This is Why Google Search is Bad and What Engine to Use Instead
Do you think Google sucks? I’m not a big friend of Google search either.
In this post I reflect on how bad the Google search experience is nowadays.
To solve the problem I will suggest a better alternative or rather more than one.
Before we start take note though: I do not hate Google. I just criticize them.
That’s a big difference. Constructive criticism is actually helpful.
As an search engine optimizer for almost 20 years I know Google pretty well.
I hope my feedback helps improve Google or find alternatives for searchers.
Google Search Does not Work As Expected
There is one straightforward reason why I prefer not to use Google search.
When you search for something you expect to see actual search results don’t you?
The Google search experience is frustrating!
It’s not even search anymore. It’s Google Ads.
Google does not show real organic search results “above the fold”! What fold?
That is in the visible part of the search engine results pages (SERPs).
It’s a metaphor from the newspaper era. They folded in half.
For lucrative keywords Google displays just ads on top.
(By 2023 they will sometimes also show auto-generated answers created by AI.)
Don’t believe me? Have you been looking for hotels recently?
Just search for [hotels] on Google.com!
This is what I get and why I consider it bad:
Take note: I’m searching in English from the US by using Proton VPN even though I’m in Germany.
![Google search results for [hotels]: You need to scroll to see any.](http://seo2.onreact.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/google-search-hotels-20200818.png)
Can you spot even one real unpaid or so called “organic” result?
Take note that I use a clean browser here with no toolbars, only a bookmark bar.
I am not using a tablet or something with a small screen.
I’m not even using a standard sized 15,6′ laptop screen. It’s a 17,3′ notebook!
OK, so Google is not a real search engine anymore. It does not work as expected.
What is it then? It’s a dynamic portal worse than Yahoo has ever been.
Most “results” on top are either ads or Google’s own properties.
In this case we see Google’s proprietary hotel booking tool below the adverts.
How Can You Actually Search the Web in 2023?
What can you use instead to search for real? There is more than one option.
Startpage
The best alternative right now in 2023 is Startpage. Why?
Essentially Startpage uses Google results but without the tracking, profiling and other privacy nightmares.
I covered Startpage in a separate article about private search.
Indeed the post was meant to be published on the blog Startpage itself.
I wrote it in German originally and translated it back to English as it was meant for their German blog.
So I did not get the job at the end of the day. Even though I had several interviews and was almost there.
Thus I’m not as biased as you might suspect otherwise.
Ecosia
Another viable option is Ecosia. It’s also green as in environmentally friendly. How that?
Ecosia shows ads above the search results too but far fewer of them.
And you even support reforestation efforts all over the world with 80% of the ad revenue when you click their ads.
I like to plant trees to keep climate change at bay and thus I am even more likely to click ads.
In the case of the [hotels] search there weren’t many though.
I disabled all ad blockers and privacy tools to make sure I can see them:
Hooray! What do we see? We recognize two relevant search results for [hotels]!
Even without trying hard: Hotels.com and Expedia are on top.
Then we’ll notice a Wikipedia entry on the right side. It’s Hotels.com again.
These results are real results determined by site authority and incoming links.
The more people recommend those sites the higher they are in the results.
DuckDuckGo
Like Ecosia, privacy-first search engine DuckDuckGo uses mainly Bing search results and a clean user interface for search.
I used DDG for many years until I discovered Ecosia and later Startpage.
It’s still worth a try but the other two offer more so I gave up on DDG and moved on.
I recommended Neeva in an earlier version of this post but sadly the search engine went defunct by now.
Are You Still Scrolling or Already Searching?
I could go on explaining why the above Google “results” are bad and the Startpage or Ecosia results are better but IMHO it’s obvious.
I do not even have to use colors to highlight like others did before me.
Just compare it to the distant past of the “ten blue links“.
Back then Google had real results in the visible area.
Now they want you to forget about it!
Ask.com had the most ads but still fewer than Google now and where is Ask now?
A more current report from BrightEdge shows how wide-spread the “ads-only above the fold” issue was in 2016.
My advice for all those who have no stake in Google: Let’s move on to a real search engine. Why have to sift through numerous ads to see actual results dozens of times a day?
Don’t waste your time scrolling. Start searching!
Ecosia uses mostly Bing results so that the technology behind the results is also state of the art.
The environmental business model and the much cleaner interface are additional benefits.
In some cases – for so called “long tail” searches of three or more words Google can yield better results than Bing and with it Ecosia.
Startpage is the best solution then – it offers Google results without the
- tracking
- filter bubble
- visual clutter.
It’s not as good for the planet as Ecosia though.
I haven’t used Startpage often enough to tell whether their results always match Google.
Yet Startpage, Ecosia and DuckDuckGo do work well for most the searches. They returned very helpful results.
Take note that all of the above use Google or Bing results internally and just repackage them.
Startpage, Ecosia or DuckDuckGo take the data and clean up the interfaces.
That’s probably the most important reason to try them beyond the privacy.
Google Search Quality
As I rank on top of Google for queries like [google sucks] many people come here to complain.
Why? They vent about the overall Google search quality in my comment section.
I assure you that once you find the actual search results they are still OK!
Search results are just hidden below a huge pile
- pay per click ads
- Google owned services
- SERP features
Google excels especially when searching for so called “long tail” queries with 3, 4 or more words.
Why Does Google Suck?
OK. So why does Google suck when searching the Web in 2023?
Google has problems with “bigger” or more popular keywords!
Why? It’s because they show not the
- best
- most popular
- authoritative
pages but instead the
- latest
- newest
- most current ones.
Thus an article from 2023 may outrank a much better post from 2018 mainly because it’s 5 years younger.
Often the best results are those that have aged for a few years like good wine.
Yet Google prefers “fresh content”.
One way to deal with this is to constantly update your content.
I do that and that’s why I keep on ranking with some pages for a decade.
- When you are looking for the latest inside scoop on technology, politics or gossip – you might want to use Google (or Startpage)..
- When you are looking for some weird sentence long questions also ask Startpage or Google as well.
- For timeless and evergreen searches Ecosia or DuckDuckGo are often better as they both use Bing results.
- When it comes to important searches (think health, money, law, science) you want to search Ecosia or DDG because they rather show the most credible sources first.
- Also for one word “huge” searches everybody else is also searching for Bing-based search engines like Ecosia and DDG may offer the more reliable options.
To overcome the problem of hidden organic results below the fold you can use Startpage which is based on Google results.
You can also use a tool called Simple Search by The Markup that simply gets rid of all the clutter above Google search results and just shows the actual results in an overlay.
You add it to your browser (Chrome or Firefox e.g) and every time you search Google you just get to see the real search results not those someone paid for to get shown on top.
Most people do not even realize that what they see on top of Google are ads.
In case you are one of them just make sure to view and click the proper results.
What Google Alternatives Do You Use?
What search engine do you use and recommend in 2023? Do you still use Google?
Why? Why not? Did you try some alternatives? Please tell me all about it below!
I’m always on the look out for new Google alternatives. So make sure to share those!
Google destroys all these guys when it comes to local, and that’s where relevancy matters most.
I think that Google’s reach a point of too big to fail, some of the changes they’ve made to shopping this week shows they can do what they like. I’m unsure how the public regard search quality. Bing’s also showing good results too but does anyone still use Yahoo. I’d love to see Facebook partner with Bing (pull demographic data to drive search). That would hit Google where it hurts!
I don’t think is that bad. And they keep changing algorithm for better quality result.
Kent: You don’t see any search results up there thus the improved algorithms do not matter.
I disagree – I found this article through Google!
But seriously – Come on!! I think what you really mean to say is that Google is changing by increasing ad space.
Don’t worry – a challenger will be along any day to redress this imbalance (http://duckduckgo.com/ perhaps?)
Sol: Yes, DuckDuckGo is another good alternative to Google.
Btw. you can’t have found my post via Google because I banned Google on my blog and this post wasn’t even indexed.
Don’t start your comment with a lie because it doesn’t support the rest of your message.
whenever i make a search on google, he knows what i am looking for. With google, i always find what i was searching for.
ofc it’s full of publicity and crap, but when i seek for academic information in google, i always find what i was searching for, and it supports lots of languages others search engines wont support.
I know google is evil (i have read your articles and i agree), but i still think that google is the best search engine.
I want to change it for duckduckgo, I REALLY DO!! but i cant… google’s search engine is the best i know ):
Duck Duck go is a joke and it uses google anyhow, why not just use brave or something? So much for the thoery about google being replaced quickly lol. Definitely not by DDG but think they are selling auto ins now lol. It’s honestly not funny to have to poor through manuals to retrieve facts you know are readily available to google for work, school, or just the inquisitive mind.
Hey Kent!
Thank you for your feedback.
DDG uses Bing results (among others) though.
Startpage uses Google results.
I didn’t even recommend DDG in this post.
I suggested Ecosia and Startpage.
Sincerely, Tad
Tadeusz, i also found your site from Google search so i don’t think the other person is lying at all. In my search for “Why are Google search results so bad right now” on 04-26-2021, you, or more particularly this blog entry on your site was the #2 organic result.
I will say that something has happened to Google as a whole in the last month since they made the update to card based layouts. That says it seems like it’s really affecting their predictive systems and query and ad engine elevance and accuracy for the worst.
Thanks for the feedback Mike!
The comment was from 2012 (I updated this post continuously ever since) and I allowed Google search bots to crawl and index my blog in 2015 again.
Sincerely, Tad
Hey Tad, I am agreeing that Google gets worse and worse for providing quick or even accurate results, but you definitely owe Sol an apology, I am reading this article on Android. THROUGH GOOGLE SEARCH.
I was using Google to search why Google it so bad, as in three pages, I could not see a single result that was even close to relevant to the original question I was asking.
This article was the third or fourth link on the first page relating to my search, so before you outright call someone a liar, please research the situation for yourself so you can give an informed reply.
You may have blocked Google, but either.
1.) Whatever you did, did not work in the intended manner.
Or
2) Google, being a powerful organisation, found your article, and displayed it on their engine anyway.
There is absolutely no reason to jump down somebody’s throat and insult them without having bothered to verify your initial thought first.
And I don’t want to read something containing any version of “I didn’t know” ignorence is not an excuse for plain A-holery.
Thanks for reading and please stay well.
Never mind, I see it was addressed to after on and you actually opened up access by Google again, I apologize profusely.
No problem Carlos. Maybe I should delete comments that lost their original context.
I saw this blog through Google search as well. I typed “are Google search results getting worse” then scrolled a bit and found this blog.
Sorry I should’ve realized this was from years ago my bad I’m embarrassed
Google only let’s us see what Google wants us to see. Google is bundled with fake subsideraries that acutely belong to Google. Just like the countries, they are all in cahoots. Sell and buy sites , all grouped with Amazon!!! Even single Privite sellers. I say we form our own internet. Just Google that see what you get. You will get only what works best for Google. And only those that have a stake and big cut of bacon! Etc later. There has to be a way to do it like moris code kind of thing. Analog is fine anyhow.
Every single time I search for anything I’m interested in on Google I can’t find it. Back in the good ol days 1990’s you could type in Google sucks and find thousands of personal stories to read about it. It seems they’ve completely eradicated anything they want to. I’ve read articles about how if you want to find anything you need to access the dark web. It’s funny they call it dark web to put a criminal spin on searching for things im interested in that goes against the grain. The big internet corps dont want people to have freedom to choose. I’m going to have to learn Tor, Onions and fake IP addresses to access the dark web. They call America free but I’m thinking the dark web is probably a search engine in Nigeria. Go figure.
I think it’s great this is from 2012 and we are in 2021and we are still asking the same question. I never remember a time when Google ran out of results, I now have experienced it several search times.
What the frick lol
I think it needs a add on of a few thibgs that we now have controlled results in certain places, I am not 100% sure on how or what obviously otherwise I wouldn’t be here but yes this was also good to know how Google has changed and continues to change, not for thw best though clearly!
My name is Joeal Manimtim and I’m the only person in the world with this name and when I search Google for my name, google ranks other names spelled differently higher on serps. Wtf Google, learn how to spell. All other search engines get it right.
Google is terrible. I just searched for QLED TV less than 50 inches. The first 10 results were NOT what I was looking for.
This is what happens when you have a monopoly and you replace most of your engineers with SJW’s
Google is now garbage. I will try your search engine suggestion.
A large Purge of search results happened approximately 2 years ago. It’s hard to tell now the time frame. Google search results used to be near perfect. They don’t like you talking about them purging information. In a professional, yet critical manner I wrote my feelings on this in quite a few Google forums… only to have the Forum shut down for no further comment, and even at one point, I was banned.. Yup! Imagine that, banned from a Google product Forum. When I reached out to them, they undid the ban. My personal belief on the reasoning why search results were purged two years ago was due to pressure from Fortune 500 companies with critical articles, forums with people complaining, etc. And political interests who can easily be judged or criticized online with the same forums or articles. I believe there were many antitrust and class action lawsuits. So much for Freedom eh? I really don’t think this has much to do with Google Ads – the way they are displayed was already leaning towards this way prior to two years ago.. search relevancy is what suffered.
I used to search information about technical subjects, Health subjects, political subjects.. and what used to take me maybe five seconds to be satisfied, now takes me upwards of 15 to 20 minutes. Or, I just give up and move on without the information I requested.
The good news is that search results are getting slightly better over the past two years; but nowhere near 2018 or 2019 awesomeness. I’d say we are at Circa 2009 or 2010 level Google search results right now. Google, if you are listening.. this is not who you used to be.
I was referring to another poster, little has changed as I still search the google sucks results it’s good to see this blog still up, p.s. also found with google search but hey they obviously are doing whatever they want thanks
You realise you’ve posted this on google?
h3: I didn’t “post” it on Google. Google crawled and indexed an article I posted on my blog. I banned Google search bots for a few years on my blog (between 2012 and 2015) but allowed Google search to spider it again after that.
Also make sure to read the whole post and its latest update in the last section.
I wish more people realised that results from Google are not organic. Great post and I would also like to add another alternative into the mix – https://dropicon.com
Even within the commercial realm Google has become completely useless. A search for small appliance stores in the city I am currently in and get a response of 4 solid pages of hotels. Every day I seem to get more of this useless garbage. Not worth the bother.
Hello,
Google search is useless now. Banned words, only adds and first page always the same few big news sites. I used to be able to find interesting stuff, like forums or obscure sites on certain topics, now its only adds and maybe you were searching for this … when I was not.
The predictive algorithm ruined internet searches.
Alternatives are not so good also, I don’t care about adds as long I get correct searches.
I don’t believe Google is dumb because of ads, without it.. No other search engines would even be out there.
Oh and, Google is one of the most highly advanced programs out there.
Thank you for taking your time to read this. We all have different opinions I’m not trying to start an argument. I appreciate yours.
Algorithm mind warp. Check out Alphabet activities. Great Reset. Huxley and others are in the shade. The nightmare is only just beginning. Matrix and some. Sordid. Terrifying. TIME TO WALK!
Darpa FBI etc. etc. etc. fist in glove
Google used to be the best search engine out there. Especially for doing research…actually digging in and finding what you want/need…but now I have actually had them come back with unable to locate anyting under my search…what the… how is that even possible. Whatever Google is doing, it is dumbing down the search engine to the point is not even a viable research tool anymore. Sad and very frustrating. Grrrr.
In short,i started to hate google,WHY?All other search engines index and rank my main keywords on my site,only google doesnt,they hold me on block until i pay them,but thats not gonna happen.
Cheers all.
I tried Ecosia and it is very much like Google . A simple search of, “I made my own water garden” no longer shows any of the key words that I type in. All adds. I want to know from actual humans in my search of how they make their own things. Yes, they are on youtube but not on web. If only Google and the other search engines would resort back to the old days of searching.
Hey Vivian!
Thank you for the feedback! Indeed I tested your search query from the US and it shows three ads on top and three on the side but I still see three actual results below them.
It’s not ideal for sure.
I’m already in the process on updating this post for 2022. I will recommend another search engine that is completely ad free, it’s called Neeva.
Give it a go. There is one catch though: you have to pay for it. It’s like $2 a month or something.
Sincerely, Tad
What can I say that hasn’t already been said? Google is completely useless for me. I am looking for an alternative even if I have to pay. I am finding all Google products useless any more including things like Google Play. I spent hours in two different languages searching “white gold” pendants. I got every kind of gold and metal but not white gold. I thought quotation marks are supposed to return sites and ads that only include white gold? But apparently not. Usually I found what I want on the first page, but now I search ten pages down and never see what I am looking for. Really, what use does Google have when you can’t even find an advertisement with your key words!? I recently moved to a different country and I cannot get anything on Google Play that is related solely to my new country. They won’t let me get results until I have a new bank in the country I’m in which I need Google Play to switch over and I cant get an account for six months and there is no alternative to Google Play. Personally I am finished with Google. I will try your suggestion and I used to love my Chrome browser but it is crap too. I think I will try Firefox for now until Google screws it up. I used to be a major player on the dark web but maybe I will have to go back to the Onion. :s
I found your site via Startpage, Google doesn’t destroy anything expect the persons ability to get search results that are accurate relevant, devoid of adds and or Google relationships, that don’t facilitate confirmation bias.
I am astounded at the masses, misguide understanding of how to research the internet. The belief that Google is so venerable that the word search is replaced by the phrase ‘Google it’. Clearly they have not bother nor do they care to learn how search engines work. Searching a topic to get accurate and correct data should be your first priority not confirmation that what you think or currently believe is the truth. So I would suggest researching how to research.
I’ve been on the net since the 90s, when altavista was king. Google was awesome about 15 years ago, returning many pages for any weird search. Even files in ftp sites would appear. Gradually it got weaker. Now, I sometimes get 5 results only for a search that a few months ago only gave me 20 pages!
The world is changing for the worse, information is kept from us and google is in the thick of it all.
Google is CRAP!!!!
Then I will say it again
GOOGLE SEARCH SUCKS AND I MEAN REALLY SUCKS What ever happened to the good old phone book. Try to find something on Google and it LIES like a top level democrat. Must be run by robotic democrat piglets
I hate google!
Qgap is a way better search engine!
qgap.2539901.repl.co
There are no Ads!
If Neeva are charging they wont last long
I agree with you and disagree with all these Google panderers on here, prob paid by Google to stick up for them, or they work for Google, Google gets paid to remove things from their search engine, so you can find them, and find out the truth about some of these companies, like if I search bad reviews from something and it won’t show up, like I’m supposed to believe no one said anything bad about said company.
I gave up Google and all the other search engines. I now use Qwant, which is a European engine.
I only use MyPal browser because it is the only one that works with Windows XP, which I will never ‘update’ as I only use my computer seriously and have no use for idiotic anti-social networks.
in my opinion has been a long time that gg has shifted from being a ‘search engine’ (the best at the time) to a ‘recommendation engine’ (paid from advertisers)
it’s annoying that they pretend, despite the keywords i enter, to know what i am looking for, better than my father and my mother when i was nine y/o
so it has become a ‘reccomendation engine for kids’ (paid from advertisers)
recently is getting even worse, from ‘recommendation engine’ is shifting to ‘entertainment engine’ or in other words a ‘grab-attention engine’
like facebook, instagram, youtube and ticktok
when the query has not a commercial intent (aka ads aka $$$ from advertisers) then the second priority become that you don’t leave the google properties, youtube, maps.. everything that may be at least a bit relevant
i think that on one side this is manipulative and on the other is humiliating for the users that are treated like dumbs
Is this a joke?
I just tried “neeva”, looking for a place to find bathroom sinks and the results were REST AREA BATHROOMS ON THE INTERSTATE.
Even google knows what a sink is.
Google search sucks in no small part because of people who do SEO. So quite frankly part of the blame is yours. It’s your game they’re playing.
We actually need a proper search engine. Like the earlier google. Google is now PURE manipulation engine. You don’t get search results. All you get is suggestions. And most of the time you can’t find what you are searching for. In fact it’s so bad, they don’t even reply any complaints/feedbacks etc. They don’t care.. Same applies to many other search engines. SUGGESTIONS… This is horribly wrong. YouTube is also as bad.
So DuckDuckGo is still better. Type into GOOGLE, NEEVA, and DUCKDUCKGO, “How to make baby formula”. Both Google and NEEVA will give you an entire page of why Corporate Baby Formula is better and also scare campaigns to keep you from making your own. DuckDuckGo takes you on page 1 to several sites telling you the recipe and how to make it straight up. I am looking for HOW TO MAKE BABY FORMULA, not “why I shouldn’t try and make baby formula, here buy overpriced factory formula instead” so NEEVA and GOOGLE results are irrelevant, 100% useless. This is why we are getting away from Google by the way.
So DuckDuckGo is still better. Type into GOOGLE, NEEVA, and DUCKDUCKGO, “How to make baby formula”. Both Google and NEEVA will give you an entire page of why Corporate Baby Formula is better and also scare campaigns to keep you from making your own. DuckDuckGo takes you on page 1 to several sites telling you the recipe and how to make it straight up. I am looking for HOW TO MAKE BABY FORMULA, not “why I shouldn’t try and make baby formula, here buy overpriced factory formula instead” so NEEVA and GOOGLE results are irrelevant, 100% useless. This is why we are getting away from Google by the way. Ok, just test Lycos and also Startpage. Startpage gives the same Corporate sponsored stuff however, Lycos, still the old Lycos, and gives good relevant results same as DuckDuckGo.
In the past the google search engine could be refined using the keywords or operators (+ or – for example) which are now clearly just ignored.
DDG is doing exactly the same, giving less useless results but enough to go to google, get worse results and ending here by despair after making a “why google search sucks” search into google search.
I ll definitly try the others here; could the be very worse than the others ? Not sure
PS you can f… SEO if you had operators like “not including”, the old (-) operator
Absolutely EVERYTHING that crap company makes is total trash!
Another fun thing they’ve done in the last ten years or so (so since around the original posting of this topic) is intentionally change auto predict or text complete results to what they think they should be. This isn’t conspiracy stuff, this is things that people working there have proudly disclosed. And it shows. The same force that makes it difficult to see any criticism for Google through Google (especially compared to a decade ago) is the same force that influences how any number of queries come out. It’s getting harder and harder to find anything actually related to what you’re searching for.
At this point if I want to see honest opinions about anything (not even necessarily political though that one is obvious, could be as basic as travel suggestions, opinions, troubleshooting, etc) is to specifically look for forums or in anyway possible cut out most of the results that will naturally pop up on the page. And of course you need to scroll past all the paid content that I imagine captures +80% of web traffic.
It’s funny that they’ve become these deciders of morals, who feel that they should control the flow of discourse and ideology, but then we see what’s allowed to trend on platforms owned by them like Youtube and it’s obvious that the driver has always just been money. Google has essentially ruined what the internet was meant to be about. The web developers who set up the framework that Google spidered into being the biggest company in the world must hate to see the nightmarish garbage that came of it.
Nowadays, Google has NO privacy. They read everything you do and more. Sadly, it is also much harder to steer clear from Google, as many Google alternatives don’t have the money Google has and are typically either paid or freemium services, with exceptions from search engines. Even worse, schools usually use Chromebooks, a Google product, meaning that students give out their data to Google. On spreadprivacy.com, a DuckDuckGo website, I found an article listing Google alternatives.
Link: https://spreadprivacy.com/how-to-remove-google/
Tad, how difficult and how much do you think it would cost to build a search engine like google used to be but without the corporate greed. I looked at neeva that you mentioned and was started by two former google employees and the investors invested in dangerous CRAP like facebook.
I don’t know what to use now for a browser or search engine. Brave was ok for privacy I guess but their search results are worse than google.
Your recommendation of Neeva is no longer worth anything. I’m getting the exact same results with Neeva as I do with Duck Duck Go – in other words, irrelevant but slightly less irrelevant than Google.
The problem isn’t just the search engines, it’s the Search Engine Optimization industry. The whole point in SEO is to manipulate a site to appear more favorable to search engines, regardless of actual relevancy, in order to drive traffic to your site rather than someone else’s, even if someone else’s site might be objectively more relevant.
Asshole, just another dishonest person, no different than google search. Neeva, the recommended search engine requires a log on to use it. Does anyone fucking have any ethics in today’s society. Did the .com industry do away with any sense of ethics
Google Search was, for two decades, my favorite thing about the Internet, literally. If not for Google Search, I’d have [had] little to no use for the rest of the Internet.
My search results, for even the most obscure and nerdy queries, used to number in the hundreds. By refining those queries via operators/modifiers, I could, with consistency, find precisely what I was looking for… or discover something fun, interesting, novel, etc.
Enter the same queries nowadays and I’m presented with an animated blue troll fishing for garbage.
When I don’t get the troll, I get garbage instead.
When I don’t get garbage, I get nothin’ at all.
Then there are the times when it’s difficult to not feel as if one’s actively being steered away from information relevant to the query entered..
Many assert that Search has been in a state of degradation since the naughts, and I won’t argue, but for me it was 2017 when it transitioned from ‘going downhill’ to ‘crashing into the canyon floor after being pushed from the edge.’
Something insidious is afoot.
It’s concerning, to say the least.
I don’t believe Sol is lying about finding your article through Google’s Search Engine because that is how I found your article, except I believe my query was likely significantly different than Sol’s. This is what my query was: “fuck you google!!! your search is absolute shit now! no matter how many different ways I phrase my query I never find the information I seek. your algorithms have skewed the search engine into falsely believing that all users don’t know how to word their queries properly”, and the link to the above article was the fifth hit (result) on the first page. So, whatever means you are utilizing to prevent your blog from showing up on Google searches is not functioning as you believe!
Anybody who has spent some time on YouTube over the past few years has surely noticed content creators moaning, complaining, and begging over the changes which YouTube has made to its policies, rules, regulations, guidelines, and whatever other terminology they may utilize for such things. YouTube is making these changes, and implementing mechanisms for a specific reason, as are all major social media websites. I will touch upon that reason shortly.
These new rules and regulations are written with the highest degree of ambiguousness. This allows YouTube to interpret their own rules and regulations however they want, which then permits them the power to apply said rules and regulations against any content creator they so choose.
The content creators have been begging YouTube to just inform them of what is allowed and what is not allowed. They have witnessed YT penalize some channels for violating a specific rule, but then sees YT ignoring the same violation of the same rule when it comes to other channels. YouTube is playing favorites. Some of the content creators have begged YT to just make the rules clear, and comprehensible. They inform YT that they want to, and will, follow the rules, but they desperately need to know what those rules are first. YT refuses to write the rules in a clear and concise manner, free from ambiguity. They need that ambiguity!
YouTube is owned by Google, for anyone who was unaware, and I bring that to your attention because of the reason for these changes. Now, I could go deep on this one, for it is just one of numerous elements within a bigger agenda, an agenda which is means for reaching a specific endgame. It is a multifaceted agenda, and with the greater understanding you have of the whole, the more you can understand the individual parts. Yet, this is not the place for that. Suffice it to say that all of these changes, along with the degradation of Google Search results, have nothing to do with creating a safe place for their users as they have claimed on several occasions, nor is it about protecting the children, nor about eliminating all the bad people from a site. Regardless, they will never tell us the real reason, they will persistently use some BS excuse, behind which to hide coupled with justifying their actions. Protecting children has always been a favorite of politicians, and big corporations. If you don’t support plan X, then you must hate children . . . and you don’t hate children . . . do you?
This is about censorship! This is about the control of the “free flow” of information. This influence comes from outside of YouTube, outside of Google . . . compartmentalization. In order to control an entire corporation, one needs not to control every single worker within the corporate structure, but only one or two people at the apex, and through them, you can control everybody else, or more importantly, control the aims, and the means, of the corporation. We have had false realities created for us in which to dwell, and those who have created these false realities are nearing their endgame, and thus, they can not risk having some piece of truth go viral, and spread to too many people . . . for such an event may tear down some of the false realities they have created for us, and the destruction of just one element of any of these false realities would jeopardize their success, and further delay agendas, along with their ultimate endgame. All of this is nothing else except the control of information!!!
I also found the article in my google search results
I searched Google sucks and found this after searching for “box size to ship monster high dolls in” results were kitchen clocks at Target and other nonsense. the internet hasnt worked great for years when your looking for anything out of the ordinary it assumes your an idiot and are spelling everything wrong. this is what google wants you to see sheep, not actual useful information.
I typed on Google, “the internet sucks because more junk results than good ones,” and your article was second.
I used to be able to get tons of results, but now for a long time I get only a couple pages of results, with only a couple of relevant hits, before the results start repeating and the pages duplicate themselves. I literally can’t get beyond page 2 of results.
This happens with Chrome-Google and Edge-Bing.
The irony is that low quality articles like this are the reasons why Google sucks now.
I agree that SEO has killed the accuracy of google, but (with an adblocker)I still find it better than most of the competition. I get awful results from DDG, Brave, etc and find myself constantly going back to Google for results even though it’s no longer my default search engine.
Problem with Google now are all the effin ads in the results. What a mess. Google should be blocked from the Internet.
Hi Tad,
Great reading some of your posts, good job!
This one is unfortunately been undermined as I have just been on to the site Neeva and this is the pop-up message!
Neeva logo
⚠️ Notice from Neeva
Neeva.com is shutting down June 2, 2023.
What a pity, we need a non biased search engine.
Regards from South Africa.
Janek (Szymanowski)
I quit using google (as much as possible) years ago. It is just a waste of time.
And… Neeva is no longer… but hey they partnered with another confidence building name -> snowflake
Google sucks, but so do the rest…
Greed and deception, ruins everything.
Google has turned to utter and complete trash. It won’t even let you use the minus sign anymore to exclude. It seems to be completely taken over by some dumb robot or something. There are no alternatives that even come close to how good it was.
more irrelevant useless chattering prattle.
“Before we start take note though: I do not hate Google”
… I hate Google. It’s OK to hate Google. They are greedy, grasping, profiteering SOBs who couldnt give a monkey’s f@rt who you or I are and whose only interest is lining their pockets at you expense, and to take over the internet, because they are a little bit like Hitler in that way.
For many searches I tend to use at least a couple different search engines. Google over the years has muddied its results with ads and honestly Bing isn’t much better in that regard. DuckDuckGo is just Ok with results sometimes relevant but occasionally way off target. I am more concern today with privacy then I have been in the past.
Just starting today Google search results no longer include “All” in modern browsers such as Edge, Chrome, and Firefox. Weird thing is that old versions of Firefox, my fav version 52 ESR, don’t have this problem. BTW I couldn’t comment in any modern browser but I could in that one.
I got so mad several years ago when I noticed that Google had removed thousands of search results for things that I knew existed on the Web. Recently they claimed that their motive was to avoid “unnecessary” search results. Forget where I saw that but it just made me so angry.
Remember that Scify show Incorporation? A great show which they cancelled of course. That’s sort of where we live in now
Google sent me here as a “last twelve months” result. Screw google. And screw you for posting paragraphs of incoherent MiXeD cApS and COLORED TEXT.
Jim: Thank you for the feedback. I updated, rewrote and extended this post on August, the 9th. Thus it’s well within the 12 months.
Also the caps are very coherent: I simply use US English Title Case for headings.
The text-marker effects are not widely used on the Web but I prefer them instead of mere italics for better readability.
“MurderChicken: Thank you for the feedback. I don’t use SSL so “modern browsers” based on Chrome may block commenting for privacy reasons. I will switch to SSL as soon as possible.
The new button like menu below the search bar replaced the filters IMHO but you can still look up “All” by using a drop down menu on the right using desktop/laptop screens.
Did you mean Incorporated? I did not watch it yet. Thank you for the suggestion.
John: Thank you for your insights! Which search engines beyond DDG are you using? Most alternatives use Bing results IMHO.
Switched to Yandex this week, and it’s brilliant. No annoying ads, incredibly fast search results that are accurate and exactly what I’m looking for, and without paid search from massive corporations taking over the first 2 pages.
I dumped almost everything Google a few weeks ago as I’m so sick of their monopoly. Plus, their search results are now mainly AI-populated garbage or mega-corporations trying to sell me something.
Haven’t missed them at all.
So, Yandex might primarily be owned by the Russian government (I don’t care), but Google is handing over all our personal data to the U.S. government, so it’s pretty much all the same to me :)
Nice website, by the way.
All of the search engines give pretty much the same useless results.
Most often when you Google for a query, the first 20 are relevant. Turn to page 3 and you’ll start to see unrelevant results or even junks!!