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Google changes its search box

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Re: Google changes its search box

#911

Post by AlexandrB »

lifis wrote: post #587
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?

The expected purpose of websites is to spread information, so whether users get it by making a request to your website or to Google is irrelevant. In fact, if they get it from Google it's better because it reduces website load. If instead the purpose of your website is to manipulate users for financial gain (for instance by showing media attempting to manipulate their purchasing decisions, after receiving a bribe fro…

On the one hand, this is an interesting observation. The internet as it exists today is filled with product placement slop and real information is a rare commodity. The loss of these kinds of sites is a blessing.

On the other hand, Google played a big role in creating this problem in the first place. The search results have trended downwards towards this kind of SEO slop for the last 10 years and Google has been unable (or unwilling) to fix it. Plus, the AI results Google shows are not free from commercial influence and will probably only get worse in this regard. Except now this money will flow to Google instead of $random_internet_spammer. I don't know if that's any better.

The idea that Google won't eventually "manipulate users for financial gain" with Gemini is comically naive. That's how they're going to make money from this thing.

Re: Google changes its search box

#913

Post by eitally »

Gareth321 wrote: post #761
yard2010 wrote: post #685

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the problem with the current monopolistic system, the money won't go down the stream, it's like a dam. One big dam owned by a few people is worse than many small dams

I agree. For what it's worth, I think Google's business model is in trouble. They're putting in heroic effort to stay relevant during this shift to AI search, but how does their advertising model work when people expect summarised and accurate information instead of scrolling pages of ads? The search space is actually not that unhealthy. There are competitors. They just lack the reach of Google. These competitor will…

Anecdotally, I find Google's AI Search results to be genuinely helpful much of the time, and the box isn't so intrusive that it prevents me from digging into literal search results if I am not satisfied with the AI summary.

Re: Google changes its search box

#914

Post by gcr »

notsydonia wrote: post #898

Wow, I just asked Google A.I. mode some pointed questions about a site of mine which has been up and successful for about as long as Google and if Google had any guidance for creators/site owners. I had to push it but I got some remarkably frank answers and I am posting here as an FYI. "The accepted ideal case for Google is a highly consolidated, walled-garden internet where a small array of corporate media partners…

Why is this answer notable to you?

Wouldn’t you be more surprised / concerned if the model refused to to criticize Google?

Re: Google changes its search box

#915

Post by wao0uuno »

pera wrote: post #666

This is absurd, why is Google so desperate to kill the best thing they once had? I would love to know what happens inside a corporation to destroy itself in such way. I also don't remember ever seeing anything being force-fed as much as LLMs, why?

Greed and lust for power. Judging by how most people interact with the internet these days I'm afraid Google will be fine. This is the new normal. Most people are so painfully dumb they delegate most of their thinking to ChatGPT anyway.

Re: Google changes its search box

#916

Post by IIsi50MHz »

raincole wrote: post #333
dgellow wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure but we are talking about the UI here, not the index being used

But if Kagi manages to become a serious competitor in the search engine space, Google will cut them off from their index. Why will not they?

Last I read, Kagi is using data from 3rd-party scraping of Google results, because buying directly from Google comes with onerous limitations:

- Must not alter the order of Google's search results - Must not alter the appearance or placement of Google-inserted ads

Re: Google changes its search box

#917

Post by tardedmeme »

taude wrote: post #842
ethbr1 wrote: post #753

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're already post dead info. The only solution is to find recipe books that were printed in previous decades. Which is ironic, given that Google's entire value proposition (to users) was extracting signal from noise... ... and now it's come full A/B-advertising-optimization to being useless at that, when the need is greater than ever. Imho, Google's greatest failing was missing how its own incentives warped creation…

What kind of insanity are you all talking about? Plenty of cook book authors out there with good recipes, tested, big-personal brand, etc. no need to go to prior decades for good books.

How do you know which ones are good?

Re: Google changes its search box

#918

Post by sedatk »

It's hard to believe, even for me, but I've been using Kagi for years, and have used Google only a handful of times since then. I feel like Dr.Manhattan watching the chaos on Earth from my fortress on Mars. Google as a search engine feels that alien to me.

Btw, Kagi has an "AI Mode" too, which can be enabled simply by ending your query with a question mark. Then, AI answers your query.

Re: Google changes its search box

#919

Post by wao0uuno »

If you're looking for a search engine recommendation then I'll go againt all the bots and paid shills in this thread and say: Kagi sucks.

Kagi search results are very mediocre. Comparable to what DDG, Startpage and others provide for free. Even though their search results are quite unimpressive the subscription is quite expensive and comes with extra fluff like AI tools that needlessly inflate the price. Kagi sends a small part of their profits to russia by paying for yandex index. They provide support via Discord thus it's safe to say that they endorse Discord even after recent controversies.

You're IT people, right? Take matters into your own hands and self host a SearXNG instance. Share it with family and friends to make yourself and everyone else harder to track and profile. Mooch off Google's infrastructure and don't give them anything in return. Fuck them.

Edit: Seconds after submitting already downvoted without any reply. Tell me Kagi is not running bots on HN.

Re: Google changes its search box

#920

Post by [deleted] »

ellenhp wrote: post #519
al_borland wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried this search. It gave a write up about buying and selling options, noting that the price of the stock had to move significantly, not just go up or down. It also talked about vertical spreads and iron condors. It touches on delta, theta, and volatility and their impacts, as well as leverage risk and potential uncapped risk. While I agree that AI gets things wrong a lot, and someone should read significantly mor…

They probably update these answers offline. I tried "how do you profit from options" and got: > Call Options: You buy these when you believe a stock's price will go up. If the stock rises past your strike price, the option's value increases, allowing you to sell it for a profit or exercise it to buy the stock at a discount. > Put Options: You buy these when you believe a stock's price will go down. If the stock falls…

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