Google Is Making A Big Change To The Way It Serves Search Results

Google Is Making A Big Change To The Way It Serves Search Results
Meet BERT, the machine-powered language processing technology
October 25, 2019
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nicolenguyen/google-search-bert-natural-language-processing

 

I wonder how this will play out. In general I'm still happy with Google Search, it's still better than other search engines. But sometimes I do wish for even better results. I also don't have any problems with their text-based ads.

 

Overall, Internet search has been mostly useless since around 2013-4. So.
Mrk

 

You can't just drop a bomb like that without some backup.
Search results leave a lot to be desired, but "mostly useless" is a very severe indictment.

 

IMHO returned results are fluffy, full of commerce and based on what other people search for in pop culture. In shorter words - mostly useless.

 

Yes I can. The shift to mobile has rendered the classic search pretty much irrelevant. Most people don't search the way we do, and so there's no real need for it anymore. The Internet's come down to 15-20 icons that a typical simian has on their phone.

Just search based on article title and url. If you've done this in the past and do it now, you will see the difference. Previously, it would be, out of 10 searches, 7-8 relevant links, 1-2 semi-relevant links, nowadays, it's 1-2 relevant links, 1-2 partial links (only one or two keywords), and 5-6 content farms and nonsense.

Mrk

 

I don't know if I'm agreeing or disagreeing. But I find searching on my mobile most times quite irritating. But searching from my laptop is almost always trouble free.

 

I have no experience in using search on my mobile. I am a rarity, although probably not on this forum, who only uses their mobile for calls and texts. My comment related to a desktop, which does have a better than 20% result.

 

learn a few boolean operators for one's respective search engine and it should be good, also would google abandon or demote it's homeuser base ?

 

Sometimes Google truly sucks, I was searching for "War of the Roses", but it didn't give me the right result. At least not until page 3.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098621/

 

"War of the Roses" + movie

 

It’s not just you: Google added annoying icons to search on desktop
The company says the goal is to make clearer where links will lead
January 17, 2020
https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/17/21070871/google-favicon-search-icons-links-brands

 

LOL, I already commented on this issue, but these tweaks don't really fix anything for me. It looks like this new layout was designed by a 10 year old kid, it looks like crap! I've switched to DuckDuckGo, it's growing on me and I won't return to Google unless they bring back the exact same look.

 

It is designed for the average person, i.e. someone with IQ 85. That's modern technology for you.
Mrk

 

I guess they didn't work because your Google search was regional (not google.com, maybe google.nl).

Code:

google.*##.xA33Gc

on uBO should fix it (don't use it on ABP). If it didn't work, investigating the cause is your homework.

 

Is there any way to revert back to having the title before the URL as it was before?

 

@stapp You're welcome!

For example, these uBO codes can achieve what you described:

Code:

google.*##.xA33Gc
google.*##.r > a:style(display: flex; flex-direction: column;)
google.*##.TbwUpd:style(order: 2; padding-bottom: 2px !important; padding-top: 0 !important;)
google.*##.LC20lb:style(order: 1; margin-bottom: 0 !important;)
google.*##.B6fmyf:style(top: 27px !important;)

https://i.imgur.com/xd5k6oa.png
These are basically meant for the latest browser; old browser may require vendor-prefix (browser-specific codes) and old uBO may not support style syntax. I'm no CSS expert so there may be better solution.

 

+1

Thanks @142395

 

As far as I can tell your filter is working with FF ESR 52.9 + UBO legacy 1.16.4.7. Thanks!

 

Google’s latest user-hostile design change makes ads and search results look identical
January 23, 2020
https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/23/squint-and-youll-click-it/

 

@wat0114 @Adric You're welcome, nice to hear they're working for you!

 

I could have sworn I already commented on this. But what I meant is that even with these tweaks, the new Google Search still looks ugly. DuckDuckGo looks way better. And yes, your codes do also work for me.

 

Google decides to 'iterate' on its deceptive favicon search plan
January 24, 2020
https://www.pcworld.com/article/351...ate-on-its-deceptive-favicon-search-plan.html

 

I can't believe it, but I had to switch back to Google because DuckDuckGo didn't always give me the best search results, plus the site loads a bit choppy. They really need to fix this if they want to challenge Google. Sadly enough, Google Search still looks like crap, they should bring back the old look.