Why Do Search Engines Suck Now?

Google originally made a name for itself as a great search engine - but has it gotten markedly worse?

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[TracerJ]

"why haven't they fixed the problem? We'll tell you after this message from our sponsor" I think you already answered it unintentionally. If it ain't sponsored, we ain't telling you /giving you what you searched for! There you have it

[smamq]

Can we talk about YouTube and its HORRENDOUS search quality. That can't always be SPAM when it literally says "videos you might like" after barely showing 4 videos I wanted to search for. Why is that thing even there when I am trying to search for something very specific!

[strmercl]

All of my searches are now filled with ai generated articles which are useless for information...

[obsidian....]

The loss of pretty much all Forum data, in search results, killed the search engine

[Darkmattermonkey]

Pre-2010, you used to be able to find almost anything online! It was literally amazing the answers and data at your fingertips. Every year since, it’s gotten more and more restrictive and less accurate returns for searches.

[HHHjb_]

having to exclude 40 to 50 sites via advanced searches is a pain in the butt

[mac]

I hate when I search something on YT and theres 20 seconds of scrolling past recommended videos to get to my search results. Thats infuriating!

[sshuggi]

The worst problem is that google no longer uses the search modifiers (like "" and - ) as strict requirements, they're merely suggestions.

[Zax]

Query: "What's 2+2?"

Number 1 search result: *click*
"The number 2 has been discovered..."
*skip to next paragraph*
"Before math was invented..."
*skip to next paragraph*
"There are many programs to help you solve the equation, such as (sponsored content)..."
*skip to the last paragraph*
"... we don't really know what 2+2 is."

[poissonpuerile]

Google nerfed their search 15 years ago, when they silently disabled most advanced search operators. You used to be able to do "GPU +review -buy" and you'd get GPU reviews but no random GPU stuff and no crap from stores, online sellers, resellers, etc. Not anymore!

[EnoshII]

not just search engines, youtube search itself has become unusable

[deltasyn]

It all began when Google began omitting forum posts from search results.

[charlie]

The biggest problem I have with search engines is how they automatically omit some of my words and even quotes and adding pluses don't include the word they omit.

[barsaf]

It all went down hill in 2018. That's when I remember it starting to SUCK. All "top 10" type websites started to be the top search results.

[Bustermachine]

Semi related, I switched back to using physical cookbooks because online recipe sites are almost unusable. Not only is every one of them plastered with ads and pop-ups, you have to read a novella about the history of the recipe before reading an, often improperly formatted, set of ingredients and instructions.

[lief]

the decline in wikipedia might also be due to the fact i just append "wiki" to my searches to do that now if wikipedia doesn't actually show up automatically.

[MinimumViablePicnic]

It's got pretty bad recently, I realised I've almost stopped looking things up online, it's like the pre internet days. I'll just assume I can't find the info and unless I care enough to find a reference book in the library then I don't bother. I feel kind of okay about it.

[amn]

Tried to find something on my phone: first 3 results all looked like the same website/information but reskinned, and when the cookie thing popped up it didn't even work. Finding stuff on phones especially is an absolute pain these days

[_Woo]

Google has stopped asking "do you mean" and now just straight up gives you whatever it thinks you mean. The fact that I more and more have to use quotation searches to get where I need to go is a worrying trend. Unfortunately most other search engines suck ass so what are you gonna do 🤷‍♂️

[steel]

Most interesting info I got from this video is that an adult site is above Amazon in web rankings. That's really something.