this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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Pretty much. The reason Google's search results were so good was because of the information they had on you and on other users who made similar searches. I'm not advocating for DDG to start tracking users, though. But it'll be hard for them to have a "Google-like" search experience (single search bar with no other parameters) without that kind of data.
I completely disagree. Their results have started decreasing in value and accuracy the more they tie them into their profile of you. Google was most useful when it showed you what you searched for. Many of the problems with their results now stem from it showing you what it thinks you want, rather than showing you what you asked for. The rest of the problem is it showing you what is profitable, rather than what you asked for.
I think it's because their profile of "you" has gotten more narrow as it has gotten better at figuring you out. It has started making assumptions about what you want instead of recommending things others want.
Agreed. And in a way, it is also a contributing factor to how polarizing internet-based discussion has become. Rather than show you the most cited websites for answering a political question, it's going to use its profile of "you" to show you something you're more likely to engage with.
Yeah, it's a massive issue with Google. It just doesn't serve the content you need anymore, and rather shows what it thinks you'll want.
Google is great at finding products. DuckDuckGo isn't perfect either, but it's better at neutral information than Google.
I don't want it to make assumptions, I want it to show me what I told it to show me and not show me what I specifically told it not to. They've been ignoring the negative operator quite a lot lately.
That's what I'm saying. I think it's assumptions has made it much worse.
Google immediately jumped ahead in search when it started by having a simple webpage and using PageRank. This was a while before there were even Gmail accounts and all the tracking we're given now.
At this point I'd settle for a search company that doesn't care to track you, uses general (not specific) predictive search, implements Boolean search, and isn't diminished in quality by SEO.
That last criterion is the hardest one. It might not even be feasible.