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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

#831

Post by nikofeyn »

tjoff wrote: post #822
nikofeyn wrote: post #800

Earlier quoted context omitted.

google amp is a plague on the internet and should have been shutdown by regulators. it is definitely anti-competitive. i am sick and tired of our government completely slaving to the big tech companies when it comes to regulations and anti-competitive behavior. google amp on mobile overrides behavior on mobile, even on android, so instead of web links opening up in the respective and selected default app, it opens up…

Unless I misunderstood, that is something you disable in each (google)app that has that "feature". In Gmail for instance: settings: General settings: Open links in gmail. Turn on for "faster" browsing. Default is on. Tip: Use firefox focus instead as the default browser to open all links. If the link warrants further look copy the url to your main browser. The above has nothing to do with amp. But to not detract, amp…

if you use google search as your default search, then there is no way i know of to disable amp, no matter which browser you use, even if you request the browser to handle opening the link. google search passes the amp link to the browser.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#833

Post by rpastuszak »

tjoff wrote: post #822
nikofeyn wrote: post #800

Earlier quoted context omitted.

google amp is a plague on the internet and should have been shutdown by regulators. it is definitely anti-competitive. i am sick and tired of our government completely slaving to the big tech companies when it comes to regulations and anti-competitive behavior. google amp on mobile overrides behavior on mobile, even on android, so instead of web links opening up in the respective and selected default app, it opens up…

Unless I misunderstood, that is something you disable in each (google)app that has that "feature". In Gmail for instance: settings: General settings: Open links in gmail. Turn on for "faster" browsing. Default is on. Tip: Use firefox focus instead as the default browser to open all links. If the link warrants further look copy the url to your main browser. The above has nothing to do with amp. But to not detract, amp…

Thanks for the tip. Most of the people here would fix that somehow, e.g. by tweaking browser settings, finding and following comments like yours. But, why does someone who doesn't deal with tech have to think about that, and will they, should they?

I find their UX approach to SEO more concerning than, say, scoring. For example, AMP pages will receive the same score as equally performant non-AMP content. However, they won't benefit from the carousel view, with instant page loads (prefetch), etc...

Small changes like this, applied at a huge scale to a user base that just can't afford to constantly fight hostile UX are damaging, regardless if they come from Google, an airline site, your mailbox switching to "Promotions" at random intervals or Twitter not allowing you to permanently change the feed order.

Internet feels more hostile than it used to. I don't mind the trolls (I can always block them) but I do mind that we depend on services that deploy hostile UX practices.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#834

Post by goatinaboat »

gordaco wrote: post #720
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 agree. The moment I saw this was the moment I configured my browser to use DuckDuckGo instead of Google. Good riddance.

If your browser is Chrome it’s still working for Google, not for you

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#835

Post by hoseja »

ronilan wrote: post #99
pushcx wrote: post #29

https://www.google.com/about/honestresults/ It's a little confusing to read now, so for context: at the time Google published this, it only put ads in the sidebar to the right of search results. This post was written to criticize the practice of putting ads atop search results, which competitors sometimes formatted almost indistinguishably from organic search results.

Your link is gold. A historic artifact. Amazing how clear the writing is, how simple the message. That’s, like, totally not the corpspeak Goog emits now on a daily basis. So, let’s do some digging. Earliest version of url dates back 4+ years. https://web.archive.org/web/20151213182805/https://www.googl... Things were a little better than, but not by much. This has to be earlier. Ah, here is: https://books.google.ca/b…

Imagine the sheer sociopathic effort it took to overtake Google. The power plays, the backstabbing, the greed. Oh, to be a fly on those walls.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#837

Post by ck425 »

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?

It doesn't. And I totally understand from a business point of view why they do what they do. This is an unfortunate side effect of the monopoly they have on web search, which due to network effects and aggregation is unlikely to go away.

The only real solution is to regulate this to make competition fairer again.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#838

Post by pyrale »

svcraig wrote: post #652
pyrale wrote: post #561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, Wikipedia has been relegated lower and lower in search results. So much so that I now specifically use their search tool rather than go through google just in case some interesting thing pops up.

Wikipedia seeming to lose relevance is like my old high school teachers finally getting their way over a decade later... Do you find their search tool more effective than appending "wikipedia" to your Google search?

At this point I have moved to another search tool as my baseline.

I also use hoogle a lot for work so I'm used to switching search tool.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#839

Post by pferde »

sovok_x wrote: post #790
lainga wrote: post #697

Earlier quoted context omitted.

try !w on DuckDuckGo

Or add "w" keyword for https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s&go=... bookmark on Android Firefox and then search with "w searchstring" from its address bar. It's silly that it's necessary to create separate bookmark for this, though. Native search engines, surprisingly, don't support keywords there.

Why silly? It is in fact a bookmark - just a parametrized one. :)

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#840

Post by pferde »

leokennis wrote: post #804
cmroanirgo wrote: post #613

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are alternative search engines of course. I use StartPage which has the benefit of local results (but can be fully anonymous) but still uses Google search results. DDG is a great alternative, but isn't for me. And then there's Bing

Just FYI, Startpage was recently acquired by a shady company.

Huh, you're right, this flew completely below my radar.

https://restoreprivacy.com/startpage-system1-privacy-one-gro...

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