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Coming off of the also unsurprising revelations that DALL-E 3 does similar shenanigans with inserting random diversity words into queries, this really should surprise nobody that searches have been compromised for awhile. Anecdotally, I wouldn't be surprised if this is why Google search has seemingly gotten worse at finding what I want over the past several years.
Now, the projector screen showed an internal Google slide about changes to its search algorithm...
This onscreen Google slide had to do with a “semantic matching” overhaul to its SERP algorithm. When you enter a query, you might expect a search engine to incorporate synonyms into the algorithm as well as text phrase pairings in natural language processing. But this overhaul went further, actually altering queries to generate more commercial results.
There have long been suspicions that the search giant manipulates ad prices, and now it's clear that Google treats consumers with the same disdain. The “10 blue links,” or organic results, which Google has always claimed to be sacrosanct, are just another vector for Google greediness, camouflaged in the company's kindergarten colors.
Shout out to the Justice Department for using anti-trust laws for once .
Google likely alters queries billions of times a day in trillions of different variations. Here's how it works. Say you search for “children's clothing.” Google converts it, without your knowledge, to a search for “NIKOLAI-brand kidswear,” making a behind-the-scenes substitution of your actual query with a different query that just happens to generate more money for the company, and will generate results you weren't searching for at all. It's not possible for you to opt out of the substitution. If you don't get the results you want, and you try to refine your query, you are wasting your time. This is a twisted shopping mall you can't escape.
Why would Google want to do this? First, the generated results to the latter query are more likely to be shopping-oriented, triggering your subsequent behavior much like the candy display at a grocery store's checkout. Second, that latter query will automatically generate the keyword ads placed on the search engine results page by stores like TJ Maxx, which pay Google every time you click on them. In short, it's a guaranteed way to line Google's pockets.
rules everything, so this is no surprise
It's unclear how often, or for how long, Google has been doing this, but the machination is clever and ambitious. I have spent decades looking for examples of Google putting its enormous thumb on the scale to censor or amplify certain results, and it hadn't even occurred to me that Google just flat out deletes queries and replaces them with ones that monetize better. Most scams follow an elementary bait-and-switch technique, where the scoundrel lures you in with attractive bait and then, at the right time, switches to a different option. But Google “innovated” by reversing the scam, first switching your query, then letting you believe you were getting the best search engine results. This is a magic trick that Google could only pull off after monopolizing the search engine market, giving consumers the false impression that it is incomparably great, only because you've grown so accustomed to it.
Inshallah, tech giants will all get the Bell treatment. 
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1. Enter query for technical thing
2. Observe the useless search results
3. Add -this and -that to exclude unrelated synonyms
4. Put quotes around the keyword you care about
5. Press the “yes I actually meant what I typed” link at the top of the page to make the quotes slightly meaningful
6. Scroll past the sites rehosting StackOverflow answers, ignore anything with a pun on “git” that's just GitHub issues discussions but useless
7. Observe the results are still useless
8. Give up
I miss when Google was just glorified Ctrl+F
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Bro I miss when people made results
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I swear if you ask a even slightly technical question the results are all SEO optimized chat gpt written
run ‘sites'
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I've unironically been use duckduckgo for my searches. It's better than google at this point. The other day I needed to find a stackoverflow question I knew existed and despite using words I knew were in the question, google would not show me it. It showed me tons of other useless crap tho.
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I haven't had much luck with DDG but Yandex is shockingly good
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I used to be upset back in the day when the search results were contaminated with keyword bombing junk blogs but that seems quaint now.
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If Biden's administration actually neuters tech giants, I'll admit I was wrong about him.
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They'll try, the issue is judges blocking every reasonable antitrust move.
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Antitrust law has devolved into ideological equity nonsense or competitors fighting competitors. None of it is for the benefit of the consumer (and usually imposes additional, indirect costs on them), but I just love how votehogs have convinced themselves of the contrary.
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But fricking Google into a thousand pieces with the rusty dildo of 19th century trustbusting legislation would benefit the consumer. People are too
to see it, but they've outsourced their thinking to these giant corpos.
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Get back in your /pol/ box.
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I'd vote for him several times.
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jannies got it bc it didn't meet googles' "standards" for articles published at wired
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They were just making shit up. It doesn't make any sense for google to change the actual search results to be ads, BECAUSE THEN THEY CAN'T CHARGE MONEY FOR ACTUAL ADS. If anything, they would change the actual search results to be irrelevant crap you weren't looking for to force you to click on the ads. The whole thing was nonsense, wired got tricked hard.
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spread it around like gospel anyway, make people mad
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Google: delete the story
or you'll never 
see Wired in the results again
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Ah, thanks,
@Halloweenamine! 
As it gets worse (assuming it is), more people will stop using it because it's free and so are the substitutes. Antitrust law is such nonsense.
Journoc*nt couldn't help but fearmonger at the end. They should put this entire sector on trial for harm done to the consumer.
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Antitrust laws will never be useful again in a global economy without trade protectionism unless the goal is to be economically cuck yourself into being a foreign colony
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ANNND IT'S GONE
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I've switched to Bing AI for basically everything now, and been much better for it. I'm a pretty good prooompter, so I don't have to wade back and forth much.
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Another bing chad
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is there ANY ACTUAL alternative?
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I'm so happy in the Congogonight 9mo ago #5119719 spent 0 currency on pingsMuch better alternative is this
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That's some pozzed shit, mate.
darkole.com
brandrewards.com
I guess they need to make their own money too, right?
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duckduckgo is crappier than goog but not much crappier, and they don't track
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i'm r-slurred but i'm pretty sure ddg uses google as a backend.
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It uses Bing primarily, but Microsoft only sees your searches in bulk with other DDG users, so there's no individual tracking.
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It uses bing, IIRC.
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Yeah, DDG <-- Bing
https://www.searchenginemap.com
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weboasis.app Is a site I will shill til the end because of how useful they are. It even has a UI dramneurodivergents are likely to appreciate.
Clicking the search box will bring up a list of general search engines of myriad quality.
The buttons below the search box will bring up lists of more specialized resources. Topics vary from downloads/piracy, to streaming, social media, technical resources, books/literature, and a ton of other useful stuff. (The lock and 18+ buttons to the right include porn/private sites)
Top-right hamburger menu will open a full list of their linked sites. In case you don't enjoy pretending you're in the Matrix.
It's not great for going direct from there to what you are looking for. It's strength is cataloging the more-useful specialized resources you can use to then find exactly what you need. The Internet lost a real one with Webby. Thankfully users picked up the torch to carry on.
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I'm so happy in the Congo9mo ago #5119735 spent 0 currency on pingsJust don't use google if you don't like it.
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You're gonna need to go home after this one. Certainly laughed though! Had a great time! You gotta go though, they don't allow this kinda shit here. To be honest it's kinda fricked up in a way too. Anyway, just get better. Spend some time reflecting, but most certainly get this Tom Foolery out of here.
Snapshots:
ghostarchive.org
archive.org
archive.ph (click to archive)
If you're lazy and want someone to read the article to you:
ghostarchive.org
archive.org
archive.ph (click to archive)
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