You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “Google search is worse by design—internal memo”.
You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “Google search is worse by design—internal memo”.
Search results should never have been pay to play. Ever.
It was fine, putting relevant adds in a sidebar (on Google, GMail, and websites/blogs).
It was great to penalize keyword-stuffing websites/blogs. Kind of like trying to sweep the beach, but great.
It is NOT fine to pay for higher listed search results or reward anyone who tries to manipulate them in ways antithetical to what search users need.
For me, Google still provides the best (most) search results. But I want them ranked by relevance to MY SEARCH. Never by how much someone paid to get them to the first page.
Google regularly conks out for me now. But even when I could access it properly, it claimed to have the most search results—but the list would stop, sometimes on as few as 25–30 results. Even Bing has fixed this bug, and Mojeek has consistently done 1,000 max.
I agree with your points, which is why I haven’t used Google as a default since 2010. I want relevance based on my search terms, not relevance based on collected interests about me (many of which were BS). I know you didn’t find Mojeek very good, but it is improving (based on regular searches that I do), and sticks to first principles. It can only get better as more people use it.
The trouble is in 2023 there are so many fake websites out there—many funded by Google ads. Just like Facebook bots, it’s in the firm’s interests to have them there, as evidenced by this memo. I think Google’s going to continue getting worse in order to extract money from us, like Facebook, which is already pay-to-play.