Semrush, LLMs (or “AIs”), and Google: a three-headed misinformation hydra?

It turns out that Semrush is likely responsible for the misinformation regarding my name. When Shahid Jafar first encountered the fake topic of a new Google algorithm named for me—and apparently created by me—he mentioned he had seen 8,000 references to it. I couldn’t, but it turns out—thanks to another blog post that has incorporated […]

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Google is warning us that they are pay-to-play

I’m afraid this says it all, and I mean it. We know Facebook is pay-to-play and Google is definitely heading in that direction. For some searches (try looking for a career coach), it arrived there a long time ago.     In case Mastodon embeds go awry in the future, here is what I wrote: […]

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Google search is worse by design—internal memo

You didn’t imagine it: Google’s search is worse, and that’s by design, according to a document produced in discovery.     Dr Jonny L. Saunders of UCLA shared one on their Mastodon earlier today. The internal Google email, from Jerry Dischler to Anil Sabharwal, dated May 3, 2019, expresses a concern over the company missing […]

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Nice try, Marissa Mayer, but no conversion

I had a chuckle at Marissa Mayer saying that Google results are worse because the web is worse. As I’ve shown with a site:lucire.com search, which is a good one since our site pre-dates Google (just), Google is less capable of providing the relevant pages for a typical search. I know how web spiders work […]

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Confused Google doesn’t understand email preferences

As if to prove my point about lies, Google spammed me right after my last post. In its footer:     No, I didn’t. I logged into Google to see my settings. Sure enough:     As I always say, when it comes to computers, I’m right, they’re wrong. I have a better memory. I […]

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‘Google … broke the web’

Nice to see I’m not the only one who sees Google for what it is today. Warning: coarse language.     What’s bizarre is a reply I wrote largely in agreement (and had a few likes to) has vanished. Maybe some Google lovers didn’t like what I wrote? Sometimes I can make the point better […]

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We should challenge monopolists, not do business with them at the exclusion of ethical parties

Search engine Mojeek is doing no wrong in my book. Here’s its CEO Colin Hayhurst being interviewed by The New Era’s Jeffrey Peel, making complete sense, which is not something I can say about anyone speaking for Big Tech. We should be shunning monopolists if we truly value progress and innovation, or even a proper, […]

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Testing the seven search engines in the world

After reading Mojeek’s blog post from last July, I learned there are only seven search engines in the world now. In other words, I was checking more search engines out in the 1990s. It’s rather depressing, especially as the search market is largely a monopoly with Google dominating it (and all the ills that brings), […]

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Big Tech: you’ve already lost against mainland China

Big Tech often says that if they’re broken up, they won’t be able to compete with mainland China.    Folks, you’ve already lost.    Why? Because you’re playing their game. You believe that through dominance and surveillance you can beat a country with four times more people.    The level playing field under which you […]

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Facebook goes even more pro-bot with change in group policy

Why are there antitrust or monopoly laws? Why is the usual interpretation of the Chicago School really, really bad for the United States? Umair Haque’s latest post spells it out pretty well, in my opinion.    Just an idea: let’s not import any of their dangerous ideas into our society, or allow their ever-growing giants […]

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