Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

bitbytebit.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

501–510 of 740 posts

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

#501

Post by Matumio »

ares623 wrote: post #32
freediver wrote: post #7

They still get away with it as ‘only’ 1% complain and Google thinks they don’t matter. We built our entire company for that 1%.

How is Kagi for non-US folks? I've tried switching to DDG a while back but the experience for me, living outside the US, was not great. Sure, programming related searches were pretty good, but everything else was not. Does Kagi have a better localized experience?

I once had weird results with searching specifically in the Switzerland region, it didn't find an obviously Swiss site. IIRC it was solved it by switching back to international search. I'm using Kagi exclusively, and I don't remember having such trouble recently. Maybe they fixed it.

I just did a quick test: local search for a specific law term. Kagi, Google and DDG all found the roughly same relevant sites in the top five. Each has a different top result. Google's and DDG's are a private law company. Kagi's first is an official government site. (With a suspicious non-government domain, so I had to check, but yes it's prominently linked from the main government site.)

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

#503

Post by oblio »

dmbche wrote: post #391
alanh wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right? Google is dog caca now. Myself and everyone I know keep getting sent to AI-written garbage nonsense slop websites, or for some reason, to the Hindustan Times

oddly this "caca" felt more visceral to me that most "poop"'s or "shit"'s I've seen in a bit. summoned an image instantly. probably just surprise - good choice!

"Caca" means shit in a bunch of languages (at least as a term used with children, but not only, in Romanian, French, etc), that's probably the reason.

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

#504

Post by quitit »

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…

Results may vary:

Searches for Amazon, Temu, Shein - result in each being listed in the promotional panel and then as the first result.

For Firefox: Chrome is listed in the promotional panel and Firefox as the first result (below it).

The promotional panel has a different background colour and “Ad” badge, but is otherwise identical to other listings.

Two results fit on the screen: the promotional panel and the first listing. Diverging from Google is that the ad result is obvious and doesn’t push the search result out of view.

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

#505

Post by rkomorn »

wiether wrote: post #499
rkomorn wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't mind taking the time: as an actual user, what would you say are the top 3 things you, personally, get out of this? I'm a Kagi user, primarily for the non-sponsored search results. The AI stuff in Kagi doesn't pique my interest. Their Orion pitch also doesn't, but I'm interested in an actual user's opinion.

Sure! My top 3 would be: 1. customized and sanitized search results 2. Assistant 3. custom bangs And to develop more: - Not only I don't have ads in my results, but they are customized and sanitized based on my settings, since I can block some websites, put a better ranking on others... or even use lenses if I want to use a very precise scope - With Assistant I have access to (almost) all the most recent and popular…

Much appreciated! I shall investigate. :)

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

#507

Post by input_sh »

hwc wrote: post #40
amatecha wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had to dig up this link, 1999 review[0]: "Google (www.google.com) is a pure search engine - no weather, no news feed, no links to sponsors, no ads, no distractions, no portal litter. Nothing but a fast-loading search site. Reward them with a visit." [0] https://i.redd.it/uea6u7c4oje31.jpg

How did they make any money at all without ads?

The same way any tech company works now: use investor money to offer things for free or unrealistically cheap until you corner the market, and once your competitors are no longer relevant you start milking every buck you can.

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

#508

Post by pinkmuffinere »

Theodores wrote: post #436
pinkmuffinere wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a curiosity, this is a common strategy for advertising! But people still disagree whether it is the best investment. You can generally win on your own name with comparatively low bids, because it is obviously the most relevant search term, and relevance is often factored into the price you pay for ad placement. So you may choose to bid defensively, to stop competitors from advertising on your name. Even so, the ob…

As I see it, it is like gambling. If you pay for keywords of a rival brand and you get conversions from it to make it worth your while then you can keep paying for those keywords. So yes, it is a data driven decision. However, it is also faith based. In e-commerce the guys buying the ads are not the brightest on the team. Same goes for their organic SEO counterparts. Their metrics rarely include the metric that matte…

> If you pay for keywords of a rival brand… it is a data driven decision

Right, I think this is easier to quantify. The hard case is advertising on _your own_ name, defensively (to stop others from doing so). I think it is hard to make a truly data driven decision in this case, since you don’t see the clicks you lose. I think you’d have to do a careful A/B test if you want to tease this apart.

> the guys buying the ads are not the brightest on the team

lol, surprise! I run marketing for a small business, I am the guy buying the ads haha. I’m not offended at all, but am a bit surprised the engineer-vs-sales feud is still alive. Fwiw I also do product design! Can’t we all get along?

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

#509

Post by INTPenis »

My first result is midjourney.com. I so often see people criticizing Google search but I never see the negative with my own eyes. Whenever I search I get what I want or need.

Google Search must be highly personalized, and I don't know what I'm doing right but clearly my personalization is working.

Edit: Oh I realize now it's the sponsored results they're complaining about. Well that's just greedy. I mean, you haven't paid a cent for Google Search since 1998? And you just expect them to do everything for free.

I happen to not see the sponsored results right now, maybe because of uBlock, or chance, but even if I do see them I don't mind them at all. Poor Sundar Pichai has to keep the lights on somehow.

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

#510

Post by Dylan16807 »

jrootabega wrote: post #79
omnicognate wrote: post #41

There's no AI preview in that screenshot, so it's not everything that's wrong with Google Search.

search: "coffee is mostly water" "No, coffee is not mostly water. That appears to be a misconception based on a popular television show. Coffee is actually about 98% water."

> the pool of the Titanic is still full

No, the swimming pool on the Titanic is not full of water. The pool is empty due to the ship's sinking and the immense pressure at the depth where the Titanic lies. The pressure would crush any voids within the ship, and the base of the pool cracked as the ship sank, letting out the water.

Here's a more detailed explanation:

Pressure and Depth: The Titanic lies at a depth of 12,500 feet (3,800 meters). At this depth, the water pressure is immense, exerting thousands of pounds per square inch. This pressure would crush any enclosed spaces, including the swimming pool.

Sinking and Damage: The Titanic began to sink, the base of the pool cracked, and all the water escaped.

No Time to Refill: The crew was focused on evacuating passengers and didn't have time to refill the pool before the ship sank.

Deterioration: The ship has also deteriorated over time, further contributing to the loss of any remaining water in the pool.

- on the other hand -

> is the pool of the titanic still filled with water? why?

Yes, the swimming pool on the Titanic is still filled with water. It's thought that the pool was filled with water when the ship was contracted to be built, and that the contract to fill it didn't expire just because the ship sank. The pool is located far away from the main damage caused by the iceberg impact and is also separated by watertight doors from other areas of the ship.

While the exact reason for the pool remaining full is not definitively known, it's believed to be a combination of the ship's structural integrity in that area and the fact that the pool was designed to be watertight.

While the pool remains filled, it's worth noting that the Titanic's hull is deteriorating due to underwater bacteria, and the ship is predicted to collapse within the next few decades, potentially releasing the water from the pool.

Post reply on HN