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How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?

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Re: How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?

#51

Post by reaperducer »

lanstin wrote: post #25
rurp wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google ignoring what I had actually typed and instead showing results to a more popular query that was similar, but distinctly different, is what finally got me to switch over to DuckDuckGo. Now that I've gotten used to DDG I find Google unpleasant to use. The amount of ads and clutter on the page is distracting, and the organic results seemed ever more skewed towards ecommerce results.

Some of that skew might be their algorithm noticing that the great unwashed masses are looking for ecommerce. I should give DDG another try, it was not that great last time I tried (few years ago?)

Some of that skew might be their algorithm noticing that the great unwashed masses are looking for ecommerce.

I don't believe that it's the masses looking for e-commerce sites. I think it's that Google wants people to click on e-commerce sites because it makes money off of those ads. And even if someone doesn't click on a sponsored link to an e-commerce site, that click still reinforces in their mind that Google is the place to start shopping.

There was a comment on HN yesterday where someone wrote something like, "Did you know there are countries where people who want to buy things just go to amazon.com directly and don't search for their item in Google?" I was floored. It never occurred to me that if I want to buy something at amazon.com that I would involve Google in any way. But there must be legions of people who do this, or that person wouldn't have made that statement.

At the same time, I think that Google falls down at this kind of lead generation because it allows so much automation that it can't be trusted.

I just put "rocket to mars" in Google and the top results are ads for Wal-Mart and Michael's.

To be fair, the duck isn't much better. I just put "f-14 fighter jet" into Duck and got an ad for "Fighter Jets For Sale near you" with a link to an auto repair shop.

Re: How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?

#52

Post by JohnFen »

jiveturkey wrote: post #42

I'm done with Google as of today. The evil genius of making links look like ads, is not just the straw that broke the camel's back; it's the entire bale. There is mass hysteria about Google in general. They aren't the privacy nightmare the pitchfork wielding folks would have you believe. That said, they inspire others that are indeed nightmares. The entire third party tracking industry is a nightmare. And it was alre…

> They aren't the privacy nightmare the pitchfork wielding folks would have you believe.

Wait, so they aren't collecting as much information about me and my use of my machines as they can anymore? When did that change?

Re: How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?

#53

Post by ummonk »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #37
jborichevskiy wrote: post #13

> Recode’s Peter Kafka recently interviewed Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti, and Peretti said something really insightful: what if Google’s ads really aren’t that good? What if Google is just taking credit for clicks on ads just because people would have been searching for that stuff anyway? I’ve been thinking about it all day: what if Google ads actually aren’t that effective and the only reason they make so much is bill…

The question really is then if those billions went to Bing or DDG and searched for their stuff there, would approximately the same percentage click through to the ads.

Or the organic links for the same sites.

Re: How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?

#54

Post by bplot »

I'm surprised nobody has been talking about the fact that muddying the distinction between ads and organic results is illegal. Google, Amazon, and others have been moving this way for a while, despite the FTC sending a warning a few years ago: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2013/06/...

Re: How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?

#55

Post by reaperducer »

javiercr wrote: post #20
BitwiseFool wrote: post #4

I've actually moved to other search engines because the quality of the results have gone down dramatically. It seems like google will fixate on one or two keywords in my search (usually the most generic ones) and ignore the rest. In addition, the old google tricks like using quotes for literal values no longer seems to work. It is like google is guessing what I want, rather than trying to find what I have entered as…

To get the old behaviour for literal search using quotes enable the "Verbatim mode" (Tools > All results > Verbatim) It's a must if you're a developer searching for some obscure error message, yet still most people don't know about it.

To get the old behaviour for literal search using quotes enable the "Verbatim mode"

This isn't always honored. Google has been inconsistent with this for at least two years. It's noted on HN every time someone brings this up.

Re: How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?

#56

Post by mehrdadn »

JohnFen wrote: post #45
blackearl wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same as any other monopolistic company. Comcast isn't necessarily good at providing internet, in fact most of their customers would say they're shit at it. But most people don't have a choice.

I am forced to use Comcast, and I really wish I had another option. I have numerous complaints about them. But I have to say -- the quality of their internet service is not one of them. It's been consistently solid and well-performing for me for years.

Their upload speed doesn't bother you?

Re: How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?

#57

Post by mehrdadn »

Q6T46nT668w6i3m wrote: post #30
coldpie wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the old google tricks like using quotes for literal values no longer seems to work I've seen people say this, but it still seems to work for me, and is even documented here: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433?visit_id...

Weird. It hasn’t worked for me in months. Maybe longer. Maybe I’m part of some UX strata.

Would you have an example to share?

Re: How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?

#58

Post by skrowl »

blackearl wrote: post #34
jborichevskiy wrote: post #13

> Recode’s Peter Kafka recently interviewed Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti, and Peretti said something really insightful: what if Google’s ads really aren’t that good? What if Google is just taking credit for clicks on ads just because people would have been searching for that stuff anyway? I’ve been thinking about it all day: what if Google ads actually aren’t that effective and the only reason they make so much is bill…

Same as any other monopolistic company. Comcast isn't necessarily good at providing internet, in fact most of their customers would say they're shit at it. But most people don't have a choice.

Most people can choose only phone company or cable company for internet (some people only get 1 or the other).

There are LOTS of search engines to choose from that are freely available. DuckDuckGo is pretty great these days.

Microsoft is even is making a search engine now, I've heard! /s

Re: How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?

#59

Post by suifbwish »

eckza wrote: post #49
lanstin wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of that skew might be their algorithm noticing that the great unwashed masses are looking for ecommerce. I should give DDG another try, it was not that great last time I tried (few years ago?)

I switched to DDG about a month ago, and the results are always dead-on for me. I don’t even notice that it’s not Google anymore.

In theory websites could kill off googles dominance by blacklisting their crawler and only caring about traffic from DDG and other lesser known engines

Re: How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?

#60

Post by throwaway9381 »

Loughla wrote: post #12
atwebb wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about everyone else but google is a proxy for other sites now where I can get relevant answers. So I have 2 clicks to the eventual site instead of 1. Similar to using site:www.reddit.com or something similar. I realize that's still using Google as a search engine but it is different than how I previously used it. Thinking briefly on it, the main thing I leverage Google for is phonebook like information or ge…

>Thinking briefly on it, the main thing I leverage Google for is phonebook like information or getting a quick definition/spellcheck. That is exactly right! I use it as a reference material, calculator, or map. There is no other use for google search due to optimization nonsense. For anything in-depth, I use technical resources and databases available through my local public library.

> For anything in-depth, I use technical resources and databases available through my local public library.

Can you speak more about this? Very curious about this as I would like to try myself.

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