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Google changes its search box

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Re: Google changes its search box

#741

Post by 1718627440 »

nine_k wrote: post #330
pokot0 wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Internet is more and more becoming a commercialization platform. If you are selling something on your website, you still want Google (or ChatGPT for that matters) to expose customers to your product. The gate is the actual delivery of the product is behind a purchase/signup. Google and others want to control the entire customer journey, to the point the your website is simply a way to pass metadata to them. They are…

> is more and more becoming a commercialization platform FTFY: "couple of decades since has become". The vibes of passion-driven 1990s started to be overwhelmed by the din of money right when the Internet has become a major commerce venue, some time in early 2000s.

The content has long been commercialized, it's the platform itself, that it is now undergoing that change.

Re: Google changes its search box

#742

Post by 1718627440 »

conradfr wrote: post #721
ekidd wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which as some running a website raises a fascinating question. If Google is just going to crawl my sites and present information as an AI summary on their site, then what exactly do I gain by allowing Googlebot to crawl my sites?

Who can lobby the EU for the right to abstain a website from being used for training data?

Copyright already exists, the issue is that these companies are doing it legally anyway. For me it is the same issue as with privacy: I'm deeply uncomfortable with the current situation, but there is no political fight for me to fight, because the law is already how I want it to be, it's the public perception, that needs to change, but that is hard to influence, without being rich.

Re: Google changes its search box

#743

Post by classified »

luma wrote: post #270
nilamo wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's wrong 2 out of 5 times, why even waste your time going to it in the first place? That's a massive failure rate.

Because way more than three out of five Google results are SEO garbage or sponsored crap. The bar has been set extremely low by Google, a 60% validity rate sounds magical.

Indeed, enshittification has been so thorough, internet search is virtually useless now.

Re: Google changes its search box

#744

Post by gbear605 »

jefftk wrote: post #306
kennywinker wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Setting aside ad-driven revenue - the ideas, when spat out by an llm, are disconnected from the author. If people like your ideas, they aren’t becoming fans/followers/long-term-readers. That means good luck leveraging some interesting writing into a book, a speaking tour, a podcast, or even any kind of consistent readership. The llm slurps up your content and monetizes it while you get nothing.

I'm not interested in a book, speaking tour, or podcast. I've never had consistent readership because I write about too many unrelated things. I blog because I have ideas I want to share; I don't feel at all ripped off.

Speaking as someone who is a bit more familiar with your site, the variety of content you post is really valuable. I know multiple people, myself included, who have either gone from EA to Contra or Contra to EA thanks to both being on your blog.

More broadly, I love it when an author I trust in one area writes about other topics.

Re: Google changes its search box

#746

Post by camillomiller »

monkpit wrote: post #631
wvenable wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a catch-22. Without google crawling your site, you don't get any new traffic. But with google crawling your site, you also might not get any traffic. AI summarization has already causes issues for sites like rtings where people are no longer visiting the site but still making use of the data presented there. Leading to rtings not getting enough traffic to continue to post their data. It is an existential crisis…

Step 1, Google serves info directly and consumers rejoice Step 2, Google extinguishes the web and nobody has a reason to publish content, consumers lament but are trapped, Google has created a platform to serve content instead of links Step 3 (or maybe 2a), Google is now monetizing their content machine Step 4, Google offers people a way to contribute to the content machine, make some $$ per N views, whatever. People…

If so, I can only see a silent Laotian Buddhist monastery in my future. Until Larry Page buys it out, of course.

Re: Google changes its search box

#747

Post by gertrunde »

Literally the first sentence:

"The goal of Search has always been simple: to help you ask anything on your mind — from quick facts to the deep, complex or hyper-specific questions that can be hard to articulate."

Really? My aim has always been to find a place off google that has the information that I'm looking for.

If the purpose of google search is no longer aligned with what I want from the product... then maybe that tells me all I need to know.

If you want a search engine... it sounds like that's not what Google is any more.

Re: Google changes its search box

#748

Post by jmusall »

salomonk_mur wrote: post #530
nicbou wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has reduced traffic to my website by around 65%. I live from that website. My income is a function of the traffic it gets. I spent 9 years of my life putting hard-earned information on the internet, and now big tech uses it to enrich themselves while putting me out of work. Even my backup plan - software development - is being devalued to hell. It's so damn depressing. We'll get the internet that we deserve.

To be fair, the traffic you had was mostly routed by them as well. Google giveth, Google taketh away.

In my humble opinion it was balanced when Google gave traffic to sites and these sites gave good results for Google to show

Re: Google changes its search box

#749

Post by tardedmeme »

charcircuit wrote: post #264
margalabargala wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They have no obligation to respect your wishes I have no obligation to not send all scraper-looking traffic to a black hole full of zip bombs.

You do have an obligation because what you are describing is illegal, at least in the US under the CFAA.

Everything worth doing is illegal. Advice for startups is don't worry about it. Worry about not being caught instead.

Re: Google changes its search box

#750

Post by tardedmeme »

ex-aws-dude wrote: post #651
spencerflem wrote: post #648

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the idea is the google is the bot

Yeah but google will inject ads, my future LLM bot will filter them out Why would I want to be restricted to google’s “view” of the info

(this bot exists and is called Kagi)
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