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Every Google result now looks like an ad

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Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#161
post #26

I've been in this A/B test for a couple of months now, so I've had time to adjust, and I still hate it. I've just become so used to seeing the complete URL in green. The complete URL! If you hover over the results, you'll see that they like to take bits like numeric components or the query string out. This is part of Google's attempt to de-prioritise the URL. Their destructive AMP service confusingly shows you Google…

AMP obscuring the URL is a side effect of the current technical implementation, not a goal – and they are working to fix it: https://searchengineland.com/google-announces-signed-exchang...

Cloudflare has an option for native AMP urls, at your own domain, as well.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also have one I submitted over the weekend. They haven't taken it down yet :). Mine is just geared towards my dislike of the favicons, not distinguishing the styling of the ads. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/hide-google-s... https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hide-google-search... Source: https://github.com/Jtfinlay/gsearch-hidefavicon

Nice! The results look much better without favicons, I'm going to install this too.

I just created a uBlock origin rule. It seems the extension gets the same job done by removing all HTML elements with the class "xA33Gc" or "K7JcSb" (source: https://github.com/Jtfinlay/gsearch-hidefavicon/blob/master/...).

In uBlock Origin one could add the rules:

www.google.com##.TbwUpd > .xA33Gc www.google.com##.TbwUpd > .K7JcSb

Or more generally: www.google.com##.TbwUpd > img

to hide the icons...

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#166
post #5

Not sure about the facts underlying the analysis. In my search results (and it's important to remember that it's possible you get different results than another user, due to launch experiments and trials) the ads do not have icons. They say "Ad" in bold text. The "organics" results have icons.

But notice how the "Ad" text is specifically formatted (and placed) to resemble a favicon? They're blatantly trying to make the ads and organic results appear uniform to someone quickly scanning the page.

As a user, I want the ads more easily distinguishable, not less.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#167
post #149

Unironically switch to Bing

I did, first for any search that might include political bias, due to results' censorship, but then I accidentally discovered that programming related searches and other technical searches are often better in Bing too.

>> but then I accidentally discovered that programming related searches and other technical searches are often better in Bing too.

They have gotten terrible at Google because the results are all ads. Any technical article explaining what an expert may want to know is not part of a corporate product page and therefore has no monetary value for anyone (Google included) to push it up in the results. Ask how to implement something and you'll get a bunch of results for products that implement that thing already.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#168
Not only that but when I click on a link that pretends to be an actual search result some random shop page opens and wants to sell me shoes or coats or whatever. Only when I press the back button and click that link again the real page opens. Good bye, Google, my search engine is now Bing.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#170
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evil is also subjective.

Okay, for the sake of argument, let's accept your worldview where good and evil are subjective and therefore irrelevant. The only thing left then is, what do we want? It becomes a question of what do I want, and who can I view as allies in achieving my goals. I want a search tool that serves my needs, not the needs of advertisers. I want privacy and I don't want distractions. So Google is not on my side, they are my…

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