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I've been using Kagi since ~February and it's changed my views on Search. Beforehand, if use a combination of Google, Bing, DDG, and Brave and rarely find what I needed in satisfactory time. Now I'm typically finding it in the top 5 without all the cruft + have access to a handful of LLM assistants to choose from for other tasks (when needed).
I've also heard good things about SearXNG.
I stopped using it last year it got so bad, I ended up using DDG but that’s gotten shit and I’ve found myself back on Google. To me it feels 10% better than it was when I stopped.
Although everyone’s experiences with Google are so different we’re probably all being A/B tested.
Ill add something I've never really seen anyone mention: it used to be a lot better at staying on topic without ME keeping it that way
For example: this weekend I was playing Blops 3 and googled shit like "Winslow accord bo3" and after 1-3 searches I could just type shit related to bo3 and even if it had relevant pages related to other shit, it'd remember my recent searches and keep them rather relevant even if it was on my phone or a new window rather than the same search bar
At least, it used to work that way. Now every 4-5 searches it suddenly forgets what tangent I was on and I have to start adding qualifiers again to get relevant searches
yes. use any of the following, in no particular order:
Google Maps is utter crap lately too. It seems to be making up locations, and several times in the past month, it’s taken me to the wrong place. It’s getting almost as bad as Apple Maps
My favorite one recently is constantly telling me to keep straight to remain on a highway like 7 times before I need to actually get off the highway. Glad I turned off the sound a long time ago otherwise I would have lost my fucking mind.
I went to a low data plan and learned that Google Maps consumes a vast amount of data (relative to my plan limit), and I download all my maps and had location off. 1 single bus route between two pinned locations was 30Mb. Maps and search could be so simple but they are insanely bloated.
Hey now, Apple Maps is more accurate, provides better directions where I am, has more up to date satellites imagery, and has been this way for years. I only use Google Maps to search because Yelp is god awful. I live in a rapidly expanding area and all of that matters.
Yeah, last month I finally had enough and DDG has been alright
The problem with DDG is if it doesn't find results it just ignores your search terms and throws whatever shit it wants at you.
Oh my god, I feel this so much… Also, I think that recently got even worse, as I recently found myself switching between DDG/Google and finding both extremely bad for my query
I use Ecosia instead of Google, but I know that Google recently added a "forums" category to the top of their search. Have you tried that? Hopefully it will help bring back to life independent forums.
It's crap.
You can use udm14.org though.
Yes. Its AI generated slop. I use SearxNG, and I have it tuned to go to Startpage first, Google second.
They fucked it all up with that AI bullshit awhile ago and it hasn’t recovered. I use start page now and am much happier.
It is half okay, but only if they are not getting paid to screw up your results. It is a coup against democracy where freedom of information is freedom of the press and is an entire fundamental pillar of democracy. Google's entire business model has always been neo feudalism. A web crawler and search engine is like a library, it must be neutral, objective, and publicly funded as a non profit. Much the same with YT, it is our digital public commons and the most efficient form for information sharing in the primary form of human communication.
all of them. the conspiracy side of me says they all want to drive traffic to the ai.
They hired the guy the ruined Yahoo to run it
It took me. 12 minutes of clicking through websites yesterday to get the heat and time settings for making potato chips in the air fryer. I used to be able to just ask the Google Assistant.
I'm glad I saw this post cuz I was going to gaslighting myself over the whole thing. It really is getting way worse, isn't it....
What search engine alternatives do y'all use?
Duck duck go
I have fully switched to kagi, it's not perfect but for the average case it's better than google.
I read on here (I think) a couple months ago that adding "before:2023" to your search terms improves results a lot. I've found it to be true. Unless I'm looking for something specifically from the last couple years.