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depingus ◴[] No.41834664[source]
I hope Kagi succeeds. But personally, I think the web is dead. And no search engine can save it.

SEO spam has been strangling the web for years. Now, genAI SEO spam has escalated that onto inhuman levels. To make matters worse, no one wants to post to the open web anymore because their posts are just going to drown in that sea of spam and only genai's data stealing bots will read them. As the amount of spam posted to the web increases, the amount of worthwhile content posted decreases. Eventually, nothing of value will be posted. (like facebook?)

You can lay the blame for the web's death squarely at Google's feet for allowing SEO to hijack search in the first place (or maybe the government is to blame for not breaking up Google's ad/search empire fast enough). Either way, the big companies all know the end is here and are gambling on genai to replace search. Already, places of knowledge are closing their borders and charging fees for genai to access.

We have entered the internet's dark age.

Fun aside: I think it's hilarious and fitting that Google's genai model sucks. And I hope they lose the genai wars (just out of spite, not because I think any other genai is worth a shit).

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n_ary ◴[] No.41834783[source]
I do not blame Google for web’s current wasteland landscape, I blame ads and all the grifters who poison the landscape with SEO waste to try make some bucks with ads or other similar means.
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1. rkharsan64 ◴[] No.41835105[source]
There's several examples where Google's SEO has actively made things worse, even before you look at ads. And to be clear, I do agree that advertising has also done massive damage to the web.

All the long, rambling stories you see before recipes? That's just there so the recipes can rank higher.

I can't remember the source, but I also remember a website adding AI generated slop to cater to Google's wishes, and leaving a page to explain to normal users why they did so.

It's also seen when you look at YouTube videos, where now it's basically necessary to have a clickbait thumbnail + title + reminders to like and subscribe.