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Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

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Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#211

Post by bubblethink »

jsheard wrote: post #12

They do the same thing on the Play Store, for example I just searched for Firefox and the first result is a sponsored spot for Opera. Does Apple do that on the App Store? A funnier example: searching for Amazon gives Temu as the first result. Searching for Temu gives Shein as the first result. Searching for Shein gives Shein as the first result! ...but only because they outbid everyone else for the ad spot on their o…

Same on maps as well. That has actual annoying consequences where you end up at the wrong place.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#213

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

justapassenger wrote: post #59
peab wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they didn't - hence the ads

It's a very common story in industry. You start nimble, and disrupt bloated platforms. Then, as you grow, pressure grows and you also bloat. Then new company comes that brings nimble product and disrupt you. Search, TV->internet video, newspapers->internet - all of them go through those cycles.

I think it's a mistake to think of these cycles as inevitable, and that it's guaranteed that some small fry will disrupt the current giants. Yes, they may have happened in the past, but large companies are much more cognizant of the cycles of disruption now than they were 30 or 40 years ago. Microsoft was a behemoth in the late 80s and they're currently number 2 market cap in the world. Many folks on this board may be too young to remember Netscape's boast of "The Browser is the OS" in the mid 90s - well, Netscape is long gone and Microsoft is still giant. Only 2 years ago you saw pronouncements that OpenAI was going to be the death knell for Google, and it was it seemed to be the kick in the pants that Google needed to get their AI story working. Facebook just basically bought all its nascent competition (Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.)

I think disrupting large players will be much harder than it was it the past.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#214

Post by Eddy_Viscosity2 »

evertedsphere wrote: post #61
jsheard wrote: post #12

They do the same thing on the Play Store, for example I just searched for Firefox and the first result is a sponsored spot for Opera. Does Apple do that on the App Store? A funnier example: searching for Amazon gives Temu as the first result. Searching for Temu gives Shein as the first result. Searching for Shein gives Shein as the first result! ...but only because they outbid everyone else for the ad spot on their o…

This is also true on Apple's app stores, to be fair. I didn't know this until I got a MacBook Pro recently and my assumption that Apple's controls would be tighter than Google's was proven quite wrong when I opened the Mac App Store for the first rime.

There's that saying about "I don't care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating." The apple and play stores are like that. They don't care what you buy as long as they get to control the choices you choose from.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#215

Post by chuckadams »

vunderba wrote: post #89
beckthompson wrote: post #20

Its sad but I think at this point its kind of a safety issue not to use an ad blocker. Those results are not clearly ads and I've clicked on fake links in the past when they were.

Strong agree but unless it gets built-into the browser, the average net denizen simply won't do it. The number of times I've seen a friend of the family try to show me an article on their laptop while casually trying to shoot down the pop-up ads like they're playing a marketers version of Missile Command was astonishing. And EVEN if they do install a blocker, 9 times out of 10 it'll be AdBlock Plus and not uBlock Ori…

Because the average person looking for an adblocker searches for "adblock". And they're supposed to know the difference between uBlock and UBO?

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#216

Post by zeven7 »

xormapmap wrote: post #190
torben-friis wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t have an image to prove it, but I remember google making it a point and bragging of having clearly differentiated ads (in pale yellow I think?). It was a big contrast and a signal of classy goodwill, back in the age of replicating popups and garish blinking text.

Exactly this. I remember when it was just a couple small links in a yellow banner you could scroll past. Same with YouTube, the ads used to just be a banner under or beside the video but didn't interfere with the main content. Once the ads got invasive, I installed ublock and haven't looked back. I don't feel the slightest bit guilty about that.

For Google, the ads used to be on the right side. It was a big deal when they made you start scrolling past them.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#217

Post by cmrdporcupine »

jpmattia wrote: post #210

Like many of you, I serve as IT support for family. Some of those family are beginning to slip cognitively, so I'd like to say: Fk google for doing this. You are confusing my relatives who cannot tell the difference between your ad-spam and actual links, and it is not an exaggeration to say that you are now taking advantage of old people. I'm trying to install adblockers (uBlock) and move them over to chatgpt when po…

Buy them a Kagi membership and switch them to that.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#218

Post by MarcelOlsz »

jpmattia wrote: post #210

Like many of you, I serve as IT support for family. Some of those family are beginning to slip cognitively, so I'd like to say: Fk google for doing this. You are confusing my relatives who cannot tell the difference between your ad-spam and actual links, and it is not an exaggeration to say that you are now taking advantage of old people. I'm trying to install adblockers (uBlock) and move them over to chatgpt when po…

My parents hate technology but they love their little KDE thinkpad.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#219

Post by TheDong »

jpmattia wrote: post #210

Like many of you, I serve as IT support for family. Some of those family are beginning to slip cognitively, so I'd like to say: Fk google for doing this. You are confusing my relatives who cannot tell the difference between your ad-spam and actual links, and it is not an exaggeration to say that you are now taking advantage of old people. I'm trying to install adblockers (uBlock) and move them over to chatgpt when po…

> move them over to ChatGPT

OpenAI has even more VC money to pay back than Google ever did.

Practically all the large tech companies so far have turned to ads and monetizing users rather than charging enough to remain more neutral.

I suspect one day, when you ask ChatGPT "Can you give me a link to mid journey", you'll instead probabilistically get a link to whichever competitor paid OpenAI for the best placement.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#220

Post by cyanydeez »

jpmattia wrote: post #210

Like many of you, I serve as IT support for family. Some of those family are beginning to slip cognitively, so I'd like to say: Fk google for doing this. You are confusing my relatives who cannot tell the difference between your ad-spam and actual links, and it is not an exaggeration to say that you are now taking advantage of old people. I'm trying to install adblockers (uBlock) and move them over to chatgpt when po…

So inatead of being scammed, theyll be emotionally manipulTed.

Bizzaro solution. Sign them up to kagi.

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