Click the Paw

Hm, I don't see it on Firefox for Android.

The easter egg doesn't seem to work on mobile (or maybe from outside the US?), but as someone who hasn't used google.com for quite a while, what's remarkable to me is how much the landing SERP has changed since the simple list-of-links design of the early days. And not in a good way. I have some time, so rant incoming...

From top to bottom, here's what I see for "cat":

0. To start, that annoying full-screen cookie consent form. At least it has a "Reject all" button now, so it's relatively quick to dismiss.

1. A full-screen business summary for Caterpillar, including contact, revenue, and other less important information, followed by their site link. Useful, I guess.

2. Six thumbnail images of cats with a link to view all images. Very relevant, makes sense, but I would go to Image Search if I wanted to see images.

3. A map with some vaguely relevant locations and a link to view more map results. Why is this on the SERP? Again, if I wanted to search for locations, I'd go directly to Maps.

4. Some "other questions from users" section about the CAT brand. Huh? My search term wasn't a question, so why is this here? And why would I care about _other_ questions than the one I searched for? And, most importantly, why is this on the SERP?? Bafflingly bad design, context, presentation...

5. A couple of out of place, but presumably sponsored, links to a CAT phones site and a Spanish university site. Weird seeing this in a standalone section, but it's better than having sponsored links mixed in with native results.

6. An "other people also searched for" section with some CAT brand search links. Why would I care what other people searched for? Feels sponsored as well.

7. FINALLY a list of search results, with a grand total of 6 links, and some are even relevant.

8. I shit you not, ANOTHER "other questions from users" section, with even more random CAT brand questions. W. T. F.

9. A "related searches" section, that's pretty much the same as "other people also searched for". But...ytho?

10. Some ads to purchase CAT phones, with prices and thumbnails. Ah, no surprise, it's what Google does best.

11. An infinitely scrolling list of results, mixed with sponsored links. Broken up by the same ad section as above, and then more results, and more ads... Ad infinitum. Ah no, there's actually an end with a "show more" link. We can still page through the results, that's great.

What an absolutely hostile user experience. I mean, I get that I'm not the customer and that Google wants to bombard me with ads, but this is borderline unusable. I'm quite happy using SearX and occasionally DDG, but frankly it doesn't take much to improve on Google's UX.

I was so upset about the Android iMessage crying yesterday this completely eliminated my sadness

Well, seeing this in the light of recent news is kinda ... hilarious?

MIAU!