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Google Search Is Dying

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Re: Google Search Is Dying

#261

Post by thiht »

highstep wrote: post #136
bennyp101 wrote: post #10

I've noticed that I have started doing that recently - appending reddit to my queries. There just seems to be a load of imitation sites now, like 6 different wrapper sites for GitHub, 8 for StackOverflow, a couple for GitLab, something aggregating a load of forums - so the first couple of pages are the exact same content - just from 15 different sites that copy the originals. At least going with a community site ther…

appending "wiki" is also really useful if you're looking for straight facts

It’s sad but I also noticed I have to add « wiki » more and more because Wikipedia is increasingly not the first result for searches where it should be the first result. Instead there’s often the stupid Google widget obviously copying Wikipedia’s content without a direct link to the actual page.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#263

Post by csomar »

jedwhite wrote: post #64

There have been many interesting threads recently about the decline of Google's search quality here on HN. There's zero doubt search results are getting worse, and that ads and spam are the cause. But Google's financial performance has been going from record to record. So there is a huge disconnect building in the market. Each thread has had some common themes, but what's surprising is how different the problems disc…

> But Google's financial performance has been going from record to record. So there is a huge disconnect building in the market.

Of course. I used to get one ad on YouTube from time to another. Now for every 3 minutes videos, I have two forced ads at start and one ad at the end. Heck, the other day, I got an ad inside a 2 minutes video. The fall is going to be legendary.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#264

Post by doodlebugging »

BeFlatXIII wrote: post #51

Another reason why adding site:reddit.com is so popular: Reddit's search is even more broken than Google and is useless for searching its own site.

Broken search on Reddit is a feature, not a bug.

If search worked reliably there is a lot of content that would never be reposted. I've followed several subreddits for a long time dealing with hobbies or skills that I know a bit about and it is usually the same questions being asked and answered year after year. If a user could easily find the response I posted in 2006, 2008, 2011, etc then they would not need to make an account to ask their question. They could simply look at the replies posted with all the photos showing how to accomplish what they need to do and then move on with life.

Another reason is that users can delete their posts and their accounts. If that subject has been well covered in the past but the posters later deleted their content then it will not be available for search to find it. I regularly spin up new accounts and have since I joined a long time ago. I delete all the posts and then later delete the account when I feel like I want a new start.

Reddit regularly needs new eyeballs so search has never worked. With an IPO in their future, search will never work.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#265

Post by xeromal »

trdlts wrote: post #208
profstasiak wrote: post #148

Just a heads up if someone is searching reddit for product reviews. I believe most of them are inauthentic. I worked in marketing for several companies and we always had some budget for whisper marketing aka shilling. There are third party agency specialized in shilling on reddit and making it all look authentic.

Is there any place on the web with authentic reviews? The only thing that comes to mind is something like steam, where you have to at least purchase a copy of a game before leaving a review.

Consumer Reports. Since they are paid for subscriptions, they're able to afford to vet products with less influence to leave a good review.

You have to pay for quality journalism.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#266

Post by api »

falcolas wrote: post #94
valdiorn wrote: post #38

Google used to be really, really good at finding exactly what I told it to find. Nowadays, it's turned into the yellow pages; sponsored content from businesses trying to sell me goods and services. Can people suggest good alternatives or search patterns for certain categories of information or search types? Some of the search patterns I currently I use: * Youtube for product reviews and demos, entertainment, music an…

In my experience, the forum experience is far from dead, but it's effectively impossible to surface in a search engine - any search engine - unless you know the name of the forum. Oh, and the content must also be "fresh". If the content isn't "fresh" (which most of the best forum/blog posts are not), nobody shows it anymore. I can search for a specific blog post using a verbatim quote, but the result (if it exists) i…

The entire information ecosystem has internalized a bias toward "freshness." It's even really strong in software. Evidently code is more valid and correct if it has recent GitHub commits.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#267

Post by jasonladuke0311 »

D13Fd wrote: post #204
legalcorrection wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Searching Reddit helps but the quality of comments has gotten lower since 2015 or so. It seems to coincide with the wave of subreddit bans and the nakedly politically-driven moderation on subreddits. And with the reflexive attitude—against anything countering the Reddit consensus—that developed during the Trump years. High quality posters seem to have withdrawn from the site (at least in how much they comment) and wh…

I find the idea that banning Trump supporters killed reddit to be pretty far-fetched. To the extent there is a change in quality, it probably comes from other factors, including having a bigger, broader, and different user base now than in the past (and only a small portion of that change likely came from Trump-related bans).

Parent didn't say Trump supporters. And I completely agree with their observation. Quality went completely off a cliff around that time. I think it just officially entrenched the Reddit orthodoxy and that there is a "right way" to think, and that infected even non-political subreddits. Not all though, I know some subs are much better and open to discussion than in the past.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#269

Post by UweSchmidt »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #59

Still in shock that they killed reverse image search and replaced it with some useless AI tech demo. It used to use the actual image and be able to provide context from where that image was found elsewhere. Now it seems to throw the image at AI and the AI will go "Oh that's a street" then they will just show you streets with similar colors as the image you put in. Completely useless for trying to locate what movie a…

Another alternative: https://tineye.com

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#270

Post by aantix »

There was a point in the early days where the Yahoo index was more reliable than Lycos.

Then Google came along and worked well, for a while.

But then I found Delicious.com - and those curated bookmarks were better than anything Google provided.

Reddit is the new delicious. Fairly saavy Internet users that aren't afraid to try new things, so they seem to know about cool stuff first.

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