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This may be because content is moving away from conventional websites and onto platforms. Reddit, stack overflow, writing sites like wattpad, and content sites
by shubb 5y ago
This may be because content is moving away from conventional websites and onto platforms.
Reddit, stack overflow, writing sites like wattpad, and content sites like substack, all make content publicly available. There is also a lot of real public content on youtube. These are indexed and show up on a search engine.
But lately, a lot of platforms wall off their content, for privacy (facebook, linkedin), or to allow content creators to monetize it (udemy, patreon, medium). Search engines can often surface content based on e.g. course title, article title, but the in depth content is not accessible so they don't rank.
I think what you are seeing is the end of the open internet, and search results just reflect that.
- karlshea 5y agoBut adding “reddit” returns better results, so the content is still there and open. Google is just not returning good results without it.
- hombre_fatal 5y agoYou’re biased as someone who presumably likes Reddit and wants to read an internet forum. I wouldn’t be so fast to assume it’s the best result for everyone. For example, I would wager the average person is happy with the results of googling “best running shoes” over “best running shoes reddit” where an authority like RunnersWorld.con pitches some shoes with a quick blurb. Meanwhile, I clicked through some threads on r/running and it’s the usual mix of ok advice couched in banal, inconclusive convo, rants, and infighting. We’re used to wading through the cesspool, but the average person just wants some damn shoes. I think adding reddit to your search query and being happy with the result isn’t a knock against google, but you just knowing what you want, shaping the query to match it, and google delivering. Seems like a non sequitur when used as evidence of google’s decline.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Nicholas_C 5y agoI wonder how many companies have realized this new search pattern and are already astroturfing on Reddit. Everyone is assuming the content/reviews from Reddit are authentic but a good amount might not be.
- karlshea 5y agoIn a sense I am biased, because I do like Reddit. But in the last year every time I've needed to find real reviews about something it's the only search results that weren't bot spam or obviously copy and pasted product descriptions from someone that hadn't ever touched the product. It could be that I'm just searching for different things, but I'm not the only one that has noticed. I've seen the "add reddit" suggestion from a bunch of unconnected people on Twitter as well, one of whom started off with "I hate reddit, but..."
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- AnimalMuppet 5y agoIt may self-correct. If I'm trying to write for Reddit, Reddit is fine. If I'm trying to write for the world, and Reddit no longer makes things publicly available, then I won't write on Reddit any more. If the people worth reading outside Reddit start doing that, it may hurt Reddit's traffic. So it may self-correct. May.