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In 2020, two thirds of Google searches ended without a click

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Re: In 2020, two thirds of Google searches ended without a click

#81

Post by cma »

lucasmullens wrote: post #66
cma wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm fairly sure they block wikipedia on medical searches not due to accuracy, but due to drug ads on webmd etc. that use Google for ads.

I tried 5 different diseases, 4 had wikipedia on the first page, 1 had it on the top of the second page. Do you mean blocking just that automated text result that appears on the top of the page for some questions? That would make sense, since they probably don't want to boldly state medical facts without context, especially since that feature can be wrong sometimes. Disclaimer: I work for Google, not on anything rela…

No I meant the result itself, but I see it too now, I thought they were blocked altogether. I don't know if it is changed or it was always just never/rarely near the top (and maybe that legitimately organically happens).

Searching 'ADHD' and Wikipedia's extensive page is midway down the second page of results. Drug ads for amphetamines from Google on 3 or 4 of the first page's results, but not the top few results (which are CDC, NHS, etc.).

Re: In 2020, two thirds of Google searches ended without a click

#82

Post by Arnt »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #15

Google results have gotten dramatically worse over this last decade. Google now seems to fixate on the most common terms in my query and returns the most generic results for my geographic area. And, it seems like quotes and the old google-fu techniques are just ignored or are no longer functional. There are a whole host of factors behind this, but I'm certain that the switch to Natural Language Processing / Semantic…

Dramatically worse... if that's true, then I wonder how good they were a decade ago. Because every search I've done today produced the result I wanted on the first page of the results, above the fold.

I can't say I've really counted how many days that's true. I can't even say that I really remember what searches I did yesterday or the day before. But if I'm not totally weird and google searches were dramatically better in the past, then they must have produced the desired results every time on almost every day.

Re: In 2020, two thirds of Google searches ended without a click

#83

Post by bartread »

mattacular wrote: post #57

Google has become a really bad search engine for anything besides the most superficial information about a broad range of topics, especially ones that are commercial in nature (which it is extremely good at... go figure). I spent a while trying to find the name of a contemporary artist whose name I forgot by querying those key words along with various things about the thematic etc qualities of their work and all Goog…

I've had similar issues quite a bit recently and have resorted to trying other search engines. Sadly DuckDuckGo, Bing, Wiby.me (!) and others aren't really better.

Good search was historically one of the harder unsolved problems on the web, even back in the 90s. The problem is that nowadays we treat it rather like a solved problem when in reality it's still probably one of the harder unsolved problems on the web.

Re: In 2020, two thirds of Google searches ended without a click

#84

Post by [deleted] »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #15

Google results have gotten dramatically worse over this last decade. Google now seems to fixate on the most common terms in my query and returns the most generic results for my geographic area. And, it seems like quotes and the old google-fu techniques are just ignored or are no longer functional. There are a whole host of factors behind this, but I'm certain that the switch to Natural Language Processing / Semantic…

[deleted]

Re: In 2020, two thirds of Google searches ended without a click

#86

Post by tehjoker »

moate wrote: post #27
croes wrote: post #12

At some point Google will overdo it and they will be split up.

I think that time was "a while ago" and they're still running because the US doesn't actually care that much about virtual monopolies.

Since Regan, the US doesn't care about concentration of market power, only whether prices for consumers are affected. Since Google services are "free", no anti-trust violations are incurred under this standard.

However, it's looking like things might be changing slightly. Biden appointed someone that cares about anti-trust. We'll have to see if that's just for show or not like most of his administration.

Re: In 2020, two thirds of Google searches ended without a click

#87

Post by georgiecasey »

gonehome wrote: post #63
BitwiseFool wrote: post #15

Google results have gotten dramatically worse over this last decade. Google now seems to fixate on the most common terms in my query and returns the most generic results for my geographic area. And, it seems like quotes and the old google-fu techniques are just ignored or are no longer functional. There are a whole host of factors behind this, but I'm certain that the switch to Natural Language Processing / Semantic…

When I search Google now I mostly get spam. “Product vs. Product” -> list of spam websites that just show them side by side with ads. “Product Review” -> same as above, spam. “Product referral code” -> sites with spam and no codes. Interesting web content is in Reddit (and youtube), Google exists as a tool to search Reddit since the “new” Reddit site is awful. Programming questions are mostly stack overflow, but occa…

I wouldn't object to all product review searches to be Google ads now because it's all spammed anyway

Re: In 2020, two thirds of Google searches ended without a click

#88

Post by vishnugupta »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #15

Google results have gotten dramatically worse over this last decade. Google now seems to fixate on the most common terms in my query and returns the most generic results for my geographic area. And, it seems like quotes and the old google-fu techniques are just ignored or are no longer functional. There are a whole host of factors behind this, but I'm certain that the switch to Natural Language Processing / Semantic…

Not to mention that it’s infiltrated by quora, Printerest, and Wikipedia.

Re: In 2020, two thirds of Google searches ended without a click

#89

Post by jfk13 »

searchableguy wrote: post #24

Google provides instant answers for most medical queries, calculations, celebrities, sports, news, weather, how-tos, definitions, reviews, map, shopping, images, etc. Most people don't search outside of queries that google can answer from their own sources frequently so this seems plausible.

It provides instant answers, but in my experience they're frequently not the answer to what you actually asked, or they're just plain wrong.

(YMMV: it depends on your specific searches, I'm sure.)

Re: In 2020, two thirds of Google searches ended without a click

#90

Post by BitwiseFool »

minikites wrote: post #50
BitwiseFool wrote: post #15

Google results have gotten dramatically worse over this last decade. Google now seems to fixate on the most common terms in my query and returns the most generic results for my geographic area. And, it seems like quotes and the old google-fu techniques are just ignored or are no longer functional. There are a whole host of factors behind this, but I'm certain that the switch to Natural Language Processing / Semantic…

>I'm certain that the switch to Natural Language Processing drove this decline It's the switch from lexical/syntactic search to semantic search. There are benefits and drawbacks to each and it would be nice for Google to give you the option to try each.

Thank you for the clarification, I edited my original post to add "/ Semantic Search" because it's an important addition.
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