Google search is broken, and we all suffer

Google has a problem. That problem is web search.

Google, the long-time leader in web search, recently modified its techniques to use artificial intelligence (AI). The attempt at AI-driven search has lead to embarrassing results. One person asked how to keep cheese on pizza, and Google suggested using glue. Another asked about cooking spaghetti, and Google recommended gasoline.

The problem was that Google pointed its AI search engine at the entire web, absorbing posts from various sources. Some of those posts contained text that was a joke or sarcastic. A human would be able to tell that the entries were not to be used in search results, but Google's algorithm isn't human.

Google has rediscovered the principle of "garbage into a computer system yields garbage output".

One might think that Google could simply "pull the plug" on the AI search and revert back to the older mechanisms it used in the past. But here too Google has a problem: the old search algorithms don't work (anymore).

Google started with a simple algorithm for search: count links pointing to the page. This was a major leap forward in search; previous attempts were curated by hand. Over the years, web designers have "gamed" the Google web crawler to move their web pages up in the results, and Google has countered with changes to their algorithm. The battle continues; there are companies that help with "Search Engine Optimization" or "SEO". Those optimizing companies have gotten quite good at tweaking web sites to appear high in searche results. But the battle is lost. Despite Google's size (and clever employees) the SEO companies have won, and the old-style Google search no longer shows meaningful results but mostly advertisement links.

SEO has changed Google search from a generic search engine into a sales lead tool. If you want to purchase something, Google is a great way to find a good price. But if you want something else, Google is much less useful that it used to be. It is no longer a tool for answers to general questions.

That means that search, for the internet, is broken.

It's not completely broken. In fact,"broken" is too strong of a word for the concept. Better choices might be "damaged" or "compromised", or even "inconsistent". Some searches work, and others don't.

Broken, damaged, or inconsistent, Google's search engine has suffered. Its reputation is reduced, and fewer people use it. That's a problem for Google, because the search results is a location to display advertisements, and advertisements are Google's major source of income.

A broken Google search is a problem for us all, in two ways.

First, with Google search broken, we (all) must now find alternative means of answering questions. AI might help for some -- although I don't recommend it for recipes -- and that can be a partial replacement. Other search engines (Bing, Yahoo) may work for now, but I expect that they will succumb to the same SEO forces that broke Google. With no single reliable source of information, we must now turn to multiple sources (stackexchange, Red Hat web pages, and maybe the local library) which means more work for us.

Secondly, the defeat of the Google whale to the SEO piranhas is another example of "this is why we cannot have nice things". It is the tragedy of the commons, with individuals acting selfishly and destroying a useful resource. Future generations will look back, possibly in envy, at the golden age of Google and a single source of reliable information.