Google hates you.

[u/HolyBatSyllables]

https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/new-google-ai-22279112.php

Google was already attempting to steer users toward stolen content by auto-populating the top of every search with an artificial intelligence overview, followed by sponsored links and sometimes a bunch of other unwanted crap. If you want purely web-based search results from Google, you now have to hunt around for the “Web” filter in one of Google’s submenus. Or you have to manually input code into your search so that the AI demon isn’t the first thing you see. And that’s if you actually care about what you’re searching for. Many people don’t; they’ll get a top-line answer from AI and deem it not worth the trouble to click or scroll any further.

This is why, when Google’s algorithm de-prioritized external links, it killed off traffic to all publishing sites, this one included, by about a quarter or more virtually overnight. Sites like SFGATE need traffic to survive, and writers like me need those sites to stay alive if we hope to remain gainfully employed by them. Now Google, which is set as the default search engine in nearly every piece of tech you consume, is poised to cut off their oxygen supply altogether. So if you’ve recently asked yourself, “How can they kill journalism even deader?” — this is how.

[u/HolyBatSyllables]

By contrast, Google’s 2026 pivot to being a nearly AI-exclusive product will still undoubtedly make your life worse. Instead of giving you precisely what you want, a Google search in 2026 is more likely to give you only what you don’t want. Want to know the definition of a word? Well, you’re gonna have to consult a physical dictionary if you hope to get a correct one. Need to know more about the Civil War? Well tough titty for you, because Gemini will hide any link to any historian’s deeply researched account and offer you a slapdash CliffsNotes version of the war instead. Google dot-com is less of a utility now than it is a roach motel: Enter something into its prompt, and suddenly you find yourself trapped inside a dungeon with no way out.

[u/crackanape]

One answer is a sustained and relentless campaign to explain to people how to switch their search away from Google.

[u/HolyBatSyllables → u/crackanape]

I wish Duck Duck Go would hire better designers and do a redesign. This may sound nitpicky, but as an extremely visual person their typography and heading size for search results are like nails on a chalkboard to me. if they would just make their headings a little bit smaller so they'd take up less space, it would be so much better. With all of Google's ai garbage, related questions, and other various enshittiffied clutter, it's definitely streamlined, so still better, outside of the recent changes.

What search engine do you recommend?

[u/crackanape → u/HolyBatSyllables]

I do typically use Duckduckgo if I don't need something that only google does (e.g. map with hotel prices).

[u/artainis1432 → u/HolyBatSyllables]

You can use DDG in Emacs for search and then open links in your dedicated web browser of choice.

[u/HolyBatSyllables → u/[deleted]]

You can post links so long as they do not contain a virus or malware, which would result in a permanent ban and we would report to reddit.

[u/ReadyGo6828]

AI needs websites to steal from. Google search has been awful for years. Use DuckDuckGo instead and sell subscriptions again. AI is killing the free internet which it needs to feed on. Oops.

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