New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
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@nixCraft I think you're mixing up two things: AI search hurting traffic economics for the open web — real concern.
The old search already became miserable years ago because of SEO sludge, content farms and keyword voodoo.
LLMs understanding intent instead of forcing users to guess magic keywords is actually a huge UX improvement.
The challenge is preserving incentives for open knowledge, not preserving "10 blue links + SEO warfare" forever.
So let's agree to disagree.
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Aren’t they saying, in the absence of web search, use web rings and human-curated indices/directories of relevant pages? Didn’t work that badly back in 1998. Was a lot more local too.
Wikipedia, OpenAlex, ORCID, web archive, and many other repositories have their own search engines. A link to these online resources may suffice. And regionally focused efforts to relate e.g. businesses with locations of a map like @lokjo does also help.
Perhaps all we need to do is ignore Google and move on?
The indie blog initiative is a good one too: https://mathstodon.xyz/@indieblog@indieweb.social
As is the humans.txt for personal web pages https://humanstxt.org/
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New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft isn't Qwant a decent european alternative ? #google #searchengine #qwant
www.qwant.com -
@nixCraft I think you're mixing up two things: AI search hurting traffic economics for the open web — real concern.
The old search already became miserable years ago because of SEO sludge, content farms and keyword voodoo.
LLMs understanding intent instead of forcing users to guess magic keywords is actually a huge UX improvement.
The challenge is preserving incentives for open knowledge, not preserving "10 blue links + SEO warfare" forever.
So let's agree to disagree.
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New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft
This is why I use alternative search engines now and when I do use google I use the timeframe options to only search before 2019. -
New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft
how the phrase goes: everything alphabet inc touches, it turns into
.is android next !?
Keep Android Open
Your phone is about to stop being yours. In September 2026, Google will block every Android app whose developer hasn't registered with them.
(keepandroidopen.org)
is there a search box in your android screen !?
will there be a.i. generated ads in your android screen !?
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New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft Wouldn't know. Switched to a real search engine a long time ago. One that doesn't track you, sell you ads, tell you what it thinks you meant, or use AI. Insert YOUR favorite name here....
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New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft Google is not a search engine anymore.
I'm using Ecosia right now, but they added AI overviews too, and have a chatbot tab. I don't know how they can claim any kind of "eco".
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New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft
#enshittification : search edition -
New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft so: time to block gogglebot as it gives nothing back.
Or are they using the chinese "random residential ip and chrome" tactic now?
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New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft can't say I really care
️ -
New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft How have people not caught on to this yet? It's been the pretty obvious goal for years.
Don't use google y'all, find a metasearch engine you like. I'm partial to omnisearch from bwaaa.monster. It searches DDG, Mojeek, Startpage, and yahoo. I'm not sure how the ranking algo works but i get way less AI articles in the results with omnisearch than using any of those search engines directly. -
New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft @briankrebs Kagi. Kagi. Kagi.
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New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft I'm publishing links (https://manzokuan.blogspot.com/p/information-for-future-envirohealers.html) here on Mastodon that interest me and I suspect will interest some others, under the assumption that some of us still know and appreciate bookmarking, and in some cases downloading, vital primary sources in anticipation of them becoming harder, not easier, to find under the AI bubble. This should take, along with my daily vanity links (https://manzokuan.blogspot.com/), maybe about a year. After that, if alive and independent, I will probably mostly be cutting cabbages and watching the neighborhood crows. How 'bout y'all?
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@ariaflame @nixCraft correct. LLM is just that: a huge index of cr@p. So to use it as a search engine is actually a good and correct thing. The other problem is that they (providers, Google in this case) will basically use it to enforce paid content and promote products. This will entshittify this much faster. But from the pure technology perspective it is actually a correct move.
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New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft I want no part of Google or Meta's internet, and haven't for several years now. Things seemingly keep getting worse.
We can but vote with our clicks (somewhere else), and by educating wherever possible. We must collectively champion and build the web we want, avoiding the mega corporations with their own interests.
End rant transmission!
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New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft it’s like we need a new internet. Can’t read the article with turning off my adblocker (not happening). Can’t wait til someone figures out how to monetize breathing.
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New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
Whos is going to continue to build websites when gen-ai insures few people ever visit them?
Might be a good time to download wikipedia...
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@ffloyd @alan @nixCraft Yeah I totally agree on that!
Fediverse now is at least a steady alternative, lemmy as well. And i'm using only them.
But is still hard to presuade average people, although I agree nowadays it's easier.
I'm trying to give my little contribution, moving few friends and groups toward alternatives.
But I really hope that big corpo see numbers start to go down, like it was happened with fb recently, and not being an isolate thing, but becoming a trend.
@dreamos82 @ffloyd @alan @nixCraft
Meta is still the largest social media platform, with only youtube as a rival. tiktok is 1/10 the size of meta.
90% of search traffic goes thru google search. 90% goes thru pre-installed browsers. Pre-installs rule because the vast majority of people are lazy.
OS same-90% win, android and apple, mobile and desktop.
This won't change much because big tech's market capture is complete. Any serious competition is simply bought out.
Yes this is sad & scary.
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New site: google just killed search https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
yeah, we know. We saw a massive drop in SO/Wikipedia traffic over the last 2 years, so yday's announcement was just closing the deal. Google has officially killed the web that was made of links. It is now a giant box that steals web pages/images/videos from all websites and pretends to know everything with its model and weights often with lots of wrong information. I hope this madness leads to a better search engine and EOL of Google.
@nixCraft Letting supervillains be the stewards of the modern-day Library of Alexandria was a mistake.
