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Google has also been pushing sites that do on-page SEO right heavily in the SERPs. Which basically means that SERPs are now filled with copycat content that rea

Google has also been pushing sites that do on-page SEO right heavily in the SERPs. Which basically means that SERPs are now filled with copycat content that reads like crap but has all the right headings and keyword densities. The search experience is genuinely bad now. Nothing organic shows up anymore. It's either heavily optimized cookie cutter content, or some big brand name cutting through the clutter on the strength of its domain authority alone. I've taken to appending "reddit" to my queries just to know what actual people think about an issue

wyre 6y ago
I had an idea last night for a browser extension that hides SEO chaff from search engine results. I don't have much programming experience so who knows if I'll work on this or not though. I also append forum (or site:forumname.com) if I'm looking for more in-depth review than reddit gives.
Implicated 6y ago
> Google has also been pushing sites that do on-page SEO right heavily in the SERPs. I can't echo this loud enough - I made great profit by out-ranking heavily established retail outlets for years with super spammy and terrible sites purely with correct on-page SEO and garbage 'keyword optimized' content. I, as well, now have to append things to searches in order to get real answers. (Or start with a twitter search, depending on the topic)
spideymans 6y ago
>I've taken to appending "reddit" to my queries just to know what actual people think about an issue Woah, thought I might be one of the few that did this. You articulated my reasoning behind it perfectly.
metrokoi 6y ago
I often have to specifically search for a Wikipedia article in Google to get the result for it. For example, if I search for a pharmaceutical molecule, I will get pages of "health line" type pages listing side effects and uses. Five to ten years ago, the Wikipedia article for the molecule was always in the top three.
aclavelle 6y ago
> I've taken to appending "reddit" to my queries just to know what actual people think about an issue I do the same thing. I want real people's experiences and honest opinions.
Anthony-G 6y ago
If it's tech-related or even music, history, or philosopy-related, I'll append site:ycombinator.com to my DDG search queries. Unfortunately, it's not just Google search that's full of SEO-optimised crap.
- bartread 6y ago
  DDG's actually worse in many ways. I've just switched back from it to Google because most times I was prepending my searches with !g or rerunning them due to frustration at the crappy results. Example: in the midst of my house renovation my Hisense TV remote has gone walkabout. After several months of having no idea where it is (I figured it would just turn up - I mean, it has to be in here somewhere, right?), I decided to order a replacement. Amazon is full of knock-offs, but turns out Hisense sell remotes directly. So I type "Hisense" into DDG and it's the top result, but it's the Chinese site, and I can't figure out how to get to the UK site. The UK site isn't even on the first page of results either. I rerun the search with Google and the Hisense UK site is the top result, and I'm able to quickly find replacement remotes.
  - millette 6y ago
    Since you were looking for the UK version, did you try (no quotes) "Hisense uk" ?
    - bartread 6y ago
      The point is not that in this case with DDG I needed to execute a more specific search (or, by extension, execute two searches to get what I need). The point is that in almost every case where I start with DDG I have to execute more than one search to find what I want. That second search is often with !g. That's a shame because, as bad as Google has become, it's still better than other options. As an example of how bad Google really is, last night I tried searching for info on how to mount twin slot shelving uprights on an uneven wall - specifically a wall where the otherwise smooth plaster is less than perfectly vertical (there's an undulation reflecting imperfections in the underlying brickwork). The result? Just pages and pages of SEO spam/"content marketing" on the very basics of fitting twin slot shelving, all of which assumes that your walls are perfectly vertical across their entire surface, and none of which has any kind of troubleshooting hints and tips. I probably tried 10 different search query variants before giving up in disgust. Google is outright terrible, and its much touted AI is laughably poor[1]. But DuckDuckGo is worse. I'm simply choosing the least bad option, which unfortunately isn't saying much. [1] Or enragingly poor depending on your mood and perspective.
wslh 6y ago
> I've taken to appending "reddit" to my queries just to know what actual people think about an issue or appending "site:news.ycombinator.com"
EmilioMartinez 6y ago
Yep. Whenever google autocompletes to "... reddit" I end up choosing that option, because it foretells that the results are going to be crap if I don't.

wyre 6y ago

I had an idea last night for a browser extension that hides SEO chaff from search engine results. I don't have much programming experience so who knows if I'll work on this or not though. I also append forum (or site:forumname.com) if I'm looking for more in-depth review than reddit gives.

Implicated 6y ago

> Google has also been pushing sites that do on-page SEO right heavily in the SERPs. I can't echo this loud enough - I made great profit by out-ranking heavily established retail outlets for years with super spammy and terrible sites purely with correct on-page SEO and garbage 'keyword optimized' content. I, as well, now have to append things to searches in order to get real answers. (Or start with a twitter search, depending on the topic)

spideymans 6y ago

>I've taken to appending "reddit" to my queries just to know what actual people think about an issue Woah, thought I might be one of the few that did this. You articulated my reasoning behind it perfectly.

metrokoi 6y ago

I often have to specifically search for a Wikipedia article in Google to get the result for it. For example, if I search for a pharmaceutical molecule, I will get pages of "health line" type pages listing side effects and uses. Five to ten years ago, the Wikipedia article for the molecule was always in the top three.

aclavelle 6y ago

> I've taken to appending "reddit" to my queries just to know what actual people think about an issue I do the same thing. I want real people's experiences and honest opinions.

Anthony-G 6y ago

If it's tech-related or even music, history, or philosopy-related, I'll append site:ycombinator.com to my DDG search queries. Unfortunately, it's not just Google search that's full of SEO-optimised crap.

bartread 6y ago
DDG's actually worse in many ways. I've just switched back from it to Google because most times I was prepending my searches with !g or rerunning them due to frustration at the crappy results. Example: in the midst of my house renovation my Hisense TV remote has gone walkabout. After several months of having no idea where it is (I figured it would just turn up - I mean, it has to be in here somewhere, right?), I decided to order a replacement. Amazon is full of knock-offs, but turns out Hisense sell remotes directly. So I type "Hisense" into DDG and it's the top result, but it's the Chinese site, and I can't figure out how to get to the UK site. The UK site isn't even on the first page of results either. I rerun the search with Google and the Hisense UK site is the top result, and I'm able to quickly find replacement remotes.
- millette 6y ago
  Since you were looking for the UK version, did you try (no quotes) "Hisense uk" ?
  - bartread 6y ago
    The point is not that in this case with DDG I needed to execute a more specific search (or, by extension, execute two searches to get what I need). The point is that in almost every case where I start with DDG I have to execute more than one search to find what I want. That second search is often with !g. That's a shame because, as bad as Google has become, it's still better than other options. As an example of how bad Google really is, last night I tried searching for info on how to mount twin slot shelving uprights on an uneven wall - specifically a wall where the otherwise smooth plaster is less than perfectly vertical (there's an undulation reflecting imperfections in the underlying brickwork). The result? Just pages and pages of SEO spam/"content marketing" on the very basics of fitting twin slot shelving, all of which assumes that your walls are perfectly vertical across their entire surface, and none of which has any kind of troubleshooting hints and tips. I probably tried 10 different search query variants before giving up in disgust. Google is outright terrible, and its much touted AI is laughably poor[1]. But DuckDuckGo is worse. I'm simply choosing the least bad option, which unfortunately isn't saying much. [1] Or enragingly poor depending on your mood and perspective.

wslh 6y ago

> I've taken to appending "reddit" to my queries just to know what actual people think about an issue or appending "site:news.ycombinator.com"

EmilioMartinez 6y ago

Yep. Whenever google autocompletes to "... reddit" I end up choosing that option, because it foretells that the results are going to be crap if I don't.