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If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

abhinavsharma.com

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Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#391

Post by kauguste281 »

cloutchaser wrote: post #276
kauguste281 wrote: post #65

Google sucks compared to Google from years ago. It's still vastly superior to the modern alternatives. It doesn't help that almost all alternatives out there are just Bing with different window dressing, so going through alternatives is just annoying as they have all the same holes in the search results. Another big issue is that everybody just tries to copy Google. I don't need Google in less good, I want to see som…

> Youtube-style recommendations for websites Reddit?

Reddit is heavily biased towards new content and you have to know what subreddits to look for to find the interesting stuff. The nice thing with Youtube recommendations (after recent updates) is that it pulls out a lot of older content and it also has a pretty good understanding of contexts and topics, even pretty niche stuff. Plain Google search really has no way of exploring the web in the same way you can just do with Youtube recommendations. Also helps that Youtube is extremely low on spam, you get ads and product placement, but not the bot generated filler that is cluttering up Google search.

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#392

Post by mrkramer »

ncann wrote: post #64

- It's free - It's better than most alternatives, and in many cases there isn't even an alternative - People have amassed too much data on Google services and the cost of moving/switching is too high - People don't care

>People don't care

I think people not carrying is the saddest part.

>People have amassed too much data on Google services and the cost of moving/switching is too high

I think this shouldn't be a problem since query is the only thing you need when searching. You should be able to personalize and narrow down the search from UI of search engine not rely on search engine amassing data about yourself to do it for you.

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#393

Post by mescaline »

sltkr wrote: post #95
zargon wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Google is an actively hostile experience. Try it without adblock and get a taste of how most people get treated by Google. And for the search results, Kagi is already better for 90% of my queries. It's much more difficult now to build a competitive search engine, but saying it's impossible and discussions should be banned is toxic. (And already basically proven wrong with existing competing search engines.)

Kagi requires users to sign up (even though it's currently free?) which is 1000x more user-hostile than anything Google does and makes it a nonstarter as far as I'm concerned.

Google uses ads to pay for the service, which is available without logging in. Those ad systems can track you. On the other hand, a paid service (even if it is currently in "free" mode) will likely get rid of ads, but requires some authentication to know you are you.

I'm logged into Google all the time. I do this to get sharing working across Chrome. Others doe the same with Firefox. Some don't, because privacy.

I hear you think logins are 1000x more hostile than paying with your eyeballs. How would you suggest resolving this clearly conflicted view with logging in vs. how the revenue is made on a given site?

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#394

Post by mrkramer »

thrwawy283 wrote: post #80
kauguste281 wrote: post #65

Google sucks compared to Google from years ago. It's still vastly superior to the modern alternatives. It doesn't help that almost all alternatives out there are just Bing with different window dressing, so going through alternatives is just annoying as they have all the same holes in the search results. Another big issue is that everybody just tries to copy Google. I don't need Google in less good, I want to see som…

You mentioned things I hadn't thought of. Google's Search accomplishes the goals of 10 years ago, but steps no further than that. It treats its power users like kids, and offers no complex filtering to do things like removing search results that require logins. Librarians love when you come to them to specifically refine your search. Google still has the most useful search, but they've taken away methods to get bette…

I agree with you but I think the problem is that majority of internet users are casual users who don't care about complex queries. Maybe good business idea would be to make internet search engine which enables complex queries like the one you described. Google was made for masses not for power users.

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#395

Post by xerox13ster »

FastMonkey wrote: post #41
joering2 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Democracy would be best replaced with cashless society. Society based on everyone value of doing what they love doing most (aka hobbyist), and virtually everything else replaced by robots and technology we already have. This is what's coming eventually, but its not something that can be installed on the top of your "operating system"; you will have to format the whole hard-drive (civil war)

I suppose in the absence of cash we would just force some people to do the necessary tasks that aren't anyone's favourite hobbies?

Well, ideally people could choose to do whatever they liked to provide for society. Everyone would have a role to play. So those that like to farm (raised on a farm, to be proud of their work) would farm, those that want to commit their life to science could attempt to advance their field. Someone might find an invigorating pride in making sure wastewater treatment is running well, but they don't know how to get into the field and are stuck working a job they don't like for money, currently. Artists could create culture. As long as you are doing something to provide for society, society will provide for you.

There will be people that do not have favorite hobbies. There will be people with no ambition who benefit from being told what they can or should do to contribute. Those people, in order to have their needs met could choose to take on a Necessary Task, even if it isn't their favorite thing. Maybe they learn to love it and excel at it.

Don't want to do anything to contribute to society despite being physically and mentally able? No needs met. Meet them yourself, you magnificent lone wolf. Want your needs met but don't want to do Necessary Task that you hate? Find a purpose and pursue it.

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#396

Post by oriolid »

kalleboo wrote: post #319
throw_m239339 wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I miss the days when SEO was only focusing on a decent HTML semantics, meta tags in order, organic backlinking, a good title that aligned with the content, and a good enough performance. It was never the case. As soon as google started to be popular, people were hired to manipulate its search results. "Natural" SEO was never a thing. You always had to use shady tactics in order to get a good ranking because everybo…

Even before Google, people would stuff the bottom of their page with black on black keyword stuffing to game Altavista

This exactly. Google was an almost overnight success because in the beginning it gave much more useful results than Altavista and others even when they had indexed a small fraction of what Altavista had.

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#397

Post by dekhn »

jstummbillig wrote: post #364
kauguste281 wrote: post #65

Google sucks compared to Google from years ago. It's still vastly superior to the modern alternatives. It doesn't help that almost all alternatives out there are just Bing with different window dressing, so going through alternatives is just annoying as they have all the same holes in the search results. Another big issue is that everybody just tries to copy Google. I don't need Google in less good, I want to see som…

> Google sucks compared to Google from years ago. Sure, in the sense that someone who had their legs broken sucks at running. Compared to yesterdays, Google today has to deal with a whole new level of the entire world trying to game their search. It's easy to fetch good water when the well is clean and no one is trying to actively poison it.

As a xoogler, it was clear when the original search quality folks left and were replaced with people whose goal was to grow the product (and the company) without much care for quality.

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#398

Post by mrkramer »

hwers wrote: post #341
kauguste281 wrote: post #65

Google sucks compared to Google from years ago. It's still vastly superior to the modern alternatives. It doesn't help that almost all alternatives out there are just Bing with different window dressing, so going through alternatives is just annoying as they have all the same holes in the search results. Another big issue is that everybody just tries to copy Google. I don't need Google in less good, I want to see som…

It would be funny if some site with youtube-style recommendations got popular because that's basically what I believe google is using under the hood already and it would be so easy for them to pivot to that style and then take over all the momentum the recommendation-style site got.

Why would an average user use such service? I was thinking about creating such "internet recommendation engine" so to speak but as my hypothetical project was progressing I realized that it started looking more and more like internet search engine as and when I started adding more advanced features. But looking from costs point of view it is cheaper to create internet recommendation engine than internet search engine.

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#399

Post by makeitdouble »

Program_Install wrote: post #183
moistly wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Search isn’t Google’s moneymaker, advertising is. And those shitty SEO’d sites are choc-a-bloc with advertising. Google has little incentive to downrank them.

Search is their main gateway to the advertising dollars. "Google it" is synonymous with any search regardless of the engine being used.

Wouldn’t in-app advertisement be at least on par, probably higher in usage ?

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#400

Post by makeitdouble »

temp wrote: post #252
space_rock wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but duckduckgo or probably any other search is better than Google at this moment

Not everyone lives in the US and/or an English-speaking country. I can't find shit with DDG and the experience is like using Google from 20 years ago when it didn't have any of its bells and whistles.

It’s actually because I’m not in an english speaking country that Google is failing me and screwing my searches for anything than can be somewhat pushed to local results…

I’m glad it works for you, it just reminds me how different are everyone’s expectations of good search results.

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