Is Google’s 20-year search dominance about to end? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is Google’s 20-year search dominance about to end?

#81

Post by gregors » Wed, Feb 08, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

massysett wrote: post #53

RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #12

The gaming of SEO has been quietly destroying the utility of search writ large as a mechanism for quite a while. Over the last year, its become palpable. Google has such utility in this regard that in some cases, a hallucinating lie-machine offers better answer than an index of what information is available on the internet. This issue with with Googles failure to respond to the deluge of SEO driven content in their s…

I see this sort of comment a lot, and I honestly don't know what it's talking about. What are people expecting out of Google that it's not delivering? It can only index stuff that's on the Web. Stuff on the Web is, contrary to what is popularly asserted, only a tiny fraction of all human knowledge. I think people are forgetting how bad search was before Google. Google drove Web directories to extinction. Remember Yah…

>>> I view Google as the yellow pages

So do I. I can't tell you the last time I even held yellow pages in my hands.

Re: Is Google’s 20-year search dominance about to end?

#82

Post by zug_zug » Wed, Feb 08, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

massysett wrote: post #53

RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #12

The gaming of SEO has been quietly destroying the utility of search writ large as a mechanism for quite a while. Over the last year, its become palpable. Google has such utility in this regard that in some cases, a hallucinating lie-machine offers better answer than an index of what information is available on the internet. This issue with with Googles failure to respond to the deluge of SEO driven content in their s…

I see this sort of comment a lot, and I honestly don't know what it's talking about. What are people expecting out of Google that it's not delivering? It can only index stuff that's on the Web. Stuff on the Web is, contrary to what is popularly asserted, only a tiny fraction of all human knowledge. I think people are forgetting how bad search was before Google. Google drove Web directories to extinction. Remember Yah…

For one, when I search a recipe, I want less than a 30 page document. I've wanted this for 20 years, and so has everybody else.

Re: Is Google’s 20-year search dominance about to end?

#83

Post by rich_sasha » Wed, Feb 08, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

massysett wrote: post #53

RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #12

The gaming of SEO has been quietly destroying the utility of search writ large as a mechanism for quite a while. Over the last year, its become palpable. Google has such utility in this regard that in some cases, a hallucinating lie-machine offers better answer than an index of what information is available on the internet. This issue with with Googles failure to respond to the deluge of SEO driven content in their s…

I see this sort of comment a lot, and I honestly don't know what it's talking about. What are people expecting out of Google that it's not delivering? It can only index stuff that's on the Web. Stuff on the Web is, contrary to what is popularly asserted, only a tiny fraction of all human knowledge. I think people are forgetting how bad search was before Google. Google drove Web directories to extinction. Remember Yah…

The SEO fiasco means that the index to the Yellow Pages is all wrong. You want to find the Chinese embassy, instead you find Vietnamese takeaway businesses.

In the last 2-3 months search quality for me has absolutely crashed and is barely usable.

Re: Is Google’s 20-year search dominance about to end?

#84

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 08, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

dilap wrote: post #31

Microsoft's integration of ChatGPT with Bing is really bad. No-one wants a busy search page with a side-bar of ChatGPT; what's the point of that? The correct interface for ChatGPT + search is just...ChatGPT. But it can also show you a list of web search results, when it's appropriate. A super-clean interface, that always shows you exactly what you want. That would be a killer feature and represent a real threat to Go…

[deleted]

Re: Is Google’s 20-year search dominance about to end?

#85

Post by 29athrowaway » Wed, Feb 08, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

This is not a real phenomenon, but the ad revenue from this article will.

Re: Is Google’s 20-year search dominance about to end?

#86

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 08, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

massysett wrote: post #53

RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #12

The gaming of SEO has been quietly destroying the utility of search writ large as a mechanism for quite a while. Over the last year, its become palpable. Google has such utility in this regard that in some cases, a hallucinating lie-machine offers better answer than an index of what information is available on the internet. This issue with with Googles failure to respond to the deluge of SEO driven content in their s…

I see this sort of comment a lot, and I honestly don't know what it's talking about. What are people expecting out of Google that it's not delivering? It can only index stuff that's on the Web. Stuff on the Web is, contrary to what is popularly asserted, only a tiny fraction of all human knowledge. I think people are forgetting how bad search was before Google. Google drove Web directories to extinction. Remember Yah…

[deleted]

Re: Is Google’s 20-year search dominance about to end?

#87

Post by system16 » Wed, Feb 08, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

marcopicentini wrote: post #15

It's been a while since they stopped innovating. Although Google, Maps, Youtube are of daily use they are monetized exclusively by advertising which is annoying and hated by many. It has been many years since Google has launched an innovative new product. I don't think ChatGPT will gain daily traction after this hype. Anyway we could say that MSFT and AMZN have demostrated more power to innovate with different busine…

Ads aside, the UI of Youtube and Maps is atrocious. There is so much room for improvement here, but it will never happen from Google. It's just not in their DNA. Unfortunately, they have such a huge moat here I doubt we'll see anything better for a long time.

Re: Is Google’s 20-year search dominance about to end?

#88

Post by ranting-moth » Wed, Feb 08, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

saudade97 wrote: post #42

I don't get the HN hate of Google as a search tool. Yes, SEO has made searching more difficult, but Google is still by far the best search engine provided that your searches are focused and you use search tools (e.g., excluding terms, focusing on certain sites, etc.). I've tried other search engines (e.g., DDG, Bing) and they just aren't as good as Google.

Many of the HN crowd remember when Google came into existence and how wonderful it was.

If it existed on the internet, Google would find it for you and it was usually the top resault. It was amazing.

Today, it's a shadow of its former self.

You regularly have to search, wade through the ads that are written like informative articles, adjust your query slightly and repeat the process. It's rubbish.

Re: Is Google’s 20-year search dominance about to end?

#89

Post by freitzkriesler2 » Wed, Feb 08, 2023, 9:58 PM UTC

massysett wrote: post #53

RosanaAnaDana wrote: post #12

The gaming of SEO has been quietly destroying the utility of search writ large as a mechanism for quite a while. Over the last year, its become palpable. Google has such utility in this regard that in some cases, a hallucinating lie-machine offers better answer than an index of what information is available on the internet. This issue with with Googles failure to respond to the deluge of SEO driven content in their s…

I see this sort of comment a lot, and I honestly don't know what it's talking about. What are people expecting out of Google that it's not delivering? It can only index stuff that's on the Web. Stuff on the Web is, contrary to what is popularly asserted, only a tiny fraction of all human knowledge. I think people are forgetting how bad search was before Google. Google drove Web directories to extinction. Remember Yah…

In the mid 2000s, I could find my answer easily in the top 5 hits.

In the present day, I cannot find my answer on the first page. If I click on the top hits the page is a deluge of useless blogg fluff which takes me more time to find what I am looking for.

More often than not have to add reddit, forum, stackoverflow, etc to find what I am looking for because online communities provide more concise answers.

This is why googles utility has collapsed.

Re: Is Google’s 20-year search dominance about to end?

#90

Post by ilc » Wed, Feb 08, 2023, 9:58 PM UTC

People seem to forget: AI is about data, the ability to process it, and having a few smart folks to do algorithms. The third part is actually the smallest and easiest part of the trilogy for AI.

Google, has all three. The real question is can they not shoot themselves in the foot while doing it.

Also SEO will always target the market leader.

As far as Bing's results: I keep thinking Google is trashy. Then I use Bing and I remember just how good Google is. That's my personal opinion. I am NOT going to claim they are SEO, and spam immune, far from. But they seem to do better than Bing in getting what I mean right.

ChatGPT may help MS, but is it a bandaid? Is it just a good PR bump? Who knows... Displacing Google is a large task.. and not one I'm sure I want MS to win. But I look forward to them trying, if only to make Google do better.