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Google is burying the web alive

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Re: Google is burying the web alive

#121

Post by dnissley »

kevingadd wrote: post #68
bilater wrote: post #40

So if Google innovates with AI, it's a problem because they're hiding their "ten blue links." But if they don't, they're suffering from the innovator's dilemma and are going to die with their ten blue links. The fact is, Google is so big that they're always going to upset some people. Embracing AI and moving forward is the only thing they can do.

Why is it a foregone conclusion that embracing AI is the only way to move forward, and that embracing AI is necessary to succeed? I'm certainly curious to see how it works out - it's a possible source of growth etc - but it's weird to me seeing people just assume that AI is not only The Future but is The Only Future.

Because AI/LLMs are clearly a 10x+ improvement over a significant number of use cases for search. And LLMs will be the thing performing the searches and filtering results in the remaining use cases.

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#122

Post by notnullorvoid »

AI summaries aren't the problem, they are a poor solution to a overwhelming amount of slop content. Search engine results have been getting worse and worse for over a decade, and with a rapidly increasing collection of content the web is getting too big to search. AI will be necessary, but it's not going to change the course, it will be deployed on both the solution and the problem front.

If I had to pick the biggest contributor to the problem it would be advertising. Which mainly means Google, and governments for allowing an ad and search monopoly under the same roof. People can make all the justifications they want about how ad revenue allowed businesses and individuals to prosper, and "free" access to content, but it was always borrowing against the future.

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#123

Post by quesera »

WalterBright wrote: post #48
mouse_ wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it extremely challenging to believe you actually think that. I can't even host my own email anymore without all of my messages getting filtered as spam, because if your email service doesn't play nice with Google, then you might as well not exist. Not to mention youtube, adsense, Android (Google is trying to kill AOSP to sink their claws more deeply into Android in light of the recent antitrust suits), Google…

I've been using a private email server for decades now, but it's become clear that none of the email I send using it arrives at its destination. I can receive email with them, but not send.

If this was a sudden and complete change, you may have landed on a spam blacklist.

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#124

Post by notnullorvoid »

tmnvix wrote: post #115

I've said this before, but I sincerely believe that a human-curated internet directory would be a great resource. Maybe something along the lines of Yahoo Directory revived? Organised using the dewey system could be useful. A library for the internet. I'd love to be able to look up something like say 'shoe repair' and find a host of high quality resources such as videos, tutorials, suppliers, etc, all vetted by real…

I think the answer lies in a network of curated directories, and search within a localised range of the network.

Many people already have a decent list of curated sites in the form of bookmarks, but bookmark software is horribly dated. Even if I limited my search to sites gathered from my own bookmarks, I'd find 95% of everything I'm ever searching for.

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#125

Post by entropie »

bamboozled wrote: post #116
entropie wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you use now? I switched to kagi like half a year ago and it does the job but iam still unsure if I want to pay the 20 bucks for that service.

I went back to Google but I’m pretty addicted to Claude with the search plugin. I think it’s insane. I don’t like the Google AI summary thing because you can’t seem to “converse” with it.

kagi has an AI summary tool to which is pretty good as far as i can tell.

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#127

Post by anal_reactor »

romaaeterna wrote: post #3

As someone who remembers what the web was like 25 years ago, I have a feeling that they're burying a corpse.

I'd like to limit my online time, but I'm so addicted to the internet, even though it's pure garbage nowadays. Any practical tips? It's not about putting away the phone, it's about... the hope that maybe this time I'll read something funny or informative, as I have absolutely no other sources of information or social interaction. "Go out and talk to people" isn't valid advice. It's never been, but in 2025 finally even the mainstream is slowly admitting that this doesn't work.

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#128

Post by xyse53 »

entropie wrote: post #66
bamboozled wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used DuckDuckGo for 3 years, the only thing I found it useful for was the g! bang, in my opinion it wasn’t a good search engine.

What do you use now? I switched to kagi like half a year ago and it does the job but iam still unsure if I want to pay the 20 bucks for that service.

I find that yearly works better for me psychologically for stuff like this.

I got a 1 yr professional of kagi just to try it. IMO the results work. I've never seen Google do better when I compare; I have seen the Google AI responses be consistently straight up wrong.

To me it's worth the cost knowing I'm paying a sustainable rate for a service. Plus I want no part in whatever the hell Google is doing these days with search.

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#130

Post by oliwarner »

Which is a problem for websites that only provide facts.

If your whole business model is getting organic search engine traffic to answer a user's question (a time, a result, something they just want to know) then Google is going to eat your dinner and I'm completely ambivalent because so many of the websites that have been so expertly sculpted to dominate SERPs, are what's wrong with the web. It's why it deserves to be buried.

Before posting this, I'd just seen this post about asking Forbes whether or not the latest Mission Impossible has a post-credit scene: https://bsky.app/profile/chrisplummer.bsky.social/post/3lpvx...

> If you load this page it contacts 82 IP addresses executing 256 separate HTTP transactions to download 18MB of data writing 64 cookies to your device to tell you “no”

The web has been on life-support for a while. Ad-blockers just make it bearable, but its existence as an information lookup system is nearly over. It's a way to interact with online systems and —occasionally— for reading some long-form content (which is increasingly written by LLMs anyway). Isn't the future confusing.

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