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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

#571

Post by array_key_first »

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…

> 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.

Analytics driven development.

They realized that doing it this way leads to greater ad clicks and time spent on the app.

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

#572

Post by infecto »

There also has been a drastic change in YouTube search in the past year. It used to be that search would be logical, you search for a specific string and you can go through pages of videos that matchup to that. Now it at least feels like they have completely mixed that original search with a some sort of ranked preference of what they think I want to see. It’s a shame and an actual huge downgrade.

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

#573

Post by frbr »

derefr wrote: post #409
thwarted wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how much this can end up contributing to the Kleenex-ification of a brand or a term. You search for firefox and random other browsers come up. Now browsers in general are associated with the firefox term. Of course, when it comes down to it, there isn't much difference between browsers anyway, the UI is different but they all need to work with the same websites, and people have been using specific applicatio…

…you might have an argument there for this practice of rival-brand-mark sponsored-placement squatting constituting an odd type of trademark infringement. Imaging if PepsiCo paid grocers to shelve cans of Pepsi right beside cans of Coke, sharing the same inventory tag that just says “Coca Cola”. Coke would definitely be able to sue for something about that, right? Well, isn’t this the same?

Paying to parasitize the brand recognition and trust of a competitor has become the norm. he comparison to retail product squatting perfectly illustrates why this feels like an unfair infringement, not just aggressive marketing.

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

#574

Post by aniforprez »

thecopy wrote: post #568
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…

Try DuckDuck Go, it performs significantly better than Google for me

My experience with DuckDuckGo has been very mixed. I have to frequently resort to Google, especially for error messages where DDG returns zero results yet Google has indexed and finds a GitHub issue with that exact same text in it. The image searches are also really bad. I am sticking with using DDG but I have a shortcut ready in case I need Google and overall I'd really like something else considering it's a thin wrapper around Bing. I'll try out Kagi and see if it's worth paying

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

#575

Post by aniforprez »

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…

Happened to my father who got routed through ads on his phone while booking flight tickets to some seedy website. He regretted it but thankfully got refunds initiated successfully because of issues with the flights themselves and a lot of back-and-forth. He resolved to only do critical monetary operations on his laptop where I've installed any and every possible adblocker.

The web is so hostile to the inform and the old. It takes one moment of weakness and there's someone ready and waiting with a scam.

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

#576

Post by makeitdouble »

yunohn wrote: post #527
makeitdouble wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're describing the exact (complex) problem that Google Search was born to solve. And at some point they successfully did. If we agree it's something they can't solve anymore, letting them pay to stay is a disservice to the users.

Yes, I understand that you/others think this is an already solved problem - my point was that as time passes and the world grows, it no longer is - they can’t exactly solve it satisfactorily for all.

I don't think it was ever a "solved and done" problem, but at least Google kept putting tremendous efforts to lead the arms race and bring a decent solution for most people. It wasn't perfect for everyone of course.

I think they could still keep up if it was a priority to them. It's complicated, but they have a lot of the best minds of our generation after all.

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

#577

Post by frbr »

cryptoz wrote: post #538
xg15 wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Opening the App Store to download a bunch of apps - in general - is probably the #1 thing people are doing when they open the App Store. Of course, installing a specific app is a top use case. But I think you're just not the average user. Lots of people open the App Store frequently to just check out what's available. ~10 years ago I would do this all the time. It's fun, kind of like surfin' the net was back in the o…

It seems plausible that casual browsing and downloading remains a significant use case. Apple surely wouldn't design the App Store focusing on discovery this way otherwise. Not sure about the #1 activity hypothesis. What I'm certain about though is that the App Store is deeply broken and they've started rushing down the path of platform "enshittification" (real thing) where online platforms become less useful, less enjoyable, or less user-friendly.

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

#578

Post by buellerbueller »

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…

I am not baffled, because managing and viewing your already-installed apps is almost certainly lower marginal revenue than showing new apps, for the bulk of app store users.

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

#579

Post by buellerbueller »

close04 wrote: post #569
oersted wrote: post #551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

But you go to IKEA for IKEA and get IKEA. With the phone stores or search engines you go to them for $result and you get $something_else. It's similar but not quite the same. Even the parallel with the physical world fails us here, IKEA can't put everyone's desired product at the entrance. Google can.

When I go to IKEA for a desk chair, I have to walk though many other unrelated things to see the desk chairs. The difference is that IKEA sells IKEA only.

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

#580

Post by frbr »

latexr wrote: post #77
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…

> Does Apple do that on the App Store? Yes they do. Their search already sucks in normal circumstances—I remember searching for “Pinboard” (the bookmarking service) and had to scroll by thirteen pin ball (the game) apps before starting to see Pinboard apps—but you can type in the exact name of the app you want had have an ad for a competitor above it. Not only is it allowed, it’s encouraged.

When search is already unreliable, placing a competitor's ad above the exact match feels intentionally exploitative.
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