3 ms·

Google fell to seo spam a couple of years ago. Half my search results these days are machine generated lists already, or junk sites filled with keywords, or els

Google fell to seo spam a couple of years ago. Half my search results these days are machine generated lists already, or junk sites filled with keywords, or else “content marketing.” The rest are links to social media sites like Reddit or quora When was the last time you found a legit independent website via google that wasn’t some media company spamming articles for seo? It’s not like you never find those sites, but it’s just rare now Most new content is made for social media in some for or another these days (user generated content aggregator sites at least)

bagels 4y ago
I think your last paragraph is the reason, social media has captured all the information that would have made up the "legit independent websites"
Avamander 4y ago
There are a few blocklists against copycat/spam sites for adblockers, if you want to make your search results a tad bit more useful.
marstall 4y ago
Whats preventing ChatGPT from falling for the same snares?
- dpkirchner 4y ago
  Hopefully we'll be able to train ChatGPT as users, using feedback mechanisms (either by typing "no that's wrong" or clicking a thumbs up/down). Google used to offer something like that -- a way to exclude sites -- but stopped a while back for some reason, and we've all enjoyed the results of that decision for years.
nbk_2000 4y ago
This has been my experience as well. When using Google I used to ignore anything not on the first page. Now I often ignore the first two pages of results, hoping to get to some content that's not SEO-optimized-auto-generated-garbage. By that point of searching though it's pretty much a hail-mary scenario.
jackvalentine 4y ago
This article will explain why you want to find a legitimate website. Why find a legitimate website? There are many good reasons to find a legitimate website. Etc, etc etc. It really took any remaining joy out of the internet for me.

bagels 4y ago

I think your last paragraph is the reason, social media has captured all the information that would have made up the "legit independent websites"

Avamander 4y ago

There are a few blocklists against copycat/spam sites for adblockers, if you want to make your search results a tad bit more useful.

marstall 4y ago

Whats preventing ChatGPT from falling for the same snares?

dpkirchner 4y ago
Hopefully we'll be able to train ChatGPT as users, using feedback mechanisms (either by typing "no that's wrong" or clicking a thumbs up/down). Google used to offer something like that -- a way to exclude sites -- but stopped a while back for some reason, and we've all enjoyed the results of that decision for years.

nbk_2000 4y ago

This has been my experience as well. When using Google I used to ignore anything not on the first page. Now I often ignore the first two pages of results, hoping to get to some content that's not SEO-optimized-auto-generated-garbage. By that point of searching though it's pretty much a hail-mary scenario.

jackvalentine 4y ago

This article will explain why you want to find a legitimate website. Why find a legitimate website? There are many good reasons to find a legitimate website. Etc, etc etc. It really took any remaining joy out of the internet for me.