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I've said it before, the web's demise is Google's fault. SEO optimization has pushed content 'producers' to generate page after page. There are websites that h

I've said it before, the web's demise is Google's fault. SEO optimization has pushed content 'producers' to generate page after page. There are websites that have a page for every Microsoft KB<number> error out there pointing to their own product. It even is starting to overtake YouTube. All just to get higher in Google and push (malicious) ads to visitors.

marginalia_nu 3y ago
What you're seeing on Google is the content that's most well adapted to Google's algorithm. There's a lot of stuff that is not as well adapted. For the most part it hasn't gone away, it's just not able to compete with the bullshit. At the same time I don't think Google is exclusively at fault. I think their dominance in shaping web traffic is a far bigger factor.
- jmye 3y ago
  I would expand on that to say that Google's algorithm no longer has anything to do with showing you the best results. It has been altered or adjusted to show you or get you to click on the most ads. It's the same thing Facebook did with its feed, except that Google isn't, generally, monetizing platform engagement (though YouTube certainly is). So yes, it's some part SEO, but it's also Google biasing things that aren't actually the 'best' results for what you're searching for in order to show more ads.
WWLink 3y ago
I think this is EXACTLY the problem with algorithms and AIs to build an index. You don't have a human in the loop to go "ok, enough of this bullshit, if you keep doing this we're going to ban you from our service." The whole "ladder climb to first place" ruined search results. There was nothing wrong with being on page 2 -- if page 2 contained USEFUL RESULTS TO BEGIN WITH. Usually you get half a page of local stuff, followed by half a page of useful stuff, followed by maybe 2-3 pages of gibberish and regurgitated stuff. Like a reddit topic will be posted on a bunch of 'forums' verbatim with all the comments as replies, because there are that many 'fake forum' sites out there seeded with that content lol. Same with stack overflow, really. (maybe stack overflow clones are the worst). My favorite are the info sites that try to get you to download malware to solve your problem. XD

marginalia_nu 3y ago

What you're seeing on Google is the content that's most well adapted to Google's algorithm. There's a lot of stuff that is not as well adapted. For the most part it hasn't gone away, it's just not able to compete with the bullshit. At the same time I don't think Google is exclusively at fault. I think their dominance in shaping web traffic is a far bigger factor.

jmye 3y ago
I would expand on that to say that Google's algorithm no longer has anything to do with showing you the best results. It has been altered or adjusted to show you or get you to click on the most ads. It's the same thing Facebook did with its feed, except that Google isn't, generally, monetizing platform engagement (though YouTube certainly is). So yes, it's some part SEO, but it's also Google biasing things that aren't actually the 'best' results for what you're searching for in order to show more ads.

WWLink 3y ago

I think this is EXACTLY the problem with algorithms and AIs to build an index. You don't have a human in the loop to go "ok, enough of this bullshit, if you keep doing this we're going to ban you from our service." The whole "ladder climb to first place" ruined search results. There was nothing wrong with being on page 2 -- if page 2 contained USEFUL RESULTS TO BEGIN WITH. Usually you get half a page of local stuff, followed by half a page of useful stuff, followed by maybe 2-3 pages of gibberish and regurgitated stuff. Like a reddit topic will be posted on a bunch of 'forums' verbatim with all the comments as replies, because there are that many 'fake forum' sites out there seeded with that content lol. Same with stack overflow, really. (maybe stack overflow clones are the worst). My favorite are the info sites that try to get you to download malware to solve your problem. XD