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Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

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Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#91

Post by orblivion »

amatecha wrote: post #31
CSMastermind wrote: post #19

I'm old enough to remember when a big selling point of Google was that it didn't do this.

Had to dig up this link, 1999 review[0]: "Google (www.google.com) is a pure search engine - no weather, no news feed, no links to sponsors, no ads, no distractions, no portal litter. Nothing but a fast-loading search site. Reward them with a visit." [0] https://i.redd.it/uea6u7c4oje31.jpg

The problem is, some of us do have a habit of asking our search engine for the weather. And we ruin it for the rest of you.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#92

Post by justinclift »

ares623 wrote: post #32
freediver wrote: post #7

They still get away with it as ‘only’ 1% complain and Google thinks they don’t matter. We built our entire company for that 1%.

How is Kagi for non-US folks? I've tried switching to DDG a while back but the experience for me, living outside the US, was not great. Sure, programming related searches were pretty good, but everything else was not. Does Kagi have a better localized experience?

Seems fine here in Australia, though I tend to use global results.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#93

Post by justinclift »

chairmansteve wrote: post #42
Mistletoe wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How will you fight the inevitable slide that happens if you ever got on top? I’m convinced Google started with the absolute best of intentions before the money and greed turned them into a horror movie villain.

"How will you fight the inevitable slide that happens if you ever got on top?". Don't get too greedy. There must be examples... 37Signals?

Maybe B corporations?

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#94

Post by leakycap »

jsheard wrote: post #12

They do the same thing on the Play Store, for example I just searched for Firefox and the first result is a sponsored spot for Opera. Does Apple do that on the App Store? A funnier example: searching for Amazon gives Temu as the first result. Searching for Temu gives Shein as the first result. Searching for Shein gives Shein as the first result! ...but only because they outbid everyone else for the ad spot on their o…

> Does Apple do that on the App Store?

I believe so - and it seems the devs know it happens, bevause I often see a paid ad for "Chrome" if I search "Chrome"

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#95

Post by decimalenough »

ares623 wrote: post #32
freediver wrote: post #7

They still get away with it as ‘only’ 1% complain and Google thinks they don’t matter. We built our entire company for that 1%.

How is Kagi for non-US folks? I've tried switching to DDG a while back but the experience for me, living outside the US, was not great. Sure, programming related searches were pretty good, but everything else was not. Does Kagi have a better localized experience?

As a non-US-ian, yes, it does, for search.

There's also a handy country dropdown if you ever want to localize to somewhere else, although I rarely need this, since it's smart enough to eg. show "tokyo hotels" even if your country is somewhere else.

You'll still need Google Maps though.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#96

Post by perks_12 »

wk_end wrote: post #2

I'm not using an ad blocker; when I search for Midjourney on Google the real thing is my first result; I don't even see any sponsored content. Not sure what's happening for OP. (Please don't read this as a defense of Google on the whole.)

Geo targeting or other targeting signals play a role in this

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#97

Post by mc32 »

amatecha wrote: post #31
CSMastermind wrote: post #19

I'm old enough to remember when a big selling point of Google was that it didn't do this.

Had to dig up this link, 1999 review[0]: "Google (www.google.com) is a pure search engine - no weather, no news feed, no links to sponsors, no ads, no distractions, no portal litter. Nothing but a fast-loading search site. Reward them with a visit." [0] https://i.redd.it/uea6u7c4oje31.jpg

That didn't last long till they added paid results but at least they highlighted the paid results from the organic results... Those were they days when they used to have the motto of not being Evil. Accordingly, now, they are.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#98

Post by loloquwowndueo »

dotancohen wrote: post #86

> I typed in Midjourney to search for Midjourney because I wanted to use Midjourney. For one thing, the author could have just gone right to midjourney.com instead of going through an intermediate. Additionally, when I tried typing midjourney into google, midjourney.com was the first result. This is on mobile Firefox, with no extensions installed.

Impossible to know beforehand if it’s midjourney.com , midjourney.ai, getmidjourney.io or some such other idiocy - search engines exist for a reason.

Also - well-known that ad, sorry, search engines might well give two people different results for the same query.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#99

Post by NothingAboutAny »

jsheard wrote: post #12

They do the same thing on the Play Store, for example I just searched for Firefox and the first result is a sponsored spot for Opera. Does Apple do that on the App Store? A funnier example: searching for Amazon gives Temu as the first result. Searching for Temu gives Shein as the first result. Searching for Shein gives Shein as the first result! ...but only because they outbid everyone else for the ad spot on their o…

Sometimes it's not even close, I went to download the PAX Australia app and the top result was Revolut. I'd love to know the set of circumstances that the algorithm picked them to sponsor there.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#100

Post by leakycap »

evertedsphere wrote: post #61
jsheard wrote: post #12

They do the same thing on the Play Store, for example I just searched for Firefox and the first result is a sponsored spot for Opera. Does Apple do that on the App Store? A funnier example: searching for Amazon gives Temu as the first result. Searching for Temu gives Shein as the first result. Searching for Shein gives Shein as the first result! ...but only because they outbid everyone else for the ad spot on their o…

This is also true on Apple's app stores, to be fair. I didn't know this until I got a MacBook Pro recently and my assumption that Apple's controls would be tighter than Google's was proven quite wrong when I opened the Mac App Store for the first rime.

The Mac App Store is such a wasteland. I don't know why Apple doesn't provide it a budget and some real human curation.

The average person searching for Microsoft Word, which is on the App Store, gets screens of templates and junky overpriced apps.

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