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Google Search Is Dying

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Re: Google Search Is Dying

#201

Post by endisneigh »

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #174
profstasiak wrote: post #148

Just a heads up if someone is searching reddit for product reviews. I believe most of them are inauthentic. I worked in marketing for several companies and we always had some budget for whisper marketing aka shilling. There are third party agency specialized in shilling on reddit and making it all look authentic.

I click on the profile of any reviewer I'm taking seriously. It's easy to spot the astroturf accounts vs the real degenerates

Not really - you can buy Reddit accounts and good shills actually use the account somewhat regularly.

You can still spot them, but you’d have to comb through the history more thoroughly.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=reddit+account&_trksid=...

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#202

Post by ravenstine »

Search in general is dying.

Although I've yet to evaluate Kagi (though I did get a beta invite the other day), the only search engine that seems to be not totally nerf'd today is Yandex, and even that one has problems (lots of foreign language content). I still primarily use DDG a lot, but often times I have to go to Yandex if I want a more exact match.

I do have to wonder exactly how Gen Z and Gen Alpha are using search engines, if at all? This isn't to say I think they're not bothering with search... but that I just don't actually know. Might it be that the use patterns of the youth are influencing how Google and the rest of the search engines are tailoring their algorithms?

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#203

Post by codingdave »

I'm not going to vouch for Google's search results - we all know they are declining. Even so, if everyone is using Google to search reddit, that doesn't tell me that google is losing its search dominance. It tells me that even as people try to get away from it, they still use it as much as ever and by that usage are likely helping Google figure out which use cases they need to develop to improve their products.

Also, the idea that reddit will replace it seems unlikely to me. As much as there is decent content on reddit, it exists side-by-side with junk, jokes, trolling, memes, shills, and straight up misinformation. This doesn't stop people from using and enjoying reddit - much of the silliness is all in good fun, but it will become a serious barrier to trying to become the search engine for online content.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#204

Post by D13Fd »

legalcorrection wrote: post #151
softwarebeware wrote: post #6

Some really good thoughts here. I'll summarize the ones that hit me: - "Why are people searching Reddit specifically? The short answer is that Google search results are clearly dying. The long answer is that most of the web has become too inauthentic to trust." This is it for me exactly. I search for the following kinds of things on Reddit exactly because results on other sites aren't trustworthy: Reviews are secretl…

Searching Reddit helps but the quality of comments has gotten lower since 2015 or so. It seems to coincide with the wave of subreddit bans and the nakedly politically-driven moderation on subreddits. And with the reflexive attitude—against anything countering the Reddit consensus—that developed during the Trump years. High quality posters seem to have withdrawn from the site (at least in how much they comment) and wh…

I find the idea that banning Trump supporters killed reddit to be pretty far-fetched.

To the extent there is a change in quality, it probably comes from other factors, including having a bigger, broader, and different user base now than in the past (and only a small portion of that change likely came from Trump-related bans).

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#205

Post by svachalek »

cml wrote: post #89
judge2020 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is the most annoying behavior because I really mean what I write. Tons of people don't, though. They type whatever unprocessed half-second thought they have into Google and expect Google to lead them to the water, even if they're tugging and trying to go in the completely wrong direction. Google has optimized for working 'most of the time' for 'the most people', and that means striving for fixing the complete…

A single mediocre experience optimized to work ‘most of the time’ for ‘most people’ is quite contrary to the narrative that has made Google such tremendous amounts of money (“let us surveil you so that you can have a more personalized experience”) though, isn’t it? Given all of the data collected about Google users, ought not one of the applications of that data be some way to give users specifically what they are se…

I have a sense that this is the dirty little secret of the spyware advertising industry, personalization just isn't that great. Yeah, putting you into a male or female bucket, parent or child, homeowner or renter, that's worth a little bit. But, to find out your name and address and search history and how long your last bowel movement took, just to deliver an ad that's theoretically hyper-optimized to make you buy something... I just don't believe it.

I don't believe that it's worth anything near what they are charging for it, except perhaps in the case of politics, which has always been an extremely efficient use of money. And even then, it's not worth a tiny fraction of the real cost it has to society.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#207

Post by dannyw »

qzx_pierri wrote: post #173

I'll re-post a comment I made about Google Search back in July 2020 because I believe it's still relevant: "Call me crazy, but I've been using Yandex a lot more recently. Political FUD aside, the results are pretty good, and completely unfiltered. It reminds me of how wild and unfiltered the internet was back in 2007. However, I wouldn't recommend it to "casual" users. Using Yandex requires a bit more common sense th…

Yandex is amazing.

For anything borderline contentious, Google gives incredibly "sanitised" results.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#208

Post by trdlts »

profstasiak wrote: post #148

Just a heads up if someone is searching reddit for product reviews. I believe most of them are inauthentic. I worked in marketing for several companies and we always had some budget for whisper marketing aka shilling. There are third party agency specialized in shilling on reddit and making it all look authentic.

Is there any place on the web with authentic reviews? The only thing that comes to mind is something like steam, where you have to at least purchase a copy of a game before leaving a review.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#209

Post by wing-_-nuts »

sydthrowaway wrote: post #164
aparsons wrote: post #13

I’ve posited repeatedly that when Reddit IPOs, I’ll be reallocating a significant chunk of my portfolio into their stock. Their management has historically lacked focus, but if Reddit ever builds a half-competent search index, and positions itself as a search-first, discovery-second destination, they will be in the FANG tier of stocks. They have the data. They have the dedicated, active user base. They have free mode…

The redesign is absolutely horrendous.

old.reddit.com and RES is the only way. Every time I have to use their new UI I die a little inside.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#210

Post by jmyeet »

I don't the same level of vitriol towards ads as some, particularly on something like search where there is a clear intent to find something and an ad may well be the most appropriate result. Like if I search for "Bosch vacujm" why isn't an ad for a retailer selling one the most appropriate?

Just so long as ads are clearly labelled as such I'm completely fine with it.

But the whole content farming thing is much worse and it explains the "reddit" thing. Searching for reviews is now impossible because of all the astroturfed affiliate link spam. Adding "site:reddit.com" is one of the few remaining ways to find real people talking about something. That woo will probably end at some point.

But this is a good example of how a metric that becomes a target ceases to be valuable as a metric. In this case, the links between pages became a goal so those links, the content on the pages and the SEO became a game and it doesn't matter if it's Google or someone else. If anything, affiliate links are a much bigger problem because they fund this "industry".

There will always be a need for search. Google search isn't going anywhere.

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