

The url they're using for the ad is interesting: www.expedia.com/Expedia/Official_Site To me (which may well be a minority view) that actually makes it feel less official, because "/Expedia/Official_Site" is the sort of tactic a scammer would use. I'd worry about it having the unintended consequence of building people's trust in something like "/Official_Site" vs focusing on the domain name. At the very least it's mu…

Had the exact same thought. Had to double check the domain name twice since it looked so fishy!

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#516

Post by esotericsean »

Guest0918231 wrote: post #252

It's funny, because if you run AdSense on your website, Google has very strict guidelines about not misleading users and making a clear distinction between advertisements and your content. However, when Google shows ads on their site, they don't need to follow those rules, they blend them in as closely as possible. Also, what's the deal with showing an advertisement for the same result that's number one? See the belo…

I always scroll past the ad to click on the "real" URL. I don't want to add to the statistic showing support that behaviour.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#517

Post by xenocratus »

rijoja wrote: post #511
baxtr wrote: post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google hates strong SEO sites, because they won't make them any money. So that's a clever way of pushing them further down. I wondered when all results on the first page will be Ads only.

Do they really? Wouldn't a "strong SEO" site be ideal for their spiders?

I think the idea is that a strong SEO site doesn't have to pay to be seen through searches.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#518

Post by sriram_sun »

scumbert wrote: post #117

Unironically switch to Bing

For physical ailments, I use Brave + incognito (and search with DuckDuckGo), then manually look for webmd hits and such. Still, I have this feeling that 5 years later, I'll be reading about our ISPs ratting us out to insurance providers.

Other suggestions welcome.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#519

Post by krick »

LeftHandPath wrote: post #260

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

I've used DDG for many years now, and I'm admittedly one of those weirdos for whom political statements about freedom and privacy matter, so I'm a "loyal customer" in a sense.

However, 10 years ago I honestly felt DDG is not really worse compared to Google. And here's the problem: DDG hardly changed over last I-don't-know-how-many years, while Google surely did. And while it seems primary Google users are constantly upset about the nature of the changes, I, on the contrary, quite often appreciate how it behaves, especially on the mobile. In fact, when I bought a new phone this autumn, I, for the first time didn't change Chrome+Google Search as my default search engine.

I'm still mostly content with DDG on PC, but Google is actually better at answering questions I mostly want to ask on the go: to look up badly misheard brand or person's name, find some local shop and show me the time it closes, or — the thing DDG is most useless for — brief me on the real-time news everybody is talking about for the last couple of hours.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#520

Post by dsfyu404ed »

rijoja wrote: post #511
baxtr wrote: post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google hates strong SEO sites, because they won't make them any money. So that's a clever way of pushing them further down. I wondered when all results on the first page will be Ads only.

Do they really? Wouldn't a "strong SEO" site be ideal for their spiders?

If you have good SEO and drift to the top of queries that actually are relevant for your site then you don't need to buy as many Google ads.
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