Doesn't get as much attention as what Elon's doing, but every day, a team of people at Google comes to work and asks themselves, "What can we do to make search a little worse?" And they're doing a very good job.
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"Since 2015, when Google introduced its first AI into search named RankBrain, Google has continued to deploy AI systems to better understand language and thus improve the search results Google presents to its searches." Here's your answer why it's so bad.
They still have not managed to make it as bad as Bing. Google can still locate the FAA’s Aeronautical Chart Publication Schedule - a task that Bing has never mastered.
*headdesk* but i happen to know that site also has UTC-3 covered so the result isn't quite as useless as it looks, but you'd have to click a few more times to get there.
Does make me feel a little more secure regarding the threat of AI taking my job. I’m no longer concerned if this is what AI produces for a major company.
The newest form of work hell is when the company says “we’re going to use Google Suite instead of Microsoft Office to save money.” This is only true if you assume an employee’s time is worth nothing. The Google Suite dev team motto is “Always changes. Never improvements.”
Oh man, those weird little boxes half-way down a search page where it suddenly switches from compact text listings to bulky card things which somehow give less info than the text listings.
Who makes these decisions? Who’s like “you know what people want? Bulky card things out of nowhere!”
I got to use Neeva for two years. Stopped using Google. In June of this year Neeva collapsed 😥 and I was stunned to see how awful G had become while I was away. Neeva was *so much* better.
This is so true. It's awful.
Google currently does not find and show that a famous international musician is performing at a big US festival two weeks from now. She's literally featured on the festival's listing, page one with her own tab. Guess she didn't need to pay for an SEO boost.
Not just search, but Home, Pixel, Nest, everything. Google is becoming the Walmart of Tech. Been an Android user since the Galaxy Nexus and I've never considered switching to Apple more than the last few months.
Is this arguing that the results are TOO good? Sure, rummaging through unreadable SEO sludge and 20 ads that ignore your search terms is the result of "authoritative information" being "dry and boring," that's the problem people have with it.
I'm amazed that Alphabet's board hasn't tarred and feathered Sundar Pichai (metaphorically, of course). Of course, the AI bubble hasn't popped so for now he looks clever.
Lmao. Even the results aside, the bubbles up top are insane to me. Hebrew, Cute, Shopping, and Maps ... why do these belong on this bar together? What is it accomplishing beyond making everything look 25% jankier?
because they're finger-tappable, and all of these trillion-dollar businesses refuse to spend the money to make separate UIs for computers that are interacted with precision input devices vs. tablets and phones that are interacted with with big dumb digits. it fuckin' sucks man.
I think each little tweak is done at the behest of people who are suggesting revenue enhancements for Google. (The one post of mine that is at the top of one search has been going down the page below paid posts less relevant for instance). This is tactically understandable but tanks Google overall.
Every company on the planet is worshiping at the altar of growth. Making $3b profit on $15b annual revenue forever sounds good right? Nope. Has to be 4b next year or stock goes down.
I am curious how much of it is attributable to neglect/malice/The Adversary (SEO gaming of the algorithm improving over time/general decline of the Web), but the end result is undeniably shitty
with specific queries i find answers and info very effectively. not sure what specifically you're referring to. junk results on first page for news queries? it's underappreciated how SEO is gamed by actors seeking to influence. the 1st page news results are unfortunate but maybe that's how it works?
Finding an item in my own order history that I’ve bought multiple times, trying to click Buy Again only for jr show unavailable or only available in 1 month from some likely bogus 3rd party seller. Cool. Great. Love this system.
The new approach to things is bleeding into YouTube now, because it'll literally throw totally unrelated recommendations and totally unrelated videos *you've seen before* into the middle of a results page.
I'm sure the people at YouTube have some shareholder value compatible reason for continually throwing reactionary and far right content at you. Current favourite is "WW 2 Stories" which is 95% Nazi diarists. (On Twitter they're now allowing advertising from cults and right wing pressure groups).
I've noticed it likes to fill my recs full of city council meetings posted 3 months ago with a grand total of 20 views for a town in a state I've never even been next to in my entire life
My desktop just started playing YouTube videos with rounded corners ... I can't explain why this tiny change makes me hate the website so much, but it totally does.
Maybe BECAUSE it's so tiny? Like, surely it can't serve any useful purpose - SO WHY DO IT?!
The algorithm for video suggestions is much worse than random
It actively selected the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv outright propaganda advert if you watched videos on the treatment of Palestinians, as an example. That's just fucking sinister.
And then they removed the block user feature two months ago.
This looks like an even more niche version of what Mastodon is to Twitter. Describing that it is a self-hosted Python thing is over the heads of probably 99.999% of YouTube users, if not more.
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Semper mutatur. Nusquam meliora.
Thinking the genders don't agree, should be mutatum non melium?
Who makes these decisions? Who’s like “you know what people want? Bulky card things out of nowhere!”
Out of a cannon.
Into the sun.
It is the most obnoxious modal in the world and the only way to avoid it is to log in, which I will never do.
And yes, they do.
Google currently does not find and show that a famous international musician is performing at a big US festival two weeks from now. She's literally featured on the festival's listing, page one with her own tab. Guess she didn't need to pay for an SEO boost.
you can try modify them with extentions and userscripts, but you can't fix everything
Kinda feels like the best time on Internet is already behind us
why the fuck would i want a search engine to generate information for me. that is not how you learn things wtf
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/06/google-search-algorithm-internet/661325/
I think "stupidity" here can also encompass levels of laziness and incompetence.
It's not the market hating them, it's changing how the market values them. I think it's pretty fairly valued right now.
Would you rather the PEG version?
And the amount of sponsored listings (that barely have anything to do with what I'm looking for) in my search results is beyond ridiculous.
Maybe BECAUSE it's so tiny? Like, surely it can't serve any useful purpose - SO WHY DO IT?!
It actively selected the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv outright propaganda advert if you watched videos on the treatment of Palestinians, as an example. That's just fucking sinister.
And then they removed the block user feature two months ago.
Never had an interest in the stuff!
Can't wait for everyone to switch to OSP.
It erases all text there whenever my cursor goes there.