Google Search is Dying
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https://dkb.io/post/google-search-is-dying
Reddit is currently the most popular search engine. The only people who don’t know that are the team at Reddit, who can’t be bothered to build a decent search interface. So instead we resort to using Google, and appending the word “reddit” to the end of our queries.
Paul Graham thinks this image means Reddit as a social media site “still hasn’t peaked”. What it actually means is that the amount of people using Reddit as a search engine is growing.
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"My pronouns are FA/FO." - Mik, 2024
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@mik said in Google Search is Dying:
I use Google maps and occasionally gmail, but that’s all.
Maps are good. I use them in my car.
gmail is only for "Google Alerts" for things I want to follow.
A few throwaway gmail addys for annoying things.
DuckDuckGo for searching.
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I still use Google for everything, but where I want to see advice on things from regular people I use the Reddit trick
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I like how Google's results gives an instant-answer (an excerpt from one of the top results) as well as "what others are asking". But agree the number of ads, videos, etc... is annoying just to get to the results.
I finally decided to check out Reddit in 2020 and quickly added it to a list of things I check each day online. Being able to subscribe to various subreddits of choice makes it easy to keep content relevant and also the "up/down votes" generally helps keep comments and other discussions interesting. The power of the people!
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@89th said in Google Search is Dying:
I like how Google's results gives an instant-answer (an excerpt from one of the top results) as well as "what others are asking". But agree the number of ads, videos, etc... is annoying just to get to the results.
Yeah, they way over-extended their hand with that shit.
That came into full fruition in the passage indexing update from February last year. Sites that were found to directly answer google search queries were given preference in SERP.
But think about that for a second. It's nice to go on Google, search for a thing, and have that thing answered for you in Google without the need to track down the answer through links in the results page.
Good for you, and absolutely terrible for the website that spent the time crafting a good answer. They get literally nothing for their efforts. No traffic, no engagement, nothing.
Google now literally incentivizes websites that write content designed to keep users on Google, and not on their own websites. And Google did it, because fuck you shut up we're the only search game in town that matters.
They overplayed it. Content websites want to tell them to go screw, and people concerned about privacy like George, Klaus, etc. are growing in number, giving content websites an audience outside of Google.
They done fucked up, and it's interesting to me that they've so far made no attempt to walk it back.
I guess the Pixel is selling pretty well these days.
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@aqua-letifer said in Google Search is Dying:
@89th said in Google Search is Dying:
I like how Google's results gives an instant-answer (an excerpt from one of the top results) as well as "what others are asking". But agree the number of ads, videos, etc... is annoying just to get to the results.
Yeah, they way over-extended their hand with that shit.
That came into full fruition in the passage indexing update from February last year. Sites that were found to directly answer google search queries were given preference in SERP.
But think about that for a second. It's nice to go on Google, search for a thing, and have that thing answered for you in Google without the need to track down the answer through links in the results page.
Good for you, and absolutely terrible for the website that spent the time crafting a good answer. They get literally nothing for their efforts. No traffic, no engagement, nothing.
Google now literally incentivizes websites that write content designed to keep users on Google, and not on their own websites. And Google did it, because fuck you shut up we're the only search game in town that matters.
They overplayed it. Content websites want to tell them to go screw, and people concerned about privacy like George, Klaus, etc. are growing in number, giving content websites an audience outside of Google.
They done fucked up, and it's interesting to me that they've so far made no attempt to walk it back.
I guess the Pixel is selling pretty well these days.
The issue, Aqua, is that from a business standpoint - it works. There's a huge portion of the population online now that never experienced the web the way that early users did (both old and young).
They dial down the usefulness and dial up the ad dollars. It only becomes a probably if they lose significant search market share.
And maybe the nerds break off and go search somewhere different - it might still be worth it for Google for the next 5 years or so to keep doing what they're doing.
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@xenon said in Google Search is Dying:
The issue, Aqua, is that from a business standpoint - it works.
Whose business? I've never worked for a tech giant, but I've spent a lot of time working for and with publishers. The direction google search is going does them no favors in any way. It's why a ton of them are throwing so much into social.
They dial down the usefulness and dial up the ad dollars. It only becomes a problem if they lose significant search market share.
That's what I'm saying. The rot's already there. Give it time because that's exactly what's happening out there. Google search volume growth rates started to level out back in 2012.
And maybe the nerds break off and go search somewhere different - it might still be worth it for Google for the next 5 years or so to keep doing what they're doing.
I wonder to what extent they care, or should. But I'd be very surprised if their numbers don't go down between now and 2027.
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@aqua-letifer said in Google Search is Dying:
Whose business? I've never worked for a tech giant, but I've spent a lot of time working for and with publishers. The direction google search is going does them no favors in any way. It's why a ton of them are throwing so much into social.
100% - I saw this briefly with some work on the hotel aggregators. It's a race to the bottom, and you spend only to not get left behind.
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@xenon said in Google Search is Dying:
@aqua-letifer said in Google Search is Dying:
Whose business? I've never worked for a tech giant, but I've spent a lot of time working for and with publishers. The direction google search is going does them no favors in any way. It's why a ton of them are throwing so much into social.
100% - I saw this briefly with some work on the hotel aggregators. It's a race to the bottom, and you spend only to not get left behind.
Well, as I see it, Google search's situation is very much like YouTube's. In its early days, it needed content creators to bring in the ads. Now that they're pretty much the only legitimate game in town, they're shitting on the creators because their business model is to favor the advertisers. This works great for them so long as there's no viable alternative. But bandwidth and server space are both growing. Like Google, YouTube's leaning on their monopoly to screw over content generators, but as soon as they get competition—and they will—they're going to have some problems.
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Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@aqua-letifer said in Google Search is Dying:
But think about that for a second. It's nice to go on Google, search for a thing, and have that thing answered for you in Google without the need to track down the answer through links in the results page.
Good for you, and absolutely terrible for the website that spent the time crafting a good answer. They get literally nothing for their efforts. No traffic, no engagement, nothing.Good points. Also, it presumes the answer is accurate (or least the user thinks so), so it also reduces critical thinking or effort researching and understanding. I get it, I'm one of those users, but I do understand how it's making us lazier (or rather, more reliant on insta-solutions).
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@jolly said in Google Search is Dying:
Do you think it's because of the Googleverse, where people can do most of what they do on their phones through mostly Google products, that makes Google so popular?
I honestly think it's habit at this point. But like Xenon said, more and more people are starting to get online in an environment where Google isn't the only viable option anymore, so their search tyranny will be dwindling.
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Lest we forget....
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Fucking Germans.
That looks like the worst text-adventure ever made.
Proud supporter of Plan 2525. Everything you think, do and say will be in the pill you took today.
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@doctor-phibes said in Google Search is Dying:
Fucking Germans.
That looks like the worst text-adventure ever made.
That's because it is, even if you use Firefox or Chrome.
Please love yourself.
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@aqua-letifer said in Google Search is Dying:
@doctor-phibes said in Google Search is Dying:
Fucking Germans.
That looks like the worst text-adventure ever made.
That's because it is, even if you use Firefox or Chrome.
YOU ARE STANDING AT THE END OF A ROAD BEFORE A SMALL BRICK BUILDING.
AROUND YOU IS A FOREST. A SMALL STREAM FLOWS OUT OF THE BUILDING AND
DOWN A GULLY. YOU ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY FUCKING IDIOTS.Proud supporter of Plan 2525. Everything you think, do and say will be in the pill you took today.
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@doctor-phibes said in Google Search is Dying:
@aqua-letifer said in Google Search is Dying:
@doctor-phibes said in Google Search is Dying:
Fucking Germans.
That looks like the worst text-adventure ever made.
That's because it is, even if you use Firefox or Chrome.
YOU ARE STANDING AT THE END OF A ROAD BEFORE A SMALL BRICK BUILDING.
AROUND YOU IS A FOREST. A SMALL STREAM FLOWS OUT OF THE BUILDING AND
DOWN A GULLY. YOU ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY FUCKING IDIOTS.1 > Post Donald Trump meme
2 > "Circumcision is ritual mutilation masquerading as a cultural tradition!"
3 > omiksE!
