this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
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CNET Deletes Thousands of Old Articles to Game Google Search (gizmodo.com)
submitted 1 year ago by FlyingSquid@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] andrew@lemmy.stuart.fun 144 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm so annoyed we're here 25 years from Google's founding, catering to them with the euphemism "SEO" rather than doing what's best for the web and for humanity and expecting Google, the Search Engine company, to improve its capacity to search optimally.

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Google, the Search Engine company, to improve its capacity to search optimally.

There's your problem- Google isn't a search engine company, it's an analytics company that uses searches to generate data to sell to advertisers. Think about this: what are the goals for a "good" search engine? Results that are:

  1. Fast- get users to their results as soon as possible.

  2. Accurate- get results that users want to see, and minimize what they don't.

Immediately, it becomes apparent that the goals of a "good" search engine are literally the exact opposite of the goals of a "good" advertiser:

  1. The faster users leave a search page, the less time they spend looking at ads which advertisers are paying to show.

  2. Users want to see what they are searching for, which is probably not what's being advertised.

Advertisers want to maximize the amount of time you spend looking at their ads- in other words, advertisers want you to look at content they want you to see for as long as possible.

Given that, is it likely that Google will ever "improve"?

[–] Lemmylaugh@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago

Enshitification has reached google search too :(((

[–] BURN@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I don’t even think Google is always the driving force behind these. Once someone found out how to game the engine it was over.