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Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

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Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#241

Post by nr2x »

technobabbler wrote: post #213
keyme wrote: post #196

The internet is too different now to what Google (or any SE) was designed to index. Too much of the up-to-date high value information is posted onto semi-public channels. Like facebook groups, instagram posts, telegram channels, etc. At the same time, too much of the publicly available websites are becoming clickbait and mindless marketing drivel. Just try to research anything slightly obscure that has to be up-to-da…

You know, if that were the only roadblock, I wish someone would take the top 10,000 Google queries and just manually curate them. Hire different interest groups -- outdoors, travel, cuisine, etc. -- and manually find the best hits buried deep in some subreddit. No fancy algorithms, just old-fashioned librarian-style research, but constantly updated with the latest findings and queries. Would happily pay for that... e…

You just invented pre-Google Yahoo!

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#243

Post by Spooky23 »

samwillis wrote: post #89

Ultimately I think it’s because the internet is just too big! Google were only able to do it because they had the right algorithm early in the age of the internet. They were then able to grow with it to achieve the scale required. Starting from scratch now on a general internet search engine would be close to impossible without 10s, if not 100s, billions of investment. And you would need that to build the index befor…

The internet is big, but information has shrunk. Content has been slurped into walled gardens.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#245

Post by tmh88j »

jonas21 wrote: post #236
tmh88j wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a way to provide a date range when specifying a site? I frequently append reddit to my google searches as well, but the results often include outdated posts. I don't want restaurant/service/whatever reviews from 7+ years ago.

Press "Tools", then change "Any time" to "Custom range" and set the range you want.

I've tried that but the filter seems inconsistent. I can specify a date range and get some focused results, but if I remove the date filter and search the same terms I often receive additional results that weren't previously displayed but are within the range I used.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#246

Post by mbg721 »

technobabbler wrote: post #213
keyme wrote: post #196

The internet is too different now to what Google (or any SE) was designed to index. Too much of the up-to-date high value information is posted onto semi-public channels. Like facebook groups, instagram posts, telegram channels, etc. At the same time, too much of the publicly available websites are becoming clickbait and mindless marketing drivel. Just try to research anything slightly obscure that has to be up-to-da…

You know, if that were the only roadblock, I wish someone would take the top 10,000 Google queries and just manually curate them. Hire different interest groups -- outdoors, travel, cuisine, etc. -- and manually find the best hits buried deep in some subreddit. No fancy algorithms, just old-fashioned librarian-style research, but constantly updated with the latest findings and queries. Would happily pay for that... e…

Isn't that more or less what Yahoo was supposed to be (an index of curated links)?

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#247

Post by achr2 »

Sujan wrote: post #223
technobabbler wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, if that were the only roadblock, I wish someone would take the top 10,000 Google queries and just manually curate them. Hire different interest groups -- outdoors, travel, cuisine, etc. -- and manually find the best hits buried deep in some subreddit. No fancy algorithms, just old-fashioned librarian-style research, but constantly updated with the latest findings and queries. Would happily pay for that... e…

The top 10.000 queries at Google are probably 99% brands, pop culture or current news things, one word or name only, that you would not care for at all. Have a look at the top 20: https://www.statista.com/statistics/265825/number-of-searche...

I think there is an easy exclusion to be made for these types of 'too lazy to type a url' type searches (or 'weather' which is similar in getting a specific piece of data).

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#248

Post by polote »

keyme wrote: post #196

The internet is too different now to what Google (or any SE) was designed to index. Too much of the up-to-date high value information is posted onto semi-public channels. Like facebook groups, instagram posts, telegram channels, etc. At the same time, too much of the publicly available websites are becoming clickbait and mindless marketing drivel. Just try to research anything slightly obscure that has to be up-to-da…

> It'll never reach a SERP in the future.

Why not ? A scrapper may not be able to find it, but we all have a Facebook account. You dont need an automated scrapper to create a search engine. Info can be manually curated or scrapped through web extensions

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#249

Post by nickdothutton »

One strategy might be to monetise Googles failure/difficulty/broken business model with regard to SEO, promoted, and brand sites. How might one do this? Create a market for filter add-ons to Google’s results. A market for quality filters (subject to different user groups subjective view of what quality means). For example, let’s say I am a specialist in some particular area, and I’ve devised a “quality filter” or “screen” for my specialism. A user, an ordinary user might choose to pay for my filter to cut down the firehouse of junk normally coming out of a google search. The platform owner, for this value added search market might have an App Store for filters and skim off some of the recurring subscription revenues for the 5, 10, or 50 filters the user might subscribe to.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't there a Google competitor emerging?

#250

Post by khazhoux »

keyme wrote: post #196

The internet is too different now to what Google (or any SE) was designed to index. Too much of the up-to-date high value information is posted onto semi-public channels. Like facebook groups, instagram posts, telegram channels, etc. At the same time, too much of the publicly available websites are becoming clickbait and mindless marketing drivel. Just try to research anything slightly obscure that has to be up-to-da…

Either Google engineers reacted to your hour-old post, or you picked an example where Google actually does well.

The top-of-page "featured snippet":

> Kenya Airways and Jambojet Limited fly from Nairobi to Kisumu every 4 hours. Alternatively, The Guardian Coach operates a bus from Nairobi to Kisumu every 3 hours. Tickets cost $6 - $11 and the journey takes 6h 30m. Two other operators also service this route.

Then the rest of the page links to route-planning websites, a Tripadvisor discussion about bus from Nairobi, and other actually relevant results.

Google disappoints me too, but TBH I can't objectively gauge how good it is. My own opinion is just based on spotty personal experiences that I don't keep track of.

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