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Google is burying the web alive

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Re: Google is burying the web alive

#31

Post by Rebelgecko »

ndiddy wrote: post #22
romaaeterna wrote: post #3

As someone who remembers what the web was like 25 years ago, I have a feeling that they're burying a corpse.

There’s still tons of personal webpages out there, Google just doesn’t expose them because it’s in their interest to show ad-filled SEO blogspam since they also operate AdSense and DoubleClick for Publishers. https://marginalia-search.com/ does a much better job of finding personal sites.

Is that website down, or maybe it doesn't work in EU?

Edit: NVM, just took a few refreshes to get past the "oh noes" screen

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#32

Post by spwa4 »

sakopov wrote: post #21

Google is damned-if-they-do, damned-if-they-don’t. One side screams that Google Search is dead because Google doesn't innovate. The other - Google AI innovation is killing the web.

I find it very hard to believe that any of the major platforms is going to defend against AI slop. They're looking to monopolize it, which will reduce but not stop it in the short term, then maximize it later on for maximum dollars.

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#33

Post by energy123 »

pphysch wrote: post #11
romaaeterna wrote: post #3

As someone who remembers what the web was like 25 years ago, I have a feeling that they're burying a corpse.

Yes, a corpse killed by Facebook, Reddit, Discord and other closed platforms.

All the negativity is public and algorithmically boosted, all the positivity is in private chats. And this is increasingly the case over time. I sincerely hope for maximum enshittification in the form of AI slop rendering these misery machines discredited in the public's mind so the spell is broken.

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#34

Post by righthand »

almusdives wrote: post #6

I get why this is problematic for industries that depend on high traffic for ad revenue etc, but is bad for websites who are actually trying to market services that provide tangible value? Like if I’m searching for a dry cleaner in Glasgow, if I end up with the same provider, I don't care (and neither does the dry cleaner) whether I find them through traditional links or an AI-mediated search?

And if Amazon gets into dry cleaning and promoted Amazon Dry Cleaning as the top result in Glasgow: will that be bad for local Glasgow dry cleaners when everyone is shipping their clothes to Amazon?

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#35

Post by Weryj »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #31
ndiddy wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s still tons of personal webpages out there, Google just doesn’t expose them because it’s in their interest to show ad-filled SEO blogspam since they also operate AdSense and DoubleClick for Publishers. https://marginalia-search.com/ does a much better job of finding personal sites.

Is that website down, or maybe it doesn't work in EU? Edit: NVM, just took a few refreshes to get past the "oh noes" screen

Works in NL

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#36

Post by righthand »

AriedK wrote: post #5

So how long do we have until companies can pay to be in the system prompt to be recommended for certain queries?

Can’t you just game the SEO and Google will eat your result thus pointing you to whichever service/product?

It’d be spam generated answers from seo spam. Which is definitely already happening.

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#37

Post by mouse_ »

ninth_ant wrote: post #23

Implicit in this article is the idea that you have to use Google, and that Google Search equals “the web”. I’ll be the boring nerd, I guess, who has to be the one to say there are many other search engines out there. If you don’t like Google (I don’t), or don’t like where they are moving their products (I don’t) — please use a competing search engine. I’ve used DuckDuckGo for years and I don’t miss anything about Goo…

I find it extremely challenging to believe you actually think that. I can't even host my own email anymore without all of my messages getting filtered as spam, because if your email service doesn't play nice with Google, then you might as well not exist. Not to mention youtube, adsense, Android (Google is trying to kill AOSP to sink their claws more deeply into Android in light of the recent antitrust suits),

Google owns too much. They're easily on the same level as standard oil and the railroad tycoons.

When a company is paying millions annually, just towards psychologists, to keep people hooked, telling people "lol just turn the computer off" is disingenuous at best.

Re: Google is burying the web alive

#40

Post by bilater »

So if Google innovates with AI, it's a problem because they're hiding their "ten blue links." But if they don't, they're suffering from the innovator's dilemma and are going to die with their ten blue links. The fact is, Google is so big that they're always going to upset some people.

Embracing AI and moving forward is the only thing they can do.

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