this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
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Honestly people keep saying this but I just don't find it to be true. Google is a vital daily resource for me, and usually the best way for me to find most things.
Is this because I don't use social networks? Are people somehow using Instagram or TikTok as search engines to find what they're looking for? It feels like people just use social networks these days and nothing else, so maybe that's it?
Let's say I want to find an aftermarket built-in air jack kit for a car. Nevermind why, but let's say it's what I want to find.
So I look up car air lift jack. Google spits back a grid of floor air bag jacks for sale, a stack of videos of floor air bag jacks by people trying to sell them, Another grid of floor air bag jacks for sale, then finally a couple of the kind that go on a car, and godammnit another grid of floor air bag jacks for sale, finally sponsored posts for floor jacks or the wrong kind, Amazon ads for the same thing, ads for brands of the floor jacks, and more, more, more, makers of the wrong thing, lowes, home depot, walmart...it's all wrong.
So the very next words out of your mouth are "Well, you used the wrong search term!" No, not really, but let's try getting rid of "bag", because that seems to be a big incorrect return on the search. So in goes "-bag" to the search term. What does that get us?
The exact same fucking thing. "-" is meaningless anymore.
So that's google now.
Want help with a tech problem?
Wade through a stack of a dozen shitty youtube videos 10 minutes long each (because google pays more for ad space, longer videos have more space, so those get pushed to the top, and a problem that would take a paragraph of text to solve now becomes a shitty video with blather, subscribe, previous videos, like, other videos, and 2 minutes of actual help), a bunch of sponsored links to tech makers that have shit to do with your problem, and SEO sites like solveyourtechproblem.com or wefixitgood.com or whatever BS name for sites that consist of boilerplate help like "did you turn it off and on again?" Maybe after all that you'll get an out of date reddit or github list of posts that don't have anything to do with your exact issue. So you put it in quotes, that should work, right?
"It looks like there aren't many great matches for your search" says google.
Why? I dunno. Not enough returns on the search to cram ads, sponsored links, shit for sale in?
Google is shit. I've switched to DDG. It has it's own frustrations, but at least I don't have to put up with Google cramming every ad and sponsored link in front of me along with garbage SEO sites. Google's heyday has ended.
The troubleshooting you list here second is my primary use for a Google search and it is completely garbage. Just like you say, it's a bunch of trash SEO sites that don't really address the problem so most of the time I add reddit to the search to get legit answers. Because reddit has a garbage search engine, of course.
Though I have to admit I have given up on that and just use DDG to search for Reddit results. It used to be that I'd start on DDG and if it didn't have what I need I'd go to Google, but Google search has gotten so bad that I almost never bother anymore.
I've been doing a lot of searches lately about running, picking shoes, overpronation, training schedules, etc.
Straight google searches (ones that would have returned worthwhile results even ten years ago) are all trying to sell me something, or are AI generated content filler garbage.
I have to add "reddit" to every search in order to get real information from normal people.
Reddit has axed access to Nordic VPN connected devices sadly, so no more reddit in my searches
a lot of people are using reddit and youtube to search for thing now
YouTube is fantastic but it's a video platform, all you're going to find there are videos.
If I need to find a business or product page, I'm not going to look on YouTube. Same if I need to find a driver download, or a PDF manual, or the local weather, or information on a historical event, or....we'll, you get the idea. They just do videos.
Similarly Reddit has a lot but it's mainly centered around discussions of things. I use it as a very valuable resource, but similar to the above, it's not where I go when I'm not looking for the one thing they do very well - discussion.
It sounds as if the main thrust of this idea isn't that Google (or a search engine in general) is any less vital in daily web life, but rather that for some things you can go straight to the more centralised source and search there. E.g. if I want a video I'll search on YouTube, rather than searching Google for aggregated results from many video hosts.
In that sense Google is slightly less relevant sure I agree, but only a little bit, and only for very specific things.
i use google to search reddit and youtube. reddit's search still sucks and youtube brings up the same results as google generally and it's in my address bar aleady.
You just described my situation. I'm a developer, I google A LOT of shit everyday. I haven't used social media in 4 years or so.
If I have a basic question I usually find myself going to chatgpt now.
Oh goodie. If I want made up answers based on the middle of the road guess work of an auto complete that sounds like a fun idea but I'd really just like to find out if anyone is selling the used record I'm looking for.
Same. I can even ask follow up questions