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Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

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Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#81

Post by nikanj »

jeremyjh wrote: post #57
nikanj wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Corollary: Web page creators are no longer interested in answering your query; they're interested in getting you to 1) view their page for ads 2) click on their affiliate links 3) buy the product they're selling. Google has an impossible task in trying to answer a query like "Portable air mattress reviews", because 99.99999% of the results are SEO-optimized crap

We don't know if the task is impossible because Google has no incentive to do it at all, so we can't assume they are really doing their best. They created this situation and they profit from it just the way it is.

Build a better mouse trap etc, if the task was possible, DDG / Bing / Whoever could absolutely dominate the search market by providing a ”no crap results” option

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#82

Post by lolpython »

Beltiras wrote: post #33
baggachipz wrote: post #13

Google is so unbearable because they are no longer interested in you finding the answer to your query; they're interested in selling your query and its context to the highest bidder. That conflict of interest manifests in what Google has become.

I agree. What the search space needs is a different business model. I have no idea what it could be. I'm quite sure a subscription model would fail. Micropayments have not taken off. How can we fund meaningful search divorced from an ad business?

AndiSearch[0] is going for a freemium model:

> How we make money

> We plan to fund Andi through a freemium business model, with free anonymous search for everyone for ever, and paid plans for professionals and businesses, including APIs and using Andi for corporate information, with supplemental revenue from anonymous referral link attribution. We're focused on building the product right now, and will figure out the details once we're further along.

> We are committed to staying 100% advertising free. Commercial considerations or partnerships will have zero impact on our search results or recommendations. Our recommendations are always made based on the best results we can find for our customers, and are never subject to commercial influence.

> By sharing search revenue with content producers and media companies that join our network, our mission is to provide funding to great content and reduce media's reliance on invasive ad-tech. Contact us at info@andisearch.com to get involved!

There are only 2 employees[1] of the company so there is a low amount of revenue they need to be self-sufficient

[0]: https://andisearch.com/about/

[1]: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/andi

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#85

Post by nikanj »

Nextgrid wrote: post #66
nikanj wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Corollary: Web page creators are no longer interested in answering your query; they're interested in getting you to 1) view their page for ads 2) click on their affiliate links 3) buy the product they're selling. Google has an impossible task in trying to answer a query like "Portable air mattress reviews", because 99.99999% of the results are SEO-optimized crap

> 1) view their page for ads 2) click on their affiliate links 3) buy the product they're selling. 1 and 2 are trivial to detect. 3 is harder but still not impossible given Google's machine learning capabilities and existing datasets. Downrank or ban ads & affiliate links and you remove any incentive for creating spam sites in the first place.

So you’d downrank sites like Tom’s Hardware or wired.com? Both of which show ads and have affiliate links

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#87

Post by Beltiras »

amelius wrote: post #56
Beltiras wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. What the search space needs is a different business model. I have no idea what it could be. I'm quite sure a subscription model would fail. Micropayments have not taken off. How can we fund meaningful search divorced from an ad business?

Just ban their old businessmodel, and they will come up with a new one. Or let Musk buy them.

How do you propose to bring about such a ban?

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#88

Post by jeremyjh »

chii wrote: post #73
jeremyjh wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't nitpicking at all, I had the same question and glad you uncovered this answer. I think site:*.edu is just one tool in your search toolbox that you should know about, but I wouldn't expect it to work for every topic. Still, I had never thought of it so I'm glad I read this article.

i would often use `site:news.ycombinator.com` to search a topic to see if it has been talked about, and what comments that topic has. It's good, but not really _that_ often useful.

Yes I use that and site:reddit.com as well.

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#90

Post by dazc »

Gigablah wrote: post #40
dazc wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sooner a critical mass of people start use alternatives then the sooner Google will start changing their behaviour.

Don't forget, so will the alternatives :)

Why clean anything because it just gets dirty again?
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