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Every Google result now looks like an ad

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Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#761

Post by exikyut »

dang wrote: post #232
cytzol wrote: post #26

I've been in this A/B test for a couple of months now, so I've had time to adjust, and I still hate it. I've just become so used to seeing the complete URL in green. The complete URL! If you hover over the results, you'll see that they like to take bits like numeric components or the query string out. This is part of Google's attempt to de-prioritise the URL. Their destructive AMP service confusingly shows you Google…

A few weeks ago, I changed my browsing and searching habits purely to get out of that A/B test bucket. Now it looks like we're all in it.

I am very curious how you achieved that!

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#762

Post by ben174 »

zackees wrote: post #643
jonplackett wrote: post #600

I really hate AMP. To the point where I started making an iOS browser that’s sole purpose was to bounce me from AMP links to the original link and delete the history step in between. I wish Apple would offer this in Safari - a simple ‘ignore AMP pages’ check box. AMP is google worst attempt yet at taking over the web. It’s so user hostile. It breaks lots of sites with its fake scroll and fake back button at the top o…

Are you suggesting that Google is evil? Because you would be totally right. As a 8.5 year employee of Google I had to resign and blow the whistle. I gathered all of the disclosure documents and stored them here: --> https://www.zachvorhies.com It's worse than you can possibly imagine. Everyone else seems to be waking up to this just recently (last 6 months).

Mad respect to you. Odd this is the first I've heard about you. I've got some reading to do.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#763

Post by hartator »

kempbellt wrote: post #575
lonelappde wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Steal"? If customers searching for your brand are happy to buy from your competitor with a different name, maybe your brand isn't so strong? And if you are profiting from advertising your brand to people who don't choose your product over alternatives, isn't your marketing just "stealing" purchases from competitors?

Yeah, that's not how it is working right now. It's more like: User: "Google, how do I get to Costco?" Google: "Here are directions to Target." User:"But I asked for directions to Costco." Google: "Target gave us a lot of money. So, firstly here are directions to Target. If you still want Costco, keep scrolling, but Target is great. You should shop here." When you literally search for one brand and the first result is…

To be fair, they don’t do that on Google Maps. However they will push their own Google Flights service when searching for United. Eg “Book United” redirection to Google Flight.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#765

Post by jeltz »

shawnz wrote: post #380
phillc73 wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest beef with DDG is that they do not do worldwide results very well. Their results are overwhelmingly US centric. As an example.... I search on DDG, "buy cricket equipment near me". I am not behind a VPN and whatsmyip correctly identifies my hostname with the correct European country suffix. However, the top results on DDG for this query is "Dick's Sporting Goods". Click on that and I get a nasty "GDPR DSG So…

There is a box at the top of the results page which you can tick to get country specific results

Is there a bang command for turning this on and off? I could not find any in their list.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#766

Post by anigbrowl »

At the same time, they've also made filetype icons (like pdf) less visible, which is hugely annoying when you're searching for a specific document. The canonical versions of legal filings and government documents are usually in pdf, because their publication is a legal fact, so it matters quite a bit even if you don't care for pdf from an interactivity/metaphorical point of view.

Also, Carthage must be destroyed: the vertical created by ownership of the database and user interface is a Bad Thing about the web and HTML. Yes, it can be made consistent for everyone which is great from an adoption or branding point of view, which in turn generates more economic activity, but it becomes worse and worse for consumers of the service over time as providers move toward extraction of economic rents.

On the other hand, perhaps this speeds evolution. I foresee distributed and (quasi-adversarial) search networks with much more client-side intelligence, somewhat like Archie and Veronica search engines in the pre-web days.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#767

Post by ehnto »

rawoke083600 wrote: post #745
BigJono wrote: post #588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is complete fucking bullshit. It's driving me mental that when I search for something, Wikipedia usually isn't on the front page. It's almost always the best result for most things, it should be on top.

Shouldn't you then just go to wikipedia and search there ? You know to stop the "F * bullshit" and "save your mental state" ?

You are perhaps joking but that has been my tack for a while now. Having specific sites I use to search through. I used to web search the pick from the offerings presented, not caring what site it was so long as it had the information I needed. But now I really value a good website that respects UX and good, honest content with low commercial influence.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#768

Post by mekster »

cytzol wrote: post #26

I've been in this A/B test for a couple of months now, so I've had time to adjust, and I still hate it. I've just become so used to seeing the complete URL in green. The complete URL! If you hover over the results, you'll see that they like to take bits like numeric components or the query string out. This is part of Google's attempt to de-prioritise the URL. Their destructive AMP service confusingly shows you Google…

> Thanks for ruining the Web, Google.

So, they helped make the web a far easier place to look around on things for a few decades and one layout change and you call them that they ruined the web?

It's easy to be on the barking side.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#769

Post by marcan_42 »

adelpozo wrote: post #619
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #590

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having to search for “xxxxxxx wiki” more and more now. No I don’t want Healthline and Medicinenet links above the Wikipedia entry, thank you Google. I wish by each search result there was a button that said “banish this domain to oblivion, I never want to see it again.” You could improve search really fast that way if you still cared about things like that.

There used to be such feature in the results page. I just went looking for it and I got 'Cached' and 'Similar' when I click in the little drop-down arrow. Nice feature that appears to be removed. How does removing that feature benefited the users?

It used to be an extension (an official one from Google, Personal Blocklist). It was never part of the vanilla search results page itself.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#770

Post by herpderperator »

undefined1 wrote: post #428
Guest0918231 wrote: post #252

It's funny, because if you run AdSense on your website, Google has very strict guidelines about not misleading users and making a clear distinction between advertisements and your content. However, when Google shows ads on their site, they don't need to follow those rules, they blend them in as closely as possible. Also, what's the deal with showing an advertisement for the same result that's number one? See the belo…

The url they're using for the ad is interesting: www.expedia.com/Expedia/Official_Site To me (which may well be a minority view) that actually makes it feel less official, because "/Expedia/Official_Site" is the sort of tactic a scammer would use. I'd worry about it having the unintended consequence of building people's trust in something like "/Official_Site" vs focusing on the domain name. At the very least it's mu…

And that URL results in a 404! Good riddance.
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