Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Every Google result now looks like an ad

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

751–760 of 1001 posts

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#751

Post by hoorayimhelping »

perl4ever wrote: post #667
cldellow wrote: post #565

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's absolutely extortion, but it's cheaper for Expedia to buy than a competitor due to Google's auction rules. Essentially, the bid to be #1 is discounted by the click-through rate. If 90% of people who search "expedia.com" will click an ad for Expedia, and only 10% of people who search "expedia.com" will click an ad for travelsite.com, travelsite.com has to pay 10x what Expedia does to make up for the lost revenue.

Devil's advocate - isn't this a neat way of automatically being anti-incumbent and pro-competition?

No. It's a currently non-illegal way to extort businesses.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#752

Post by userbinator »

hiram112 wrote: post #727
userbinator wrote: post #656

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That still requires somewhat less from the user than my solution: a filtering proxy. On the other hand, the latter enables a far more customised browsing experience and one that isn't restricted to a single browser on a single computer. ...which brings me to another great point this illustrates: if you want to customise your experience, if you want to be able to control how you see the Web, then you need to make an e…

What kind of filtering proxy are you using?

Proxomitron.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#753

Post by AlexCoventry »

Terretta wrote: post #723
apl002 wrote: post #719

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use DDG as much as I can but when I need to find something very specific, or find a solution to a bug Ive encountered, it takes 2x as long on DDG vs Google

On DDG, type: !s your search terms

In case anyone else is wondering, this sends your query to startpage, which appears to query google for you anonymously.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#754

Post by crazygringo »

typpo wrote: post #651

I know Google is unpopular here, but the new design doesn't really change ad visibility. Just compare the designs side-by-side [1]. If anything, the new design emphasizes colorful organic favicons. [1] https://i.imgur.com/fEo0QF9.png

Can't believe I had to scroll this far down to see this.

They've also had this new design on mobile since May of last year [1]. But nobody seemed to care then?

I think people are just bothered by any visual changes in any product they're used to. I found the change slightly jarring for a day... then realized it doesn't really feel much better or worse than the previous way.

I guess people were just emotionally attached to URL being in green and below the title, rather than in dark gray and above. We develop attachments to familiar things, it's just how we are.

[1] https://www.blog.google/products/search/new-design-google-se...

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#755

Post by acvny »

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…

What a bad thing this AMP is... it is very hard to go directly to the website. Good that only shitty news outlets use it though

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#756

Post by pb7 »

kempbellt wrote: post #575
lonelappde wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Steal"? If customers searching for your brand are happy to buy from your competitor with a different name, maybe your brand isn't so strong? And if you are profiting from advertising your brand to people who don't choose your product over alternatives, isn't your marketing just "stealing" purchases from competitors?

Yeah, that's not how it is working right now. It's more like: User: "Google, how do I get to Costco?" Google: "Here are directions to Target." User:"But I asked for directions to Costco." Google: "Target gave us a lot of money. So, firstly here are directions to Target. If you still want Costco, keep scrolling, but Target is great. You should shop here." When you literally search for one brand and the first result is…

Why does Google owe you traffic?

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#757

Post by spookthesunset »

elsewhen wrote: post #738
spookthesunset wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think half of it is the ugly font they are now using. Ugly is the perfect way to describe it. Google is really not good at creating beautiful products...

My understanding is that they are optimizing for revenue per visitor per month- they are not trying to make the most visually appealing product.

Clearly. It looks like dogshit....

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#758

Post by lwansbrough »

puranjay wrote: post #729
ddingus wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google = the new Yelp

That's what happens when MBAs and not engineers run your tech company

There are enough unethical engineers in the world (in fact, many of them work at Google!) that you don’t need to make this accusatory statement.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#759

Post by lwansbrough »

pb7 wrote: post #756
kempbellt wrote: post #575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that's not how it is working right now. It's more like: User: "Google, how do I get to Costco?" Google: "Here are directions to Target." User:"But I asked for directions to Costco." Google: "Target gave us a lot of money. So, firstly here are directions to Target. If you still want Costco, keep scrolling, but Target is great. You should shop here." When you literally search for one brand and the first result is…

Why does Google owe you traffic?

Google shouldn’t be a purveyor of brand quality in the case where the user has made an explicit request. If a user types in “shoes” should they 100% get shoes.com as the first result? Of course not. But Expedia? It feels wrong not to make that the first result.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#760

Post by ehnto »

apl002 wrote: post #719
SquishyPanda23 wrote: post #712

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I posted the solution below, Sorry to be "that guy" but for me the solution is to use DuckDuckGo. It's not perfect, but neither is trying to play arms race with Google's JavaScript.

I use DDG as much as I can but when I need to find something very specific, or find a solution to a bug Ive encountered, it takes 2x as long on DDG vs Google

I find Google ignoring my attempts to be more specific more often.

Just as a contrived example a search like "R33 RB25DET Motorsport ECU" typically got me specific links relating to the exact car, engine and topic. But the past 5 years or so it seems like it is weighting the more common word and more general terms. Often excluding the target topic altogether and just giving general motorsport results. Perhaps it's a consequence of every SEO specialist and their dogbot hammering general search terms and gumming up the machine with cruft.

Post reply on HN