Google search failed to even find a hollywood movie, even after 1 hour of attempts. I don’t really care about the movie, but I am terrified by the prospect that google now ceased to function on this basic level. Why is this happening?

I understand the explanations of seo and other stuff like spam content. But why are there NO relevant results at all.

I wouldn’t mind having to start wading through results at page 2 or even 10 but now it utterly fails to find even the most basic things.

Things you found on the first attempt even just a year ago. Now they are effectively hidden.

To me functionally the entire internet has now vanished. I cannot access anything that I am searching for. Might as well not exist at all.

Has anybody found a way around this?

Is this on purpose? Is this an attack on the free internet, herding people to just the top 5 sites like facebook, youtube, tiktok, and so forth?

Are there search engines that still work?

  • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Google was really valuable before web services were so monopolized and consolidated like they are now. It’s almost more useful to use the specific websites search function for many things now. Before this, you could run searches and it would have all these personal and small websites indexed. Oh look, here’s a guy who lives his whole life as Peter Pan and has a website about it, cool… now it’s just a profile on some social media site same as anyone else.

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      It’s almost more useful to use the specific websites search function for many things now

      Except Amazon’s search of their own store has been so enshittified that it’s normally better to search for a product on Amazon using Google.

      • this_1_is_mine@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I do the same except once I find it I go to that specific manufacturer and I buy it directly from their website more often than not

        • burrito@sh.itjust.works
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          11 months ago

          So AliExpress? I swear 95% of the stuff sold on Amazon is just crap people are reselling from AliExpress.

    • mwproductions@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Oh look, here’s a guy who lives his whole life as Peter Pan and has a website about it

      Holy shit, I haven’t thought about that guy in something like 20 years! I wonder what he’s up to these days. I like to imagine he and the berries and cream guy are pals.

      • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Him, berries, and the rubber guy are probably all buds.

        The early to late 2000s was definitely a special time on the internet. I logged on in the early-mid 90s but I think it peaked in the late 00s. Consolidation of services/monopolies and saturation of smartphones I think killed it. Internet used to be something you did actively, now it’s a thing in your pocket you distract yourself from shitting with that beeps at you all day.

        I met a friend’s partner for the first time and she said something funny that had this unique quality I instantly recognized. She was in fact another rare woman /b/tard. We can crack each other up at any moment and our professional colleagues haven’t a clue about this weird online subculture with its twisted sense of humor. It’s not even just repeating memes its like a whole mindset you get infected with for life. You can almost instantly recognize when someone else has had their minds ruined by late 00s 4chan. That type of stuff just doesn’t happen now, it’s just like “hueheu look dis,” “euheuhue omg funny, look dis now hgurhehue.”

        • Exocrinous@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          I don’t think there’s any value in a style of humour that uses slurs that way.