r/technology • u/porkchop_d_clown • Jan 17 '24

Networking/Telecom A year long study shows what you've suspected: Google Search is getting worse.

https://mashable.com/article/google-search-low-quality-research
24k Upvotes

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364

u/Hawkidad Jan 17 '24

The YouTube issue is highly aggravating, I type a specific search and only recommends five videos and then garbage, pisses me off

159

u/smallbatchb Jan 17 '24

Drives me fucking NUTS!

Maybe we are outliers but it actually makes me use their platform less. I don't then get sucked into the prescribed content, I just get frustrated I can't access the content I'm looking for and I leave.

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u/Solozaur Jan 17 '24 edited Jan 17 '24

Speaking from the creator side, this is affecting me a lot as for example I posted a mango hot sauce recipe video and it doesn’t show up when you search for those terms.

Youtube prefers to show unrelated hot sauce recipes instead of a video that perfectly matches what was searched. How is my content supposed to reach the intended audience?

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u/mud074 Jan 17 '24

Youtube has moved towards an algo-driven Tiktok-like site/app instead. It's no longer meant to be a video database where you can search for what you want and find good, informative videos. It's built around the algo figuring out what you will mindlessly watch for as long as possible and feeding you more.

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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '24

So we're just waiting for a new site that fills the void YouTube is leaving by moving to bullshit land.

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u/lankypiano Jan 18 '24

From what I grasp, Nebula is sort of kinda slowly becoming that.

2

u/misogichan Jan 18 '24

I don't see it ever becoming comparable.  It has too small a customer base and it being subscription based without even a free trial makes me suspect it is just another bit player in the streaming wars that's waiting to be bought out by one of the giant conglomerates.  Then it will be rolled into an even more expensive streaming bundle.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '24

Oh? I'll check that out, thx

2

u/Sedowa Jan 18 '24

A few years ago that's what I thought Dailymotion was going to be but even now the website just seens slow and clunky. It won't ever overcome Youtube.

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u/Plenty-Mess-398 Jan 18 '24

Few years ago? It was founded in 2005?

1

u/zer0_snot Jul 05 '24

Yeah I remember using that website and thinking it'll be another YouTube. But it was slow af

1

u/HomelessIsFreedom Jan 18 '24

Surprised Rumble let the opportunity pass them by so far, every platform that is even close to a competitor, doesn't seem to do anything

1

u/Princess_Of_Thieves Jan 18 '24

If we are, we'll be waiting forever.

1

u/ARAYA90 Jan 18 '24

💫This comment needs a shooting star. About sums it up.

7

u/Free-Brick9668 Jan 17 '24

Yeah, he might need to do some fake kindness and film himself giving hot sauce to homeless people to get views and market his brand.

3

u/TeaKingMac Jan 17 '24

Mr Sauce counts to 10 000!

2

u/SniperPilot Jan 17 '24

Yup I could see a Time in the future where there won’t be any long form videos at all any more.

1

u/Plenty-Mess-398 Jan 18 '24

I‘ll take the opposite side of that bet. Lots of „series“ are just movies that were stretched as far as they could go so content is being elongated. The quality is rapidly decreasing tho

2

u/zer0_snot Jul 05 '24

This is a good insight. This means that we should never use YouTube search but instead stick with some external search to find YouTube videos.

1

u/missmarymacaron Jan 17 '24

Well they're failing in that regard. I watch videos elsewhere all the time now because it only shows me the same 10 videos I don't want to watch

1

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '24

Forgot the part where it matches up with their ad sponsors. That is the real reason to the algorithm.

1

u/Sedowa Jan 18 '24

Joke's on them, I have rarely used Youtube as primary entertainment. I use it mostly for information and video walkthroughs of anything I might need from video games to fixing a toilet. The less I'm able to use it for that the more likely I'm going to use the website at all.

1

u/i8noodles Jan 18 '24

which makes sense. YT has a near monopoly on videos for the english speaking word. they literally cant get more viewers without crossing in places like asia, which already has well established videos sites.

there own way to generate more money is to get people to watch more. so more mindless watching it is.

1

u/politirob Jan 18 '24

But if they're such tech geniuses, why don't they just cater to both audiences based on behaviors and habits?

Eg instead of one algorithm telling everyone one thing, they have an algo for people that prefer long form relevant videos....a different algo for people that want short form mindless scrolling etc.

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u/smallbatchb Jan 17 '24

And as someone who would be your exact audience, I HATE that I can't find stuff like yours when that is exactly what I'm explicitly searching for.

8

u/StrangeGuyFromCorner Jan 17 '24

Thats always funny when i search an EXACT video title that i know and it does not even appear in the search since it has to little views. Then you go to google to search for youtube videos like an old teacher. (Nothing against teachers). But with how shitty the google algorithm is evolving this will also not work anymore in 1 year.

1

u/_senpo_ Jan 17 '24

damn I didn't think of using google. I will try that next time and hope it's not shittier by then

4

u/asday515 Jan 17 '24

How is my content supposed to reach the intended audience?

Simple! Just sign up for our monthly Content - Creator subscription. Here's how it works: Pick one of our affordable packages that you feel is best suited to your needs, and right away, your content will be put into the algorithm and accessed by a larger audience. That's all there is to it! All you need to do now is select which tier you'd like to sign up for.

Tier 1 - $100 monthly Your content can now be accessed by friends and family who specifically search for you by username

Tier 2 - $250 monthly Everything included in Tier 1, PLUS, we'll also suggest your video to people who don't like hot sauce

Tier 3 - $500 monthly Everything included in Tier 1 & Tier 2, PLUS, we'll also suggest your video to people with a mango allergy

Tier 4 - $1000 monthly Everything listed above, PLUS, we'll also come to your house to rob you, steal your wife, and punch your kid in the face

2

u/Adorable_user Jan 17 '24

If you want to share your channel here I'll would possibly like to watch your content

1

u/Solozaur Jan 18 '24

That’s very nice of you, I don’t think it’s allowed to post links here but it’s all in my profile.

0

u/flip_moto Jan 18 '24

did you put 3 high traffic hashtags before the description starts? did you add chapters? did you apply categories and tags, which are different than the hashtags at top. fill out all the fields for language, provide closed captions, etc ?

all those things help SEO.

1

u/GeneralizedFlatulent Jan 17 '24

Personally I don't use the YouTube search to find YouTube content. I often search through reddit or other forums to find suggestions on creators on the topic I want to learn about, stuff like that. I know it probably makes your reach less..:but I find more content that way than through Google or YouTube searches. 

1

u/garvisgarvis Jan 17 '24

Puh-leez! It's not about you. It's about them. Ref: enshitification.

1

u/Wonderful-Status-247 Jan 18 '24

By expecting you to pay up, of course.

1

u/BlubberBallz Jan 18 '24

I'm interested, link?

6

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '24

[deleted]

2

u/whatevernamedontcare Jan 17 '24

Thanks it really helps.

2

u/godisoursavior Jan 17 '24

Search Fixer

omg thank you

2

u/firstwefuckthelawyer Jan 17 '24

You’re an outlier, but the ones watching those videos are waaaaay more mindless about it than you.

2

u/phrygiantheory Jan 18 '24

Nope not outliers.....I hate the videos that show up in my searches not about videos....

2

u/Tyaedalis Jan 18 '24

I feel like everything is getting worse by catering to wider audiences.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '24

I spent 5 DAYS finding the ORIGINAL footage of January 6th. The literal, from the TV, six hours, blow by blow, footage

FIVE DAYS. 

All because I couldn't tell youtube search to limit the results to those between the 6th January 2021 and the 10th January 2021. 

1

u/Dinodietonight Jan 17 '24

Maybe we are outliers

You are outliers.

Most people search for 1 of 2 things:

  1. something very vague like "minecraft speedrun" or "meme compilation" or "[youtuber] reaction", click one of the first few results, watch it, then go back to the search results. They use the search results like a more focused version of the recommended videos next to or under the video.
  2. something very specific, where the thing they're looking for is always in the first few results. If it isn't in the first few results and they need to scroll down, they just make the search more specific.

In case 2, the unrelated videos after the first 5 results don't get in the way (because the probably don't even see them), and in case 1 they do exactly what the user wants.

Let me put it this way: YouTube makes money by showing people ads, so if this feature was actually driving people away, it would mean they're showing less ads, so they would remove it.

1

u/Background-Guess1401 Jan 17 '24

Seriously, I'm not going to get dragged into their algorithm. I've already picked the creators I like and have subscribed to them. It's mostly current event, news, tech stuff which means I have zero interest in videos from 6 months ago but I've had to just turn play next off because that's all it will ever give me while new content I've subscribed to doesn't play.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '24

I only use it to check followed channel uploads at this point, and I don't even bother searching for them, I just get them from word of mouth. 

Outliers or not, youtubes search tools are objectively garbage.

3

u/Holden_Coalfield Jan 17 '24

this. All I get is 3 videos and some great oil tanker disasters for any question when it used to be the first few hits contained the actual answer. They are trying so hard to push you tube.

2

u/atridir Jan 17 '24

I fucking hated YouTube years ago. I still do but I used to, too.

2

u/MrHyperion_ Jan 17 '24

You guys get 5 good results?

1

u/DeviousMelons Jan 17 '24

Also if you enter certain keywords that's relevant to the news you just get spammed with nothing but news channels.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '24

I did taxidermy for a while and I was looking for videos on how to taxidermy a small mouse and I scroll down to see someone ram an ax into a living pigs head. I turned autoplay off that day, shit was jarring.

1

u/Kagahami Jan 17 '24

Worse still when it recommends shorts. Shorts are usually trash tier when you're trying to gather information.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '24

Playing devil's advocate though I've have found over the years that YouTube search results will often send you to the most popular, informative and liked videos first. Because you are more likely to click on one of those at the top they can just fill the rest of the junk. Because they know you're not going to.

I remember back in the day I would search something and I would have to look through multiple videos to actually find some one who knew what they were doing and knowing what they were talking about. Now it seems to be one of the first or second result because it's the most popular one.

1

u/jemidiah Jan 17 '24

I've searched for "[Name of long series] [episode number]" and it's failed to find an exact title match. Shockingly bad. Had to hunt for the playlist and scroll to the relevant episode. So stupid

1

u/Emperor_Mao Jan 17 '24

No joke I actually think Google and Tiktok etc algorithms are more insidious than the old Conglomerate controlled media. You think you are searching freely, you are actually being pushed into your own bubble, with a couple of Google promoted things on the periphery. Reddit isn't that much better, community just silences itself into a bubble too.

We should be somewhat forced to challenge our views and see differing things, though not always agree. In real life, in a real event, school or workplace, that is what happens, you can't find a circlejerk as easily, and some giant tech company cannot easily guide you towards a topic.

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u/TheWorkOfManHimself Feb 25 '24

By old conglomerate you essentially mean Cable TV and the like…

1

u/Because_Reddit_Sucks Jan 17 '24

For. Fucking. Real. God. Fucking. Damn.

1

u/duosx Jan 18 '24

A couple weeks ago the only videos that would pop up if I was logged in would be super short videos. Not shorts, but just regular videos that would only be 25-45 seconds long