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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

#551

Post by oersted »

xg15 wrote: post #524
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…

As a user, I'm still baffled that the interface to view and manage the apps I have installed on the system - which is 90 out of 100 times why I'm opening the play store - is tucked away in some obscure corner of the app. The other 10 times, it's because I want to install some specific app that I already know and I just want to get to the page of that exact app - either through a direct link or through the store's sea…

It's simply optimized to upsell you on other apps when you are there for a different purpose.

Just how supermarkets are designed, IKEA is the most egregious, they try to force you to look at and tempt you with a whole load of other products on your way to getting what you came for.

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

#552

Post by oblio »

dxdm wrote: post #511
WhyNotHugo wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I didn't thought of that as a special power. I thought it was natural, like driving a car, or speaking English. You’re clearly taking for granted any learnt skills which you have and projecting them to others. A substantial portion of the world population can’t speak English, and I suspect the grand majority of humans don’t know how to drive a car either. I know you have to turn the wheel to turn the car and that I…

OP clearly (to borrow your choice of word) wants to express that they thought people simply learn how to find information by simply using a search engine over time, just like you can become proficient in other activities by repeatedly doing them; and they gave some examples that many people here can relate to as such. I don't think OP wanted to offend anyone who doesn't know how to drive a car, or suggest that everyb…

The examples OP chose are actually excellent: both of those activities require deliberate practice and years of training (education) and people who don't do either of those suck at them.

Think of the average person you know that had terrible results in middle school and high school or of the average driver, that thinks he's better than 80% of drivers out there.

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

#553

Post by oblio »

tjpnz wrote: post #367
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.

Let's be more precise about what ads actually are, based on how the ad industry works today: malware

They always were. Remember IE toolbars? Java and Acrobat bundled software?

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

#554

Post by charlieyu1 »

miladyincontrol wrote: post #106
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.

It absolutely is. I fear for the older generations and less tech minded people who google their bank, and get some random phishing site. Or similarly google what should be libre software and get some random malware on a site that looks 'close enough'. Lets call it what it is, a cancer, one that literally enables countless bad actors and purely for a search engine's own profit. In theory theres a time and place for ad…

It already happened to my friend, and they’re not so old. Some people typed WhatsApp to their search bar and was brought to a phishing site instead.

Oh wait it happened to me as well. Fortunately it was phishing a recruitment site and all they got is my CV.

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

#555

Post by gcanyon »

My key complaint (in addition to the one cited in TA) is that, if there is a wikipedia article related to what I'm searching for, I want that at the top of the results. Maybe above, or possibly right below, the link to midjourney.com. Maybe others don't see the value in that, but Google has had literally a quarter of a century to figure out what I want, and hasn't yet learned that.

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

#556

Post by tim333 »

Turn on the adblocker if you don't want ads?

This is how my google search looks in chrome with ublock lite https://imgur.com/a/GrXP77y

Maybe some percentage of users will select a crap alternative product because they show an ad above your thing but I bet it's a minority.

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

#557

Post by squigz »

teekert wrote: post #483
LorenDB wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You also should just stop using Google Search. DuckDuckGo is solid, or if you don't want to use search results from Bing's index, I've been very happy with Brave Search.

It's solid, I use it 95% of the time, that 5% Google usually still disappoints. https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=midjourney&ia=web -> Hmm, midjourney the AI thingy is not even there for me! Just https://www.midjourney.com which is not really clear on what it is. Midjourney is at Midjourney.online, which is not even on the first page. So Argualbly Google is still better. What a world. Btw, I search DDG from the Firefo…

Erm, I'm fairly confident Midjourney.com is what you're talking about?

https://www.midjourney.com/explore?tab=video_top

Midjourney.online doesn't show up on either platform for me on the first page.

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

#558

Post by eddyg »

gcanyon wrote: post #555

My key complaint (in addition to the one cited in TA) is that, if there is a wikipedia article related to what I'm searching for, I want that at the top of the results. Maybe above, or possibly right below, the link to midjourney.com. Maybe others don't see the value in that, but Google has had literally a quarter of a century to figure out what I want, and hasn't yet learned that.

This is why Kagi exists.

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

#559

Post by oersted »

alanh wrote: post #379
zeroq wrote: post #373

One of my "sales pitches" is "I can find answers online, I know kung-fu". I've been using internet since '98, and I somehow developed this elusive skill of knowing how to navigate all these ads, seo farms, paid content, murky websites, and getting straight to the answer, no matter what the question was. For a long time I didn't thought of that as a special power. I thought it was natural, like driving a car, or speak…

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

I've completely stopped using Google since the ChatGPT search Chrome extension came out. That was, what, almost 2 years ago? More? It simply redirects URL-bar searches to ChatGPT (with the web search toggle active) instead of Google, nothing fancy.

I didn't explicitly decide to stop using Google, it just happened, I didn't need it anymore, just like I went from using StackOverflow daily to never opening it again. ChatGPT with search is just better (at least ChatGPT Plus). Granted, it is noticeably slower to get a first result, but end-to-end it's a much faster way to find your answer.

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