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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

#981

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://gen.lib.rus.ec/search.php?req=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky%3A+...

Is it ironic that the websites often involved in freeing up the knowledge ends up getting hosted in Russia?

The three IP's they return when you do a DNS lookup originate form Rumania, Switzerland and the island country Saint Kitts and Nevis.

The site was created by Russians though, just not sure it is hosted there anymore.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#982
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…

google amp is a plague on the internet and should have been shutdown by regulators. it is definitely anti-competitive. i am sick and tired of our government completely slaving to the big tech companies when it comes to regulations and anti-competitive behavior. google amp on mobile overrides behavior on mobile, even on android, so instead of web links opening up in the respective and selected default app, it opens up…

> there is no way to turn off this feature on any browser, chrome or not.

Here is a way for Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/amp2html/

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#983
post #845
post #760

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find Google ignoring my attempts to be more specific more often. Just as a contrived example a search like "R33 RB25DET Motorsport ECU" typically got me specific links relating to the exact car, engine and topic. But the past 5 years or so it seems like it is weighting the more common word and more general terms. Often excluding the target topic altogether and just giving general motorsport results. Perhaps it's a…

That's something that really drives me nuts about it lately. If I just wanted general results, I'd do the lazy thing and not put in the additional terms. Worse, I've been finding that it still ignores some of the terms even when I put them in quotes. The results just seem really bad lately, especially for anything technical. Just now I'd been looking for "html5 canvas torture test". The top result is a video called "…

animate on scroll "responsive"

Top result doesn't have the word responsive, very handy.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#984
post #11

The FTC has spoke on this before. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2013/06/... I believe nearly all the search engines are still guilty of this one. I also think firms should be able to buy "blank space." For example facebook or amazon could pay NOT to have an ad above their result. Maybe they already do, I dont see an ad when I search facebook, however I do see an ad for amazon above the top amazo…

I worry about the implications of the blank space idea. For example, if I owned coolstuff.com, when should I expect for my standard search result to be shown below the "blank space". Today, if someone searched "cool stuff", my site shows up as the top search result, but my arch-nemesis, the owner of neatstuff.com, has an ad tailored to that query. Would his ad go away since mine is the top search result for "cool stu…

if you BUY the entire whitespace above the first organic result (could cost north of 1-3 ads) then the first organic result would be the top of the list. It wouldnt matter if you are the top organic result or not, youve just paid not to have ads above that result.

If at some point you slipped down the organic list, you would have the option to buy a normal ad again.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#985

Prefer DuckDuckGo for searching, if possible. If you don't like DuckDuckGo's results and can't tolerate them, then prefer Startpage to Google, which will give you the same algorithm minus tracking/customization. Even post-acquisition, Startpage is still a more privacy-conscious engine than Google, and their ads are better labeled. And while I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here, quick reminder that unless you're r…

I like duckduck, but their ads are even more intrusive than the Google ones. Since Duckduckgo puts the (Ad) symbol at the end of the title rather than the beginning, they are not lined up and so much harder to quickly scan and ignore.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#987

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's absolutely extortion, but it's cheaper for Expedia to buy than a competitor due to Google's auction rules. Essentially, the bid to be #1 is discounted by the click-through rate. If 90% of people who search "expedia.com" will click an ad for Expedia, and only 10% of people who search "expedia.com" will click an ad for travelsite.com, travelsite.com has to pay 10x what Expedia does to make up for the lost revenue.

Wait, I'm confused. Are you saying that Expedia pays Google less when people click on the ad vs when they click on something else?

No, I'm saying Expedia pays less for ads for expedia.com than ExpediaCompetitor pays for ads for expediacompetitor.com.

This gives Expedia an advantage when purchasing ads on the search term "expedia.com".

Of course, Expedia would probably prefer not to purchase ads on "expedia.com" at all.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#988
post #3

I wish there was a way to directly help Bing/DuckDuckGo/Yandex improve their search results. I've tried both, and it's just not the same. Google I can bang in cryptic queries like > centos 7 tuned no daemon and get the 3rd link about how to run tuned in a no daemon mode. Bing/DuckDuckGo have the article at around 7th or 8th place, but prefaced by a lot of "while technically not wrong, not what I'm looking for" links.…

I used to work at Bing. If you really want Bing to improve, the best thing you can do is just use it: clicks on search results, plus backs and dwell times, are vital training data. Ideally you could use Bing as your default engine, then fall back to Google whenever there's a search that doesn't yield good results. If you have the time, you can also use the Feedback link on the bottom-right of the page to report bad s…

Yandex does that. At the bottom of search results page there are links to other search engines. So if you aren't satisfied with results, you're one click away from Google. I believe they track these clicks and know which results are bad.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#989

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest I’m not sure what everyone else is searching for on Google the search engine anymore. I personally use it as a Wikipedia search engine in 90% of the cases while 9% is for stackoverflow queries, other than that I get all the info I’m interested in from dedicated FB groups and different sub-reddits. And I’m also a 40-year old guy, from what I can see at people younger than me they spend almost all their we…

Makes me wonder how much Wikipedia would be worth as a privately held company.

Thank the heavens it's not. Imagine a company controlling the most accessed information aggregation website in the world and trying to make it return a profit.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#990

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what happens when MBAs and not engineers run your tech company

To be fair this exact behaviour has been happening since pretty much day 1, Google no longer being run by engineers is a very recent development.

The difference now is gate keeping. Prior behavior did leave one to make choices.

Google made their favored ones easy.

Now that fails to deliver expected results. Too many people not making the choices Google would have them make.

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