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Ask HN: What's Up with Google?

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Re: Ask HN: What's Up with Google?

#181

Post by no_time »

aero-glide2 wrote: post #142
em500 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a snark, but why would you search for youtube videos on google, rather than on youtube?

YouTube's search isn't very good.

I think it's the best search google has produced. Probably the most extreme example of how good it is: Search for "reebok or the nike" and "Corona - The Rhythm of the Night (Official Music Video)" is the 3rd result :^)

Another suprising example: Search for "ádzseszkó", which is how a hungarian speaker who doesn't speak a lick of english would write "I just called", successfully finds Stevie Wonder - I Just Called To Say I Love You

Re: Ask HN: What's Up with Google?

#182

Post by cobbaut »

pxtail wrote: post #22

Thanks to this cursed god forsaken parasite "Pinterest" I just completely stopped using google's image search option. I'm using bing/ddg now and it feels soooo good compared to how awful google search experience became

Both Firefox and Chrome have an 'unpinterested' add-on.

Re: Ask HN: What's Up with Google?

#183

Post by hffftz »

kyrra wrote: post #50
l0b0 wrote: post #16

It's a trend I've noticed with other services, notably Drive and Calendar - they no longer innovate, just get a UI tweak every few years. It's very reminiscent of cash cows, which typically are resourced to just keep going at minimal expense for as long as possible. Another possibility is that the product isn't "sexy" anymore, so they are having trouble finding the great staff they need to stay at the forefront. This…

Googler, opinions are my own. For products that are core, large UI changes tend to just annoy a lot of users, unless there's something really amazing about the change. Even then, people are hesitant to like new UIs. Engineers and designers definitely want to try new things, but balancing those against messing with UIs that a billion+ people use is hard. My general take on drive and calendar, if they are trying to imp…

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: What's Up with Google?

#184

Post by maeil »

superasn wrote: post #136
SnowflakeOnIce wrote: post #74

I've noticed in the past 2-3 months that results from StackOverflow, Wikipedia, and official programming language documentation sites seem to have been abruptly downranked. They used to typically be in the top 3 results for me for appropriate queries, but now they frequently aren't even on the first page.

Yes and on the other hand sites like codegrepper and other such scraper/scam sites are frequently showing in my search results - which are just SO results. I don't know if they're gaming Google's search or google is actually condoning this (like they've been condoning pinterest's shenanigans for almost 10 years now)

It has become very bad; searching for something like an error message, the first result is SO and results 2-9 will be SO scrapers.

Unlike say, Pinterest, I don't see anything Google could gain from "condoning" these scraper sites. I feel it's 1. gradual ranking algorithm changes 2. succesful gaming.

Re: Ask HN: What's Up with Google?

#185

Post by is_true »

oezi wrote: post #146
superasn wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and on the other hand sites like codegrepper and other such scraper/scam sites are frequently showing in my search results - which are just SO results. I don't know if they're gaming Google's search or google is actually condoning this (like they've been condoning pinterest's shenanigans for almost 10 years now)

There is a ublock origin list which you can import to filter search results: https://github.com/quenhus/uBlock-Origin-dev-filter

ty

Re: Ask HN: What's Up with Google?

#186

Post by is_true »

AndrewSwift wrote: post #174
causality0 wrote: post #156

It's a rather standard tech company model: you build a product so good it becomes indispensable, then you stick the customers in a vice and squeeze until all the money comes out. "Produce the best search results" hasn't been the guiding principle for a good decade now. "Not growing is failing" is the most toxic principle of modern business. There is a finite amount of people, of money to be made. Ever-increasing inco…

I would just answer: ad buyers are Google's clients, and users are more like fodder. Not an original thought, I know. I would be interested to know what major users of Google's advertising services think about the quality of their services recently.

It depends, i don't think anyone is happy having to buy ads for your own brand when you are organically the 1st result.

Another thing I saw is that now adsense has full page size ads, like modals. I remember the times, around 2010, when having too many ad units together could get you banned.

Re: Ask HN: What's Up with Google?

#187

Post by is_true »

In 2016 Google pushed for AI and replaced the guy in charge of the search product (Amit Singhal) by the guy in charge of the AI division.

From there it's all been downhill from an user perspectives, I'm sure at first the saw ad revenue increased.

Re: Ask HN: What's Up with Google?

#189

Post by paulcole »

gandalfgreybeer wrote: post #125
paulcole wrote: post #79

What’s up with Google? It’s the best search engine that’s available today, in my opinion.

It may still be the best generally but it's been on a steep decline the past few years.

Really shows how terrible the alternatives are if Google has been on a steep decline for years and is still the best.

I tried DDG for 2 months. Wasn’t worth annoying myself with worse search results for no good reason.

Re: Ask HN: What's Up with Google?

#190

Post by iratewizard »

alpaca128 wrote: post #36
iratewizard wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One day I hope either ddg becomes good, or a good alternative pops up.

DDG is pretty good, it just requires a bit more context on average. As using a search engine is a lot about knowing the right choice of keywords it takes some time to adjust to the differences. Waiting for another random search engine that works exactly like Google is gonna take a while. I still find what I need, that's all I care about. And I can't remember seeing a pinterest link on the first page.

Frequently, I search ddg, fail to find what I'm looking for, and then search Google. Or don't bother searching ddg on a certain kind of search because I know it won't find it. Both Google and DDG are mediocre versions of 2010 Google.
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