Neil Brown5d ago

I do zero analytics on any of my web traffic, so this is just a guess, but I should be surprised if many people come to my sites via Google.

I am just a bloke with a Raspberry Pi running a website and two blogs.

I suspect that, of whatever traffic I get, most comes from links I (and others) post here, and from RSS subscribers.

Similarly, I don't think that I found any of the blogs or sites that I read regularly via a search engine.

Word of mouth (webrings, people posting about stuff they've enjoyed / their own work etc.) ftw.

Show threadDrew Mochak5d ago
@neil If google is no longer a search engine people will use another search engine. Every wrong answer drives traffic away. I can't imagine anyone will want to use this.
Show threadNeil Brown5d ago

@prism

> If google is no longer a search engine people will use another search engine.

I suspect that this could be true for people who actively want a search engine.

I don't know how many people just want an answer.

I agree though that, if the proffered answer is wrong too often, that it will drive (some) people away.

Show threadSteve Hill ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ5d ago

@neil @prism my wife complained about Google presenting an AI answer whenever she searches. Which is a potential problem because her university have rules about AI use. I said "so just use a different search engine" and got back "what do you mean? I thought Google was the only one".

She is not super into computers - she uses them as a tool, rather than as an interest, but she is not a luddite by any means and learnt how to code a few years ago.

So that, is an insight into "normal people".

Show threadDrew Mochak5d ago
@steve @neil You're framing a success case as a failure. She identified that google's AI results are no longer fit for her purpose, so you suggested she switch search engines. She might not have actually decided to do it, but that's only because she can ignore the AI results and use the actual real information. If it's just AI results, that forces the issue.
Show threadSteve Hill ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ5d ago
@prism @neil my point was that although she identified an issue, she was unaware of any solution, so was stuck with Google. In this case, I was able to advise, but the vast vast majority of people do not know anyone more knowledgeable about this stuff than themselves.
Show threadDrew Mochak
@steve @neil The vast majority of people don't have a tech-literate friend/child/cousin/former roommate who can suggest to solve their google problem with not-Google? Maybe I'm giving people too much credit but that doesn't seem like a huge hurtle to me.
May 20 at 7:37amWeb
Show threadSteve Hill ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ5d ago
@prism @neil I think you are out of touch with reality
Show threadDrew Mochak5d ago
@steve @neil Probably. https://bsky.app/profile/jjaron.bsky.social/post/3mma3axtars2c
Jacob Aron (@jjaron.bsky.social)

Ok I've designed an LLM prompt to make Google AI just give you a list of links. It's longer than you might think because it kept ignoring the instructions. This is efficient. This is The Futureโ„ข

Bluesky Social