shades fills you in

In early 2022, a blogger announced that Google Search is on its deathbed: Its SEO is junk, the ads are ever-present, and the AI has no idea what people are *actually* looking for

What’s SEO? It stands for “Search Engine Optimization” -- it’s a process that improves a site’s chances of being higher on the list of search results. Read an in-depth explanation from Google itself here

This comic demonstrates the problem

A Google employee defends Google: There aren’t ads on every search, and using SEO to inform our search engine doesn’t make it garbage! Read his tweets here

Google does too: We label our ads and include them when it helps your search! It’s how we keep our searches free, guys!

But The-Times-UK says Google search isn’t what it used to be. Sponsored results and ads dominate Google searches -- and are clogging up the internet as a whole

The Federalist has a different problem with the Google search: The results are way liberal biased!

Wired might agree -- Google drives polarization because people think Google is accurate and objective. But it’s often very partisan

The Atlantic thinks Google can recover: Google’s search engine may be hot garbage, but that’s because the internet itself has changed! It’s time for Google to evolve into something new

The Conversation Magazine thinks it knows why ads are such a problem: 85% of search engine activity is through Google and Google ads make up 80% of Alphabet’s revenue

The New Yorker writes that we tend to put up with the subpar experience of a Google search because it’s what we’re used to!

On the other hand, WaPo thinks Google gets away with it because the company’s simply too huge

So, if the Google search is on its death bed, what will take its place? Fast Company thinks it could be Reddit

A Bloomberg Op thinks it could be ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that’s answering questions people would typically Google

The NYT agrees. And, it’s delivering answers to questions without ads. Even though Google has technology that could rival ChatGPT, a chatbot search engine would be at odds with Google’s current business model

Maybe the answer is TikTok? This TikToker says she doesn’t Google anymore -- she just searches TikTok vids

The Verge thinks Google and TikTok searches serve different purposes: Looking for a cool place to get some grub? TikTok’s your best bet. Looking for today’s weather? Gotta Google it

NBC offers an explanation for why Gen Z loves searching on TikTok: They’re visual learners! Plus, they want to hear a real life person give them answers

But this blogger writes that TikTok’s search function is also garbage. And the problem there isn’t ads -- the problem is that it’s inaccurate

Google’s trying to bring Gen Z back to Google Search with an outreach campaign to teach them how to “internet better”. Fast Company says it’s a little condescending, and doesn’t make sense -- Gen Zers know how to internet!

Maybe the anti-Google search engine is on the horizon. Protocol writes on Neeva, a search engine that aims to deliver search results people actually want, without pesky ads