
RIP Google, a ‘Search Engine’ from 1998-2018 - iamben
https://webmarketingschool.com/rip-google-search-engine-1998-2018/
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gtirloni
This seems to be about a change where, if you search for "time toronto", it'll
show you the time in Toronto in a mostly blank page and a button labeled "Show
all results".

Very clicky-batey title.

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matthewmacleod
I'm not sure it _is_ clickbait. Previously, typing things into Google would
result in a list of webpages that matched the phrase you typed in, with
various ambiguity around that to allow for flexibility.

Now it doesn't do that, by default. Yeah, there's button to do it, so it's not
like anybody can't access the results anymore. But certainly from the
perspective of the first experience, _this is a huge change_.

Assuming whatever A/B-style test is currently running is "successful", it
would be reasonable to assume that this feature would be rolled out to other
queries where Google assumes users want an answer to a specific question.
That's something that could have a _significant impact_ on the web generally,
given Google's dominant position.

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gus_massa
They show whatever they want to show. For example see
[https://www.google.com/search?q=matemathica](https://www.google.com/search?q=matemathica)
If you search for "matemathica" they will show the results of "mathematica"
instead, and offer to search for the original word. Sometimes they mix the
results of the original word and the autocorrected version. Sometimes they
show the results of the original and offer to show the results of the
autocorrection.

~~~
matthewmacleod
I know, and I did explicitly point out that there was ambiguity in there. But
there’s a bit of a difference, I feel.

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tthayer
This looks like a "user first" approach which I, as a user, really dig. Don't
forget that Google is likely losing out on adwords revenue as a result of this
change.

~~~
puzzle
On the other hand: 1) this kind of query is not a big driver of Adwords
revenue 2) the direct answer is cheaper to compute than a search of the web
index 3) this result page is much smaller to generate, serve, load and render

~~~
dfcowell
4) they are still showing ads on the page.

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puzzle
I don't see any ads for the query mentioned, but I guess that's a possibility
for the future.

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kevin_b_er
I'd rather think this is RIP to the SEO company complaining about not being
able to put a a junk page titled "find lbs to kg today" on the "lbs to kg"
search result page.

Too often do I see absolute rubbish on the search results page from companies
trying to land on top that have no actual relevance to what I want. Also too
often does google guess what I really wanted and show me that instead of what
I specifically said.

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nugi
I miss boolean search. How the hell does anyone find anyhing anymore? All my
searches are changed to more common shit google thinks I shouod search for
instead. Bing, Ddg, arent much better. Is there a simple, powerful search ala
google of early 2000s? I would easily pay an absurd monthly amount just to
have control again. I feel helpless in a sea of misinformation and google is
objectivly making it worse.

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nrki
1\. Search for "one two three".

2\. Google returns results with "one" and "three" crossed out, as if you
didn't mean to put them in the search.

3\. Go to bing I guess?

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soganess
I don't want to contradict your overall message that search quality has
morphed in undesirable ways, I totally agree with the sentiment... but my
query doesn't behave in the way hereto described. I currently see a 1961 film
named "One, Two, Three" as the first result without any indication the engine
believes I've erred.

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starshadowx2
I don't understand the issue with this.

"Oh no, Google is giving me what I just asked for, what will the people
running websites that do this exact thing ever do? I really wish I had to
click extra times and load other websites to get this info instead of it just
being presented to me when I ask."

~~~
iamben
I suppose it's not really an issue unless Google moves into your market? Then
I'd imagine it's a massive issue. If the bulk of your traffic is Google, and
they stop showing you for certain queries, it's going to hurt.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
And a big part of this is: Where did Google get their data in the first place.
Celebrity Net Worth has been torched by Google, for example, because Google
scrapes their data without permission and offers it up without compensating
them in any way.

This ends up hurting users, because now the company that's actually getting
the data isn't getting compensated, if they go out of business, you get worse
data. This is the same problem with blogspam sites getting ranked above the
real journalists who uncovered the news.

Source: [https://theoutline.com/post/1399/how-google-ate-
celebritynet...](https://theoutline.com/post/1399/how-google-ate-
celebritynetworth-com?zd=1&zi=dyskv4zt)

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inteleng
It makes sense that a guy whose job it is to make things appear on search
results would be angry at a search engine bypassing the sites of people like
him.

~~~
ng12
Rent-seeking at it's finest.

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pnloyd
The way Google has been sculpting it's products is consistent with their
statement of "organizing information". Now it's almost like web is just
becoming a fall back for when Google didn't happen to have the answers to a
particular question on hand. But like other commenters are saying, the users
love it!

SEO should just addapt there business to not being about gaming the search
engines but instead consulting site owners to deliver quality content on well
optimize d sites. Let's be honest here though, SEO as it was in the past is a
dying discipline in light of the growing safistication of these "knowledge
engines"

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gregknicholson
Google hasn't been primarily a web search company for ages — it's an
advertising company. Either way, their ultimate goal is to make more money and
evidently they think this helps that.

If you don't like their search service, you _can_ use an alternative. The
network effect fortunately doesn't apply to search engines.

I hope (but doubt) that Google will make their search service sufficiently
awful that they will erode their own monopoly.

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jacksmith21006
Old and remember Altavista. Google is simply incredible and hard to figure out
how they are able to do it and so quickly.

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PinkMilkshake
I wonder if their will be a resurgence of web directories.

When I can't find something useful through a search engine, I look for the
most active subreddit in the topic area and check their wiki. They are often
full of well-organized, curated content and FAQs built from years of newbie
questions.

Example: r/fitness

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kazinator
> _Right now, example queries that no longer return real results include (but
> may not be limited to): [...]_

> _[...] km to miles [...]_

> _while these searches don’t trigger third party organic results, they DO
> trigger ads:_

Whaaaat? I just tried "km to miles". While the built-in km to miles converter
gadget does appear at the top, there are actual search results below that.
Pages and pages of non-ad results. The first bunch of results are various unit
converter pages.

These SEO scoundrels are such pathological liars that they no longer even care
when they are lying in a way that is instantly falsifiable.

~~~
matthewmacleod
I would point out that I do see the thing that they are describing, which I
incidentally noticed, and it’s more likely that Google are A/B testing than
that everybody is a liar :)

