Is Google getting worse?

dfk41

I am starting to get really hacked off with Google. You type in a search topic and have to plough through all the sponsored ads first of all. Earlier I did a search on arrarex caravel filter baskets and apparently Amazon sell them! Does anyone have any recommendations for better search engines?

Gagaryn

dfk41 You type in a search topic and have to plough through all the sponsored ads first of all.

Doesn’t the adblocker you use allow you to block tracking, search ads and website self promotion? I don’t see any sponsored ads when I use Google.

The big alternative to Google is DuckDuckGo. Privacy focused and all that good stuff. Other than a quick play, I’ve not used it. Google works fine for me after blocking tracking and ads.

NHK295M

dfk41

I use Opera browser with addons like Ublock origin & Privacy badger and that cuts out almost all sponsered ads when searching, even with google.

An option is to use the ‘Brave’ browser and secure search it provides to eliminate ads. I gave it a quick go and it seemed okay, if I wasn’t happy with my current Opera set up I’d change.

dfk41

Yikes! I googled my name and this came back in Images…..I am in there somewhere!

dfk41

Gagaryn It is not adverts as such. You do a search on Google for say Carers UK, and they first 10 links are all links firms pay for selling to you. I did not know I could fine tune that way. It is a free Adblock extension. I will have a look at the Duck thanks

Gagaryn

dfk41 It is not adverts as such.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I filter them. I tried the same search - I see this…

pjw

Try Bing. Also the Bing AI Chat.

dfk41

I downloaded Duckduckgo and initial impressions are, what is there not to like. I will try the search facility a bit later but as a browser I like it

dfk41

@chlorox having downloaded Duckduckgo yesterday evening and now used it for a bit, I like it. It works on YT by giving you the DDG version of a web player so you lose the ever so annoying adverts. I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone who fancies a change

hubcap

Firefox and Ad-Guard, to stop you tube adverts and pop ups, Firefox has many useful add-ons as well.

google will always show sponsers and adverts first, its one of their revenue streams.

dfk41

hubcap Yes, I understand that hubcap. I used Chrome before and was always reasonably happy with the extensions like Adblock. But, I get sick and tired of searching for a specific thing, for example your type in the name of a company and they appear twelfth after Amazon etc all selling you rubbish. Have we really let things get to the extent that the same big companies control all aspects of our life……..me, I like to fight back and fuck them!

Pompeyexile

I will bet my house on the picture of you being the one with the chappie poking his tongue out. Now why would I think that?😁

dfk41

Pompeyexile Infamy, infamy, they all have it in for me!

hubcap

dfk41

I do understand the annoyance, My pet peeve is companies like Microsoft updating things differently, after I have it setup how I want it, it seems like an update just for the sake of it, when one is not needed.

But it is what it is.

If I type in “Eureka” for example, i don’t get what I’m after but if I type in “Eureka coffee” it appears at the top of the google list, Maybe give abit more info in the search field.

dfk41

NHK295M Interesting that it cuts out sponsored ads on google searches. The duck, when searching for Coffee Compass, the roasters in Brighton, it comes up 4th….might give Opera another go. I used it when it first came out years ago!

dfk41

NHK295M Installed Opera. Have not fiddled with it yet but a quick search on Coffee Compass and once again, it is top. Many thanks for the recommendation!

NHK295M

dfk41

I have listed the extensions I run in Opera which will get you to a speedy set up without too much faff🙂

Disable html 5 autoplay (to allow me to choose when to watch videos and not have them autoload within a webpage)

Homepage in New Tab

Opera Ad Blocker

Privacy Badger

Ublock Origin

Did you have a look at Brave?

dfk41

NHK295M Not yet! I am 65 and things take a little to make sense these days but if I cannot do those changes I am sure one of my sons will. Many thanks indeed!

CoffeePhilE

I’d question the very premise that it’s physically possible for Google to get worse.

Oh sorry, you mean the search part of Google. I don’t know, I haven’t used it in years. i do know that I woudn’t cross the road to pee on Google, if they were on fire.

As a company, I have them as #1 on my list of “sucks, big time”.

I shall now go quiet before I really get in to my standard Google rant.

dfk41

CoffeePhilE I REMEMBER THE EARLY DAYS WHEN THEY REVOLUTIONED SEARCH ENGINES, THEN IT ALL WNET DOWNHILL…..sorry for the caps, old age!

CoffeePhilE

dfk41 I REMEMBER THE EARLY DAYS WHEN THEY REVOLUTIONED SEARCH ENGINES, THEN IT ALL WNET DOWNHILL…..sorry for the caps, old age!

Yup, me too. I remember buying, actualliy in a box, in an actual shop (remember them??) a copy of Netscape, to get away from IE. Google makes me yearn for the old days …. though there’s a lot about computing back then I don’t miss one little bit, too.

At the risk of over-dosing n nostalgia, I also remember my very early programming attempts …. storing the program on a 7-char ASCII papertape, and uploading it to the mainframe via an acoustic coupler, connectd to a teletype machine.

The program was a modded version of Battleships, by the way. :D

Yeah, there I was, using a couple of million quid’s worth of huge great computer …. to play Battleships. Those were the days, dfk, those were the days. And Google not even yet a twinkle in Larry and Sergey’s eyes.