Ask HN: Do you still use Google?

I think I use google more than I used to, but differently?

I spend a lot of time in chat with various LLMs, but I typically find, even with deep research, I do a better job of looking for additional context myself (or at last, there comes a point I know exactly what I want), so google search is still important for me, even outside the regular searching the web I'd do. Youtube, I'm using more than I used to but not more of the same, I think maybe with LLMs I have more free time + I spend more time keeping up with tech than I did ever in the 2010s, so I watch more "pop tech" than I ever did before. I also arrange my thoughts from LLMs into documents in google docs, so, I find myself in google docs more for personal than I used to.

I still use a few—pragmatism over ideology, you know? Gmail and Chrome are entrenched in my workflow (even if I’d love to ditch the tracking), and YouTube is too handy a distraction to pass up. Android? It’s the lesser evil compared to flipping back to feature phones. As for Gemini, I haven’t gotten the invite yet. In short, I use what works, not what’s perfect.

I still use Android but have replaced most Google apps with a 3P alternative that works better for me.

Google search has felt useless to me for years, and AI results have made it worse. I use DDG for stuff like finding a business's website, but anything more complex will generally send me to a specialized engine. I've been meaning to try Kagi but haven't gotten around to it yet

I use google search only for the most trivial searches now. Something where I know almost precisely what information I want.

I use LLMs for most info now, any slightly ambiguous query really. Often times I use the LLM to figure out what source I should find, then I just use google for retrieval

When I want to “surf the web” I use kagi search (usually with small web filter) when I want to see sources written by people. This isn’t that often, but when I need it kagi is the best!

An example, the other day I wanted to make fermented hot sauce, and I couldn’t remember how much salt was needed for the fermentation. I could google and get served hundreds of crappy ad ridden recipe sites that have the answer to my question buried under five pop up videos, or I could ask an llm with one or two follow ups and have a much more pleasant experience.

Then when I decided I wanted to follow a real recipe I used kagi with small web to find a recipe page that wasn’t an ad farm.

A few more steps than google, but all and all so much better.

Self hosted SearxNG instance aggregates and ranks multiple engines, works fantastic for me even though for some reason it sometimes thinks I’m in Germany.

I left mail/calendar/docs behind years ago. Fastmail is excellent.

But even though Searx is really good at it, I find myself using Google image search more often than not.

And then there’s YouTube. Even with all its bullshit I don’t know how to replace it.