this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2026
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455
‘I miss old Google’: readers tell us how they search the internet in the age of AI (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 20 hours ago by Corvidae@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
98 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Google has put artificial intelligence at the front and center of its search bar. The most-visited site on the internet still shows the same list of links to users, but they have to scroll past a summarized response from an AI chatbot, a feature Google calls AI Overviews. The change to what was once the gateway to the rest of the internet has been profound, and the browsing habits of billions of people are shifting.

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[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 45 points 16 hours ago (4 children)

I miss the actual old Google, where the searches wouldn't intentionally show you a lot of things you don't want in order to keep you searching longer for their ad revenue. The one where if you put something between "quotes" it would only show you results with those specific words, and you coul -minus a word to specifically exclude results that contained that word.

Google has been a piece of shit for like 15+ years now. They're even making android suck.

[–] Mostly_Gristle@lemmy.world 3 points 7 hours ago

Truth.

I just really wish someone would come out with a search engine that works like Google worked around 2004. There was a brief beautiful window of time where it seemed like no matter how obscure something was, if it existed on a publicly indexable website, and you knew the tricks for tweaking your search query, you could find it with Google. But I think I started noticing it going downhill not too long after they killed Google Video and acquired YouTube. Definitely after they also became a phone company.

It just seems crazy to me that we figured out how to do it over 20 years ago and then stopped almost immediately. And in all the time since then nobody has stepped up to fill the gap. Like, DuckDuckGo is better than Google now, but it's only because Google became terrible, not because DDG got better.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 21 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I remember being taught about search operators in school. Of course they'd take that away, it's such a powerful way to get exactly what you're looking for, no bullshit.

[–] belochka@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

I think in older search engines the results were not rated at all, and you could use syntax similar to SQL.

Using them as sort of a Web index. Would be very useful if not for all the bots and SEO sites.

Unfortunately, Google, Yahoo and others gradually reduced that to just a set of keywords.

[–] ms_lane@lemmy.world 5 points 12 hours ago

I want the old google where + operator worked...

[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 12 points 15 hours ago

Damn I miss quotes being respected.