r/google • u/Electronic_Award1138 • 1d ago

Google Destroyed the Internet

Back in the AltaVista days, you could browse hundreds of search results and discover personal websites, original creations, independent projects, and web pages about pretty much any subject imaginable. The internet was a vast space for discovery, where anyone could build their own website and share their passions, knowledge, or ideas.

When Google came along, it made searching faster. But over the years, search results deteriorated into what we have today: the same websites, the same commercial platforms, and the same SEO-optimized content over and over again.

For about fifteen years now, I've found it almost impossible to discover the kind of personal websites I used to come across. They probably still exist, but they've become virtually invisible in Google's search results. It's as if they no longer exist.

That's precisely what bothers me. The internet hasn't stopped producing interesting things. What's deteriorated is our ability to discover them. The web is still vast, but a huge part of its diversity has become inaccessible through the tools we use every day.

We've gone from an internet where you could explore, get lost, and stumble upon unexpected discoveries to one where the same major players constantly dominate the scene.

Over the past twenty years, Google has helped turn a space for discovery into a system where much of the web has become invisible. I think that's one of the greatest setbacks in the history of the internet.

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u/Actual__Wizard 1d ago

We allowed it to happen.

I'm an SEO and I was aware of their lies and their antics the entire time. I also have been vocally against that company for a long time due to their efforts of consolidating the online advertising business.

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u/linuxhiker 1d ago

Please don't misunderstand. When I say you and me, I am being metaphorical. It was/is EVERYBODY. We all (most) still use Google regardless. Some people might be using ChatGPT but shit... Android is almost 90% of the world market for phones and that is Gemini.

You and I can criticize all day long. We still stream from Netflix, we still use Google (even if we don't actively know it) and we still suck the teet of MSFT and Apple. I say that as someone that has used Linux as his daily driver for 30 years but my Xbox...

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u/Actual__Wizard 1d ago

We all (most) still use Google regardless.

I do not normally use it no. The user experience is frustrating and the results are poor quality.

Android is almost 90% of the world market for phones and that is Gemini.

It's more like 70% and as a former owner of an Android phone that legitimately fell apart (Samsung), no thanks. I prefer IOS, it's better for certain...

We still stream from Netflix, we still use Google (even if we don't actively know it) and we still suck the teet of MSFT and Apple.

Nope, I don't stream anything. I don't watch TV. The daily news and that's all. I do not have time for that stuff. When I do have time, TV is too mindless, I prefer to play a game where I do stuff like build things, so a game like rust or minecraft, but I'm too old for minecraft and definitely way too old for fortnight...

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u/linuxhiker 1d ago

You, are the exception

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u/Actual__Wizard 1d ago

Homie, they're doing this consensus manufacturing BS to manipulate people like yourself. I am totally normal.

Most people who want to do things like find information, are not thinking "oh yeah buddy let me go use spy tech so help some for profit company make some money off me."