Google search has become significantly worse than many people realize. Let’s consider a simple search for “how to secure my data.” The results page now displays four sponsored links before any organic content. This is a stark contrast to Google’s earlier days when it was renowned for its ability to find anything in seconds.
Over the past few years, the quality of Google search has been declining, and there are three major reasons why it’s not just in decline but borderline broken. The first issue is the changing layout of the results page. Aside from the four ads before any content, there’s a problem with what’s known as “the fold” – the imaginary line where you need to scroll to see more content. In newspapers, the most important information was always placed above the fold. However, Google now fills the entire area above the fold with sponsored content, suggesting they no longer feel the need to convince people to use their service.
Google used to pride itself on quickly finding accurate answers, but now users either have to invest more time scrolling past ads or trust that the ads contain what they want (which they often don’t, otherwise those posts would be at the top organically). A decade ago, sponsored links were highlighted in yellow, clearly indicating they weren’t organic search results. Now, sponsored results look almost identical to genuine ones, with only a tiny “sponsored” text as indication.
The situation becomes even more problematic when searching for products. Product searches often result in an entire carousel of shopping ads, with no organic results in sight. These product listings are taking up 34% more space on the results page compared to 2021. There’s a growing suspicion that Google is deliberately making organic search results worse for shopping queries to drive users towards the sponsored ads.
Google’s business model seems to be shifting towards maximizing ad revenue rather than providing the best user experience. In Q2 2024, Google made $847 billion in revenue, with 76.3% coming from ads and about 75% of that specifically from Google search ads. This is a far cry from Google’s early days when the founders stated that advertising income often provides an incentive for poor quality search results.
The decline in Google’s search quality isn’t solely Google’s fault. The rise of search engine optimization (SEO) has led to a flood of content designed to game the algorithm rather than provide valuable information. This has resulted in incomprehensible product listings, unnecessarily long recipe preambles, and outdated articles being passed off as current.
Google’s integration of generative AI into search results is another concerning development. While potentially useful, these AI-generated summaries are often inaccurate and raise questions about the future of content creation and the websites that originally provided the information.
In conclusion, Google’s search functionality has significantly deteriorated due to an increased focus on ad revenue, the proliferation of SEO tactics, and the introduction of potentially problematic AI features. This decline in quality is reminiscent of the concept of “enshittification,” where online services start with a high-quality product but gradually degrade it to maximize profits once users are locked in[1].
