Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google just updated its algorithm. The Internet will never be the same

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 187 posts

Re: Google just updated its algorithm. The Internet will never be the same

#121

Post by abenga »

jascha_eng wrote: post #78
booleandilemma wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just did the same search and the first result was how to use a massage ball. I scrolled down a bit and saw a reddit thread titled "using a massage ball for back pain". The declining quality of Google's search results is greatly over exaggerated.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. I also am using an ad blocker, but aside from that the pages that are returned work perfectly fine for me for the most part. Yes sometimes there is some useless blogs taking up top spots but then I tried the so hyped alternatives like kagi and they don't filter these out either so eh...

It works perfectly fine even on the Google android app that is unaffected by uBlock. I always hear people complain about search results but I can't remember the last time I even had to scroll down when searching. I do usually mostly search for ultra-specific programming stuff though.

Re: Google just updated its algorithm. The Internet will never be the same

#122

Post by servus45678981 »

sedatk wrote: post #20
beretguy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Meanwhile, Duckduckgo still provides decent results in my experience. I’ve been using ddg since around 2016, but in the past few months I realize that brave gives me better results and Kagi even still better. So I’m switching to brave/Kagi combo. Brave for when i need to find easy stuff and Kagi when really need to find something.

Agree on that Kagi's better.

[flagged]

Re: Google just updated its algorithm. The Internet will never be the same

#123

Post by marcinzm »

I find Google worse every day. The latest thing I noticed is a ton of AI generated sites at the top that "summarize" things. Mostly the same format. Except they're usually wrong in many ways. One site kept saying Llama 3 is a Mixture of Experts model despite it not being one.

Re: Google just updated its algorithm. The Internet will never be the same

#124

Post by p3rls »

neilv wrote: post #120

> A spokesperson for Google tells the BBC that the company only launches changes to Search after rigorous testing confirms that the shift will be helpful for users, and that the company gives website owners help, resources and opportunities for feedback on their Search rankings. When I got an Android tablet, I downloaded some of those free-to-play games in which you build bases and vehicles in a multiplayer world. An…

Nah, bribe a NYTimes writer at the beginning of your niches trajectory into the mainstream. That's how they did it in my niche and still making a half million a year almost a decade later.

For reference the shocked SEO writer who found the site, but these guys never figure out just how it was done.

https://x.com/paulk139/status/1550532282288508929

Why build something that takes work at all in this environment?

Re: Google just updated its algorithm. The Internet will never be the same

#125

Post by _heimdall »

hobs wrote: post #96
_heimdall wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily. Internet search algorithms were designed to solve the discoverability problem. LLMs are generative, they're creating content rather than finding it for you. They also serve a different business model. Sure you can have ads in LLM answers similar to Google search results, but Google is also selling clicks. LLMs are designed and used, at least today, to give you the answer so you don't need to see an o…

Seems like the option is constantly retrain an LLM or give it enough tools to interact with new data as needed. For the foreseeable future LLM's are going to need RAG or huge context windows which are effectively equivalent to RAG because you are isolating from some giant corpus your useful information you want the machine to meaningfully interact with.

It still seems like a different use case to me, but maybe I'm wrong there.

I don't mind a search algorithm including a summary as long as its true to the original, but I really don't want any generated content that's trying to predict how someone would answer my question. If LLMs end up replacing most of the use of tools like Google Search we really have moved past the discovery problem and don't necessarily want to find or see the original (human authored) content at all.

Re: Google just updated its algorithm. The Internet will never be the same

#126

Post by rjh29 »

jayski wrote: post #46
throwaway211 wrote: post #28

Two big reasons people add Reddit to search phrases is because Reddit's search isn't functional and to deprioritise Ad Junk from search. It's to fix broken search, which gets more broken - more unwanted Ad Junk. But Google's an advertising company with it's ad search device in everyone's pocket. At least it's reached sufficient post-don't-be-evil to be honestly shameless, even if it does employ people in PR with brok…

Reddit is the only social network I use. They're really dropping the ball by not having a fantastic search tool. I know search is a difficult problem, but with the kind of budget and engineering power they have it has to be solvable.

There's no money in it. It's expensive in both compute and storage to provide the tool, and they want most users to just be mindlessly consuming the front page or popular subreddits.

Re: Google just updated its algorithm. The Internet will never be the same

#127

Post by cageface »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #56
rsolva wrote: post #40

We need to make bookmarks a common way to access the web again! So many people use Google or other search engines to access even the most basic sites, instead of storing a bookmark or typing out the whole URL. I have used a simple bookmarking strategy in Firefox for some years now, simply storing everything and anything I suspect I might want to retrieve later. I give each bookmark a few quick keywords and store it a…

Yeah, and, along the same lines, directories should perhaps also make a comeback -- like the old Yahoo! Directory or DMOZ. Just a carefully curated and organized list of trusted sites that are made and managed by humans and for humans. Unlike, say, DMOZ, the directory of the future should be easier to navigate and incorporate "modern" features -- and it should also be easily searchable. (All sites on the directory ar…

I’ve been saying for two years now that curated directories are poised to make a comeback on the web. It just needs a critical mass of curators.

I think this is why those awesome-$tech lists are so popular.

Re: Google just updated its algorithm. The Internet will never be the same

#128

Post by maleldil »

servus45678981 wrote: post #122
sedatk wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree on that Kagi's better.

[flagged]

The search engine is one of my most visited websites daily, and it's the gateway to other websites. It makes perfect sense to pay for it if the quality is superior to its alternatives, which I find to be true.

If you haven't already tried it, they have a decent starter plan that you can use to check if it's useful for you.

Re: Google just updated its algorithm. The Internet will never be the same

#129

Post by p3rls »

david-gpu wrote: post #4

Over the past several months I find Google search has become completely useless to find anything other than online retailers. I thought it may have been just something about my profile, but this article suggests it may have been an update on their end. Meanwhile, Duckduckgo still provides decent results in my experience.

Duckduckgo is garbage for my niche (entertainment). SEO wordpressed articles up at the top of every search. Looks like it puts even more weight on backlinks in its algorithm to me and as such is even more vulnerable to gaming/timing.

Re: Google just updated its algorithm. The Internet will never be the same

#130

Post by whywhywhywhy »

mkroman wrote: post #57
kriops wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kagi costs Spotify money, has zero ads, and lets you customise the results.

It also can't fetch more than 2 pages of results for either web or image search. Reverse image search just straight up doesn't work. I don't know why they have it. With searxng, searching at least works. It also has plugins that I think can do some of what Kagi is useful for (but it depends on the instance)

Yandex is the only decent reverse image search I've found, it's about the same as Google was at it's peak.
Post reply on HN