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

bbc.com

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

#181

Post by lolc »

_heimdall wrote: post #44
skilled wrote: post #3

Honestly, bravo at BBC for whoever green-lighted this story. It puts the finger right on where it hurts for small publishers and illustrates Googles new way of thinking. I am sad but also frightened for small creators and those who simply share interesting information once in a while. Google is bulldozing these people away from anywhere near the AI answers or the ten blue links below it. The article didn’t mention it…

It seems pretty clear that Google's era of search technology has aged out. SEO has been a game of cat and mouse since the web became an ad platform, it was only a matter of time before Google ran out of moves. I'd much prefer a shift back to the earlier, smaller internet approach but it was driven by the enjoyment of exploration and discovery. Today most people prefer instant gratification online and just want answer…

> it was only a matter of time before Google ran out of moves.

Google is institutionally incapable of offering good search results. They have the tech but shittify it to drive ad spend.

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

#182

Post by nottorp »

p3rls wrote: post #165
nottorp wrote: post #86

Note that the article is crying about the poor small businesses that google killed. Not about the good old days when you could find unbiased reviews that were done not-for-profit out of someone's personal experience on a geocities page that hurt your eyes with all those blink tags.

You are making distinctions without a difference -- those same geocities admins (like myself) are now the creators of many of these small business websites and webapps that have been being held hostage for years by a malevolent corporation bent on destroying the last few decent websites left on the internet. And then when you complain about this monopoly that controls 90% of the west's internet, and 99% of it when yo…

> what the internet was supposed to do

Oh no, I'm whining about an even earlier period when the info online was done without commercial gain (small company or Google) in mind and way more trustable :)

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

#183

Post by southernplaces7 »

p3rls wrote: post #124
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?

Asking for a friend. how much would this hypothetical bribe to an NY Times writer cost? Or perhaps to some other high profile writer at some high profile digital paper?

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

#184

Post by _heimdall »

lolc wrote: post #181
_heimdall wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems pretty clear that Google's era of search technology has aged out. SEO has been a game of cat and mouse since the web became an ad platform, it was only a matter of time before Google ran out of moves. I'd much prefer a shift back to the earlier, smaller internet approach but it was driven by the enjoyment of exploration and discovery. Today most people prefer instant gratification online and just want answer…

> it was only a matter of time before Google ran out of moves. Google is institutionally incapable of offering good search results. They have the tech but shittify it to drive ad spend.

Google didn't get this far without providing much better search results than the competition for a while. I agree result quality has been declining for a while now, and the incentives of an ad and data business don't line up with providing quality search, but that hasn't always been the case.

Search before Google was much more rudimentary. Where they are today doesn't change that fact.

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

#185

Post by codalan »

Exuma wrote: post #43
ADeerAppeared wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Still need deep pockets but it’s now increasingly easier to be much better at search than Google. That's the big problem here. All the new search engines rely on the infrastructure of the old ones. It would take very little collusion between Google and Microsoft to crush something like Kagi. And the moment any new competitor gets big, they'll do it. What's needed is an anti-trust breakup. There's simply too big a c…

How would they crush kagi

Kagi also seems to be built atop GCP. Not a great place to be if you want to compete against Google in the future.

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

#186

Post by shzhdbi09gv8ioi »

drivebycomment wrote: post #136
shzhdbi09gv8ioi wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google results are tailored on a number of factors such as location, your past searches and whatnot. The same deal with the ads. Advertiser wouldn't pay for advertising of their product in a region or to a demograph they don't care for. I'd be more surprised if you did get the same result as parent.

The results are not that different across locations within each country, especially location agnostic queries like the particular example. It would be rather surprising if there's huge difference between locations within US for this particular query.

What can I say...

Anyway, this is how google explains it:

  > Search uses personalization to improve results
  > Personalization is when you get Search results tailored to you based on your activity.
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/12412910?hl=en

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

#187

Post by drivebycomment »

shzhdbi09gv8ioi wrote: post #186
drivebycomment wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The results are not that different across locations within each country, especially location agnostic queries like the particular example. It would be rather surprising if there's huge difference between locations within US for this particular query.

What can I say... Anyway, this is how google explains it: > Search uses personalization to improve results > Personalization is when you get Search results tailored to you based on your activity. https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/12412910?hl=en

If you actually compare results across different people across many queries, you will notice that they differ relatively little. The fact that search uses personalization doesn't mean it is always personalized or it affects all results always. It affects relatively small number of queries and relatively small number of results, very dependent on the types of queries and types of results.

Location affects a lot more results than personalization, but that is also very query dependent, so certain queries are affected by the location a lot more than others. And the particular example query is one that you can expect very little location variation.

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