{"slug": "google-search", "name": "Google Search", "category": "search", "category_name": "Search", "description": "Google's general-purpose web search engine for finding pages and information online.", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 37, "warners": 24, "score": -15.667, "rising": 0.69, "first": "2026-02-27", "latest": "2026-10-29", "why": "Still used for quick lookups like finding a known company's site, for shopping searches, and for coverage in regions where alternatives fall short, with some commenters using the &udm=14 parameter to strip out AI elements.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 5, "compare": 3, "warn": 27}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 2, 1, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["Quick lookups", "Coverage and relevance"], "caveat": "Ads over results", "short_quote": "nothing even comes close, for coverage and usability of Internet search, to Google Search for my geography", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.google.com", "pricing": "free", "aliases": ["Google Search"], "verdict": [{"text": "Still used for quick lookups like finding a known company's site, for shopping searches, and for coverage in regions where alternatives fall short,", "cites": [{"id": 787019361, "item_id": 49188710, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49188710", "by": "darkoob12", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I use google search to find the url of something that i know exists", "excerpt": "I actually use Claude for finding stuff and recommendations. like \"Find me a decent shoe with blah blah conditions\" this query now goes to LLM Chat instead of google search. I use google search to find the url of something that i know exists like find the website of a company or finding address of a store.", "context": "", "use_case": "finding known URLs and addresses", "switched_from": "", "story": "The next chapter of our AI momentum"}, {"id": 787043344, "item_id": 49190209, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49190209", "by": "thefourthchime", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I use models for nearly everything. Google only better at:", "excerpt": "Same I use models for nearly everything. Google only better at: - fast, even the shitty AI results are nearly instant. - some results like actors in a movie, or where to stream are useful - instead of typing a url But that\u2019s it. I never use Google outside of that. It\u2019s just ads, and most of the web is just ads or AI slop.", "context": "", "use_case": "fast lookups, streaming info", "switched_from": "", "story": "The next chapter of our AI momentum"}, {"id": 754972226, "item_id": 47185764, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47185764", "by": "dlev_pika", "date": "2026-02-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I\u2019ll search for it on Google to be tracked and advertised.", "excerpt": "Brave and DuckDuck have been my defaults for a long time. There are two reasons I can think I use Google and Chrome for: - Search: If I want to be sold something - say I\u2019m in the market for an electric heater, I\u2019ll search for it on Google to be tracked and advertised. - Chrome: because there are some flows and UX that simply don\u2019t work well in other browsers", "context": "", "use_case": "shopping searches", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Google has actively improved my life"}, {"id": 784277793, "item_id": 49017362, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017362", "by": "shelled", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "nothing even comes close, for coverage and usability of Internet search, to Google Search for my geography", "excerpt": "Kagi, like DDG and a few others around the same/similar ideas, doesn't work as \"fully\" for certain geographies (I assume many) as fully and wholesomely (as I gather from such posts and comments) it works for certain other geographies (again, I assume not many; for obvious reasons). I gave it a shot, trial and then the Starter pack. In some cases, it turned out to be almost completely futile. Anyway, just like Google ", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Back to Kagi"}]}, {"text": " with some commenters using the &udm=14 parameter to strip out AI elements.", "cites": [{"id": 786506736, "item_id": 49156671, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156671", "by": "dartharva", "date": "2026-08-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Non-AI Google Search.", "excerpt": "Non-AI Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14", "context": "", "use_case": "web search without AI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 781106784, "item_id": 48819174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48819174", "by": "PaulDavisThe1st", "date": "2026-07-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use google search with &udm=14 to remove all AI elements in the results presentation.", "excerpt": "> They are omitted from searches now but are among the best internet search content I use google search with &udm=14 to remove all AI elements in the results presentation. Searching for \"dolosse\", the HN item is the 3rd link, and TFA is the 4th. They are preceded by Wikipedia, and a dolosse-manufacturer's page. Not sure why you think \"blogs are omitted from searches now\".", "context": "", "use_case": "web search without AI results", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dolosse \u2013 a South African invention used over the world"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is that result quality has declined, with real results pushed below ads,", "cites": [{"id": 804724400, "item_id": 50295275, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50295275", "by": "FloorEgg", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "they have gradually traded search quality for ad revenue with the direct consequence being wasting my time.", "excerpt": "As a power user of Google search for decades, I find myself using it less and less (maybe now 5% of my historical peak usage). There are several reasons, but the main one is because they have gradually traded search quality for ad revenue with the direct consequence being wasting my time. If I type in the name of a company so that I can navigate to their website, and I have to scroll past my whole viewport of other c", "context": "power user of Google search for decades", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search is now less than half of Alphabet\u2019s revenue"}, {"id": 789189234, "item_id": 49324327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49324327", "by": "unselect5917", "date": "2026-08-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads.", "excerpt": "I don't know why people still use Google. They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads. I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere and for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com. I only use google as a last resort.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}, {"id": 771776001, "item_id": 48236000, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48236000", "by": "dpatac", "date": "2026-05-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Their search is now filled with ads and you no longer get good results, in my opinion.", "excerpt": "I have been using Kagi for years. I use the family plan for my wife and I. I love it and will continue to use it until it either gets bad, they sell it, or get an ipo. There is no noise. Google, to me is just filled with noise. I used to love the innovation and used many of their products. Their search is now filled with ads and you no longer get good results, in my opinion. Their AI will also have ads: https://blog.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Using Kagi Search with Low Vision"}, {"id": 804691042, "item_id": 50293190, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50293190", "by": "stephen_cagle", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the bullshit that is the above the fold google search results", "excerpt": "I (and a non trivial number of people I knok) have switched to Kagi for search just to avoid having to deal with the bullshit that is the above the fold google search results. Course, they win anyway because I also pay for youtube premium to avoid seeing ads.. Feels like the world is becoming a split between people who can afford not to be the product and people who cannot.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search is now less than half of Alphabet\u2019s revenue"}, {"id": 804692002, "item_id": 50293250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50293250", "by": "gonzalohm", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Search numbers are down because Google search has become crap.", "excerpt": "Search numbers are down because Google search has become crap. I know a lot of people which I don't consider tech enthusiasts and they moved from Google to duckduckgo. I have moved to Kagi myself", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search is now less than half of Alphabet\u2019s revenue"}]}, {"text": " often-wrong AI overviews,", "cites": [{"id": 797996785, "item_id": 49874799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874799", "by": "jan_m_savage", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "instead of letting you search for info, now google is FEEDING you (often the wrong) info.", "excerpt": "instead of letting you search for info, now google is FEEDING you (often the wrong) info. I use Yandex, because that one still behaves like a search engine.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 772824752, "item_id": 48301547, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48301547", "by": "culi", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Now it's replaced by an often mistaken AI summary.", "excerpt": "It replaced some of my most used tools with google search. I used to be able to search \"define inoculant\" and I would get a definition, synonyms, and even a history of the word usage. Now it's replaced by an often mistaken AI summary. Even \"inoculant synonyms\" doesn't work.", "context": "", "use_case": "word definitions lookup", "switched_from": "", "story": "DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode"}, {"id": 771503312, "item_id": 48218957, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48218957", "by": "TightFibre", "date": "2026-05-21", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google search just doesn't work for me any more.", "excerpt": "Google search just doesn't work for me any more. I am not sure if it's because I clean slate it with no personalisation, but I already feel my search engine has been removed from the web. Their AI snippets are quite wrong alot of the time and Vs Gemini have a totally different flavour. There's no cohesiveness at all.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Declaring War on the Web"}]}, {"text": " and YouTube links.", "cites": [{"id": 797935697, "item_id": 49870981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49870981", "by": "8organicbits", "date": "2026-09-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google does not provide search results above the fold, instead showing AI overview, ads, and YouTube search results.", "excerpt": "This is a really good time to do a head-to-head comparison of different search engines. The last time I checked Google does not provide search results above the fold, instead showing AI overview, ads, and YouTube search results. Try a different search engine to see which one is giving you the highest signal results and what other junk they put on the page. Personally I use duckduckgo with AI turned off in settings, b", "context": "", "use_case": "search", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 777877888, "item_id": 48617368, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48617368", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I am still sometimes using Google Search.", "excerpt": "I want Google gone. This company is causing too many problems. I am still sometimes using Google Search. First results are now almost always videos on youtube, aka self-promo. These videos are in 99.9% of the search results I use, totally useless and worthless. Even searching on youtube has recently gotten worse. It is also crap now. I know that because I bookmark various videos, and I can not find older videos anymo", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Hits 50% IPv6"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Quick lookups", "summary": "Commenters still turn to it for fast, known-item searches like a company URL, a store address, or a movie's cast.", "quotes": [{"id": 787019361, "item_id": 49188710, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49188710", "by": "darkoob12", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I use google search to find the url of something that i know exists", "excerpt": "I actually use Claude for finding stuff and recommendations. like \"Find me a decent shoe with blah blah conditions\" this query now goes to LLM Chat instead of google search. I use google search to find the url of something that i know exists like find the website of a company or finding address of a store.", "context": "", "use_case": "finding known URLs and addresses", "switched_from": "", "story": "The next chapter of our AI momentum"}, {"id": 787043344, "item_id": 49190209, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49190209", "by": "thefourthchime", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I use models for nearly everything. Google only better at:", "excerpt": "Same I use models for nearly everything. Google only better at: - fast, even the shitty AI results are nearly instant. - some results like actors in a movie, or where to stream are useful - instead of typing a url But that\u2019s it. I never use Google outside of that. It\u2019s just ads, and most of the web is just ads or AI slop.", "context": "", "use_case": "fast lookups, streaming info", "switched_from": "", "story": "The next chapter of our AI momentum"}, {"id": 788266209, "item_id": 49266638, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49266638", "by": "jimmaswell", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "If I know I'll find something with a Google query, then I still go straight to Google", "excerpt": "What LLM was this? I'm simply not having this experience at any regular frequency these days with GPT Sol as my go-to. If I know I'll find something with a Google query, then I still go straight to Google because there would be no point waiting for the AI. For more vague cases where I don't quite know what I want to search or how, or I want an overview like you mentioned, I haven't had a significant amount of trouble", "context": "", "use_case": "direct lookups", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search Is Dying. What Comes Next Is Worse"}]}, {"label": "Coverage and relevance", "summary": "Some find its coverage and relevance better than Kagi and DuckDuckGo, especially in their geography.", "quotes": [{"id": 784277793, "item_id": 49017362, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017362", "by": "shelled", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "nothing even comes close, for coverage and usability of Internet search, to Google Search for my geography", "excerpt": "Kagi, like DDG and a few others around the same/similar ideas, doesn't work as \"fully\" for certain geographies (I assume many) as fully and wholesomely (as I gather from such posts and comments) it works for certain other geographies (again, I assume not many; for obvious reasons). I gave it a shot, trial and then the Starter pack. In some cases, it turned out to be almost completely futile. Anyway, just like Google ", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Back to Kagi"}, {"id": 758696833, "item_id": 47418552, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47418552", "by": "hitekker", "date": "2026-03-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Google Search gets more relevant results for the same query.", "excerpt": "Kagi lost focus. I pay for their search and I\u2019m getting close to giving up. I\u2019ve noticed several times that Google Search gets more relevant results for the same query. On top of having a better search AI. Whimsical detours like this feels like they\u2019re operating aa early Google minus the killer product.", "context": "Paying Kagi customer", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kagi Small Web"}, {"id": 771170384, "item_id": 48198149, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48198149", "by": "matltc", "date": "2026-05-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Google still great for me", "excerpt": "Lots of people talking about Google being strictly worse than a number of search engines (bing, duck, etc) not been my experience. Brave default search is awful. Duck was terrible last I used it. Google still great for me, but I have a decent amount of \"privacy controls\" implemented (DNS, vpn, browser extensions) and i basically dork most searches--average search looks more like a find invocation than English. In thi", "context": "", "use_case": "operator-heavy searching", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new era for AI Search"}]}, {"label": "Non-AI mode", "summary": "Adding &udm=14 to the URL gives a results page without AI elements.", "quotes": [{"id": 786506736, "item_id": 49156671, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156671", "by": "dartharva", "date": "2026-08-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Non-AI Google Search.", "excerpt": "Non-AI Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14", "context": "", "use_case": "web search without AI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 781106784, "item_id": 48819174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48819174", "by": "PaulDavisThe1st", "date": "2026-07-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use google search with &udm=14 to remove all AI elements in the results presentation.", "excerpt": "> They are omitted from searches now but are among the best internet search content I use google search with &udm=14 to remove all AI elements in the results presentation. Searching for \"dolosse\", the HN item is the 3rd link, and TFA is the 4th. They are preceded by Wikipedia, and a dolosse-manufacturer's page. Not sure why you think \"blogs are omitted from searches now\".", "context": "", "use_case": "web search without AI results", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dolosse \u2013 a South African invention used over the world"}]}, {"label": "Shopping searches", "summary": "A few commenters use it on purpose when looking to buy something and find the sponsored results useful.", "quotes": [{"id": 754972226, "item_id": 47185764, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47185764", "by": "dlev_pika", "date": "2026-02-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I\u2019ll search for it on Google to be tracked and advertised.", "excerpt": "Brave and DuckDuck have been my defaults for a long time. There are two reasons I can think I use Google and Chrome for: - Search: If I want to be sold something - say I\u2019m in the market for an electric heater, I\u2019ll search for it on Google to be tracked and advertised. - Chrome: because there are some flows and UX that simply don\u2019t work well in other browsers", "context": "", "use_case": "shopping searches", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Google has actively improved my life"}, {"id": 804697808, "item_id": 50293613, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50293613", "by": "Aboutplants", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use models for most \u201csearching\u201d but then utilize Google Search as the last resort.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve had this exact experience a couple of times in the past few weeks. Their \u201csponsored\u201d ads of a kind of product that I was looking for (based mainly on description for the use I was intending) gave better results than any AI model I tried to use to find a product that fit my specific use case. Found it interesting that I\u2019ve flipped my search tool usage in such a short time. I use models for most \u201csearching\u201d but th", "context": "", "use_case": "product search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search is now less than half of Alphabet\u2019s revenue"}]}, {"label": "Search operators", "summary": "One power user says it is still unmatched for operator-heavy queries.", "quotes": [{"id": 771170384, "item_id": 48198149, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48198149", "by": "matltc", "date": "2026-05-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Google still great for me", "excerpt": "Lots of people talking about Google being strictly worse than a number of search engines (bing, duck, etc) not been my experience. Brave default search is awful. Duck was terrible last I used it. Google still great for me, but I have a decent amount of \"privacy controls\" implemented (DNS, vpn, browser extensions) and i basically dork most searches--average search looks more like a find invocation than English. In thi", "context": "", "use_case": "operator-heavy searching", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new era for AI Search"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Ads over results", "summary": "Ads, AI overviews and YouTube results fill the space above the fold before the organic links.", "quotes": [{"id": 804724400, "item_id": 50295275, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50295275", "by": "FloorEgg", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "they have gradually traded search quality for ad revenue with the direct consequence being wasting my time.", "excerpt": "As a power user of Google search for decades, I find myself using it less and less (maybe now 5% of my historical peak usage). There are several reasons, but the main one is because they have gradually traded search quality for ad revenue with the direct consequence being wasting my time. If I type in the name of a company so that I can navigate to their website, and I have to scroll past my whole viewport of other c", "context": "power user of Google search for decades", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search is now less than half of Alphabet\u2019s revenue"}, {"id": 797935697, "item_id": 49870981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49870981", "by": "8organicbits", "date": "2026-09-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google does not provide search results above the fold, instead showing AI overview, ads, and YouTube search results.", "excerpt": "This is a really good time to do a head-to-head comparison of different search engines. The last time I checked Google does not provide search results above the fold, instead showing AI overview, ads, and YouTube search results. Try a different search engine to see which one is giving you the highest signal results and what other junk they put on the page. Personally I use duckduckgo with AI turned off in settings, b", "context": "", "use_case": "search", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 789189234, "item_id": 49324327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49324327", "by": "unselect5917", "date": "2026-08-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads.", "excerpt": "I don't know why people still use Google. They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads. I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere and for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com. I only use google as a last resort.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}]}, {"label": "Declining quality", "summary": "Many say the results have become poor or useless and have switched to Kagi, DuckDuckGo, Yandex or LLMs.", "quotes": [{"id": 804692002, "item_id": 50293250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50293250", "by": "gonzalohm", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Search numbers are down because Google search has become crap.", "excerpt": "Search numbers are down because Google search has become crap. I know a lot of people which I don't consider tech enthusiasts and they moved from Google to duckduckgo. I have moved to Kagi myself", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search is now less than half of Alphabet\u2019s revenue"}, {"id": 794735792, "item_id": 49670987, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49670987", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the search results are total garbage now.", "excerpt": "Google wants to build up a private web here. We already know this from AMP before. Also, the search results are total garbage now. Just give it a try and you see how useless the UI is, with AI results first, then tons of commercial go-to entries and only then a few links that are often also totally useless and irrelevant. Google optimised towards crap. We really need to get rid of Google. Qwant results are now a bit ", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}, {"id": 771503312, "item_id": 48218957, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48218957", "by": "TightFibre", "date": "2026-05-21", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google search just doesn't work for me any more.", "excerpt": "Google search just doesn't work for me any more. I am not sure if it's because I clean slate it with no personalisation, but I already feel my search engine has been removed from the web. Their AI snippets are quite wrong alot of the time and Vs Gemini have a totally different flavour. There's no cohesiveness at all.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Declaring War on the Web"}]}, {"label": "Wrong AI answers", "summary": "AI summaries often give wrong information and have replaced features like word definitions.", "quotes": [{"id": 797996785, "item_id": 49874799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874799", "by": "jan_m_savage", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "instead of letting you search for info, now google is FEEDING you (often the wrong) info.", "excerpt": "instead of letting you search for info, now google is FEEDING you (often the wrong) info. I use Yandex, because that one still behaves like a search engine.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 772824752, "item_id": 48301547, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48301547", "by": "culi", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Now it's replaced by an often mistaken AI summary.", "excerpt": "It replaced some of my most used tools with google search. I used to be able to search \"define inoculant\" and I would get a definition, synonyms, and even a history of the word usage. Now it's replaced by an often mistaken AI summary. Even \"inoculant synonyms\" doesn't work.", "context": "", "use_case": "word definitions lookup", "switched_from": "", "story": "DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode"}, {"id": 771732769, "item_id": 48233298, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48233298", "by": "jeremyjh", "date": "2026-05-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it was always incredibly shocking to me how terrible Google search was every time I used it.", "excerpt": "I've been using Kagi for a couple of years now. For awhile, my work Chrome profile was still set to use Google for search by default because I don't login to personal accounts on it. I didn't use search that often for programming work - I used ChatGPT or Claude much more often - so it was always incredibly shocking to me how terrible Google search was every time I used it. The AI results were bad beyond all human und", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Using Kagi Search with Low Vision"}]}, {"label": "Censorship concerns", "summary": "Commenters report removed sites, refused queries and personalized results that differ between users.", "quotes": [{"id": 783651473, "item_id": 48978217, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48978217", "by": "Gareth321", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google has been censoring topics for years, for many reasons.", "excerpt": "This is why I subscribe to Kagi. Google has been censoring topics for years, for many reasons. I have a few domains I use to test whether a search engine has been censored, and Kagi passes all of them. For example, many years ago, Google deleted the Proud Boys website from search. I believe they have deleted later iterations as well. No doubt there are millions of other website they've deleted, suppressed, or down-ra", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Orion Browser by Kagi"}, {"id": 798260080, "item_id": 49891255, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49891255", "by": "surfingdino", "date": "2026-09-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google refused to show search results and responded with a scolding message", "excerpt": "I wanted to verify correctness of translation of a derogatory term in a foreign language. Google refused to show search results and responded with a scolding message how it will not engange with vulgar, derogatory language and that it \"understands I may be feeling frustrated, but will not respond.\" and then it suggested I may be wanting help with something else? I don't need a nanny, I wanted to make sure that I use ", "context": "fiction writer", "use_case": "checking translations", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 794699649, "item_id": 49668728, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49668728", "by": "rmunn", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "two different people searching for the same search term would get two different results back from Google", "excerpt": "I've been using DuckDuckGo for years now, ever since it became noticeable that two different people searching for the same search term would get two different results back from Google. Meaning they were no longer completely reliable: they might show one person a result that they hide from the other person by burying it on page 3 where few people ever look. DDG's search results have been poorer recently than they used", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}]}, {"label": "Broken operators", "summary": "Exact-match operators such as quotes and + reportedly no longer work.", "quotes": [{"id": 798025104, "item_id": 49876569, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49876569", "by": "dluan", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I noticed last weekish that those no longer work.", "excerpt": "I used to use search commands with \"quotes\", triple quotes, and +exact word search, I noticed last weekish that those no longer work.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search with operators", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 771477264, "item_id": 48217329, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48217329", "by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "date": "2026-05-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I've stopped using Google for \"99%\" of searches", "excerpt": "I've stopped using Google for \"99%\" of searches Many years ago they removed search operators that allowed for exact string matching. At that point I knew it was a circus Then I noticed Google started limiting the number of results for users who are \"logged out\" Then, several years ago, Google disabled public access to the cache At that point it was pretty clear where this was going When they started requiring Javascr", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new era for AI Search"}]}, {"label": "UX friction", "summary": "Users report constant captchas, a full-screen cookie banner, obfuscated links and unwanted language switching.", "quotes": [{"id": 777613840, "item_id": 48600865, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48600865", "by": "add-sub-mul-div", "date": "2026-06-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Google as a secondary search and as of roughly last week it gives me a captcha every time I try to do a search.", "excerpt": "I use Google as a secondary search and as of roughly last week it gives me a captcha every time I try to do a search. That had never been the case before.", "context": "", "use_case": "secondary search engine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google workspace threatening to block Firefox access"}, {"id": 772266001, "item_id": 48266625, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48266625", "by": "WhyNotHugo", "date": "2026-05-25", "stance": "warn", "quote": "notice that the first thing you see is a full-screen cookie banner!?", "excerpt": "I switched to DDG a long time ago (maybe close to a decade now?). There's plenty of reasons to dislike Google, but my main reason for switching was better quality results and a faster, simpler UI. The UI has gotten a bit clunkier over the years, but it's still good, still more focused than Google's. As I write this, I give Google Search a quick try and notice that the first thing you see is a full-screen cookie banne", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore"}, {"id": 770475874, "item_id": 48154742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48154742", "by": "anenefan", "date": "2026-05-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the only links they offer to me are obfuscated so it's a matter of having to click on the link", "excerpt": "I'm in Australia and what I tested seemed to indicate for most results, there were indeed correct. Only sampled five from the page, could have been some results in error. Note, when I use google, the only links they offer to me are obfuscated so it's a matter of having to click on the link - unknown result which is yet another reason I don't use google any more. Duckduckgo - total fucking fail. I'd been noticing duck", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Has Google Deprecated Inurl:?"}]}], "who": [{"by": "hitekker", "context": "Paying Kagi customer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47418552", "date": "2026-03-17"}], "tags": ["for finding known sites", "for shopping research", "as a fallback search", "for operator-heavy queries", "for regional coverage"], "use_cases": ["web search", "product search", "checking translations", "web search with operators", "search", "finding copied text"], "compared": [{"slug": "duckduckgo", "name": "DuckDuckGo", "co": 25, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 14}, {"slug": "kagi", "name": "Kagi", "co": 19, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 14}, {"slug": "chatgpt", "name": "ChatGPT", "co": 10, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 7}, {"slug": "gemini", "name": "Gemini", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 3}, {"slug": "yandex", "name": "Yandex", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "brave", "name": "Brave", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "perplexity", "name": "Perplexity", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "claude", "name": "Claude", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49870367", "title": "When did Google get so weird?", "mentions": 6}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50291945", "title": "Google Search is now less than half of Alphabet\u2019s revenue", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49668386", "title": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49184755", "title": "The next chapter of our AI momentum", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48227860", "title": "Using Kagi Search with Low Vision", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48197370", "title": "A new era for AI Search", "mentions": 2}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"warn": 7, "recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1, "warn": 2, "compare": 1}, "2026-08": {"warn": 5, "recommend": 1, "compare": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"warn": 9, "recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"warn": 3, "neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804724400, "item_id": 50295275, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50295275", "by": "FloorEgg", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "they have gradually traded search quality for ad revenue with the direct consequence being wasting my time.", "excerpt": "As a power user of Google search for decades, I find myself using it less and less (maybe now 5% of my historical peak usage). There are several reasons, but the main one is because they have gradually traded search quality for ad revenue with the direct consequence being wasting my time. If I type in the name of a company so that I can navigate to their website, and I have to scroll past my whole viewport of other c", "context": "power user of Google search for decades", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search is now less than half of Alphabet\u2019s revenue"}, {"id": 804697808, "item_id": 50293613, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50293613", "by": "Aboutplants", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use models for most \u201csearching\u201d but then utilize Google Search as the last resort.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve had this exact experience a couple of times in the past few weeks. Their \u201csponsored\u201d ads of a kind of product that I was looking for (based mainly on description for the use I was intending) gave better results than any AI model I tried to use to find a product that fit my specific use case. Found it interesting that I\u2019ve flipped my search tool usage in such a short time. I use models for most \u201csearching\u201d but th", "context": "", "use_case": "product search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search is now less than half of Alphabet\u2019s revenue"}, {"id": 804692002, "item_id": 50293250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50293250", "by": "gonzalohm", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Search numbers are down because Google search has become crap.", "excerpt": "Search numbers are down because Google search has become crap. I know a lot of people which I don't consider tech enthusiasts and they moved from Google to duckduckgo. I have moved to Kagi myself", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search is now less than half of Alphabet\u2019s revenue"}, {"id": 804691042, "item_id": 50293190, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50293190", "by": "stephen_cagle", "date": "2026-10-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the bullshit that is the above the fold google search results", "excerpt": "I (and a non trivial number of people I knok) have switched to Kagi for search just to avoid having to deal with the bullshit that is the above the fold google search results. Course, they win anyway because I also pay for youtube premium to avoid seeing ads.. Feels like the world is becoming a split between people who can afford not to be the product and people who cannot.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search is now less than half of Alphabet\u2019s revenue"}, {"id": 798260080, "item_id": 49891255, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49891255", "by": "surfingdino", "date": "2026-09-29", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google refused to show search results and responded with a scolding message", "excerpt": "I wanted to verify correctness of translation of a derogatory term in a foreign language. Google refused to show search results and responded with a scolding message how it will not engange with vulgar, derogatory language and that it \"understands I may be feeling frustrated, but will not respond.\" and then it suggested I may be wanting help with something else? I don't need a nanny, I wanted to make sure that I use ", "context": "fiction writer", "use_case": "checking translations", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 798025104, "item_id": 49876569, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49876569", "by": "dluan", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I noticed last weekish that those no longer work.", "excerpt": "I used to use search commands with \"quotes\", triple quotes, and +exact word search, I noticed last weekish that those no longer work.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search with operators", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 798001569, "item_id": 49875098, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49875098", "by": "Gareth321", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google doesn't provide reliably uncensored results", "excerpt": "> Do you apply this same litmus test to far-left things which Google might have also removed, or do you consider the lack of Google listing the Proud Boys to be some sort of special and unique infringement on freedom of speech? I consider all censorship wrong. The reason I use the Proud Boys is because it was a well publicised incident and has been a reliable indicator of censorship since then. If you have left wing ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 797996785, "item_id": 49874799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874799", "by": "jan_m_savage", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "instead of letting you search for info, now google is FEEDING you (often the wrong) info.", "excerpt": "instead of letting you search for info, now google is FEEDING you (often the wrong) info. I use Yandex, because that one still behaves like a search engine.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 797935697, "item_id": 49870981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49870981", "by": "8organicbits", "date": "2026-09-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google does not provide search results above the fold, instead showing AI overview, ads, and YouTube search results.", "excerpt": "This is a really good time to do a head-to-head comparison of different search engines. The last time I checked Google does not provide search results above the fold, instead showing AI overview, ads, and YouTube search results. Try a different search engine to see which one is giving you the highest signal results and what other junk they put on the page. Personally I use duckduckgo with AI turned off in settings, b", "context": "", "use_case": "search", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 797932480, "item_id": 49870780, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49870780", "by": "ButlerianJihad", "date": "2026-09-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I think it's completely broken now.", "excerpt": "Google Search was one of those tools that I used in copyright validations. If someone added, like, 4KiB of text to Wikipedia in one edit, especially if that text sounded unencyclopedic, I'd just find a distinctive paragraph, copy-paste a swath into Google Search, and see where else on the Web it had existed for years before. I suppose that was the actual domain of turnitin dot com or other \"plagiarism detectors\" that", "context": "Wikipedia copyright validation", "use_case": "finding copied text", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 797874992, "item_id": 49867187, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49867187", "by": "zephen", "date": "2026-09-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I was very grateful to have google search back in the day", "excerpt": "> You didn\u2019t have a thyroid issue and you spent thousands more on tests the doctor was right that you didn\u2019t need. Uhhhh, even in the US, we're not talking \"thousands\" here. > So\u2026 a telephone psychic? Look, at one level, you can think of LLMs as search with a sometimes useful probability engine sitting on top of it. As someone who had multiple doctors do their damnedest to kill me on multiple occasions, I was very gr", "context": "", "use_case": "health research", "switched_from": "", "story": "\"As a Language Model\": Chat Template Switches LLM Self-Referential Voice"}, {"id": 796759984, "item_id": 49797499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49797499", "by": "Ajakks", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "these days, google is the first to fail", "excerpt": "I don't really understand why they were able to exist as they do and not lose users. I have not had Chrome for over a decade, I use Gmail exclusively for my actual real identity, which I don't recall the last time I used - I can only access my Gmail from a tablet I never use. I used to use Google search, when all other options failed - but these days, google is the first to fail, I literally do not remember the time ", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Attention is all you have"}, {"id": 794735792, "item_id": 49670987, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49670987", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the search results are total garbage now.", "excerpt": "Google wants to build up a private web here. We already know this from AMP before. Also, the search results are total garbage now. Just give it a try and you see how useless the UI is, with AI results first, then tons of commercial go-to entries and only then a few links that are often also totally useless and irrelevant. Google optimised towards crap. We really need to get rid of Google. Qwant results are now a bit ", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}, {"id": 794699649, "item_id": 49668728, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49668728", "by": "rmunn", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "two different people searching for the same search term would get two different results back from Google", "excerpt": "I've been using DuckDuckGo for years now, ever since it became noticeable that two different people searching for the same search term would get two different results back from Google. Meaning they were no longer completely reliable: they might show one person a result that they hide from the other person by burying it on page 3 where few people ever look. DDG's search results have been poorer recently than they used", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}, {"id": 792136035, "item_id": 49508502, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49508502", "by": "roosterIllusi0n", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Today, you shouldn't be using google for search.  It is one of the worst options.", "excerpt": "Google has done this before. They want to know what you click. There were extensions to undo it in the past. Then they seemingly switched to javascript and stopped the link jacking for a bit. Today, you shouldn't be using google for search. It is one of the worst options. So this new link jacking really doesn't matter. Tell people to use firefox with ublock origin and privacy badger. I am sure there are even better c", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "In less than a year, Google made scraping 10\u00d7 harder"}, {"id": 790032769, "item_id": 49377048, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49377048", "by": "Melatonic", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google itself often doesn't return great results anymore", "excerpt": "I used to feel that way until I realised some people I worked with were just actually quite terrible at Googling things. After that I realised that using a search engine is actually a skill I was taking for granted and one I was quite good at. I did actually spend a few minutes searching for them and found multiple documents and forum posts - sent those over and they were super happy. A project that had been stalled ", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Don't Paste the AI, please"}, {"id": 789511152, "item_id": 49344447, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49344447", "by": "s1artibartfast", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I feel like Google search has been nearly useless for several years now, flooded with fake advertising results", "excerpt": "Thanks for the candid response. Do you think that many of these examples were issues before, but now have become associated with AI? I can relate to many of them, but they seem to predate AI for me. I feel like Google search has been nearly useless for several years now, flooded with fake advertising results, even without AI. I'm happy that AI gives me an alternative to Google search, which is one of my top use cases", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Google Search", "story": "My friends all hate AI; I just joined an AI startup"}, {"id": 789189234, "item_id": 49324327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49324327", "by": "unselect5917", "date": "2026-08-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads.", "excerpt": "I don't know why people still use Google. They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads. I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere and for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com. I only use google as a last resort.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}, {"id": 788266209, "item_id": 49266638, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49266638", "by": "jimmaswell", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "If I know I'll find something with a Google query, then I still go straight to Google", "excerpt": "What LLM was this? I'm simply not having this experience at any regular frequency these days with GPT Sol as my go-to. If I know I'll find something with a Google query, then I still go straight to Google because there would be no point waiting for the AI. For more vague cases where I don't quite know what I want to search or how, or I want an overview like you mentioned, I haven't had a significant amount of trouble", "context": "", "use_case": "direct lookups", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search Is Dying. What Comes Next Is Worse"}, {"id": 787043344, "item_id": 49190209, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49190209", "by": "thefourthchime", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I use models for nearly everything. Google only better at:", "excerpt": "Same I use models for nearly everything. Google only better at: - fast, even the shitty AI results are nearly instant. - some results like actors in a movie, or where to stream are useful - instead of typing a url But that\u2019s it. I never use Google outside of that. It\u2019s just ads, and most of the web is just ads or AI slop.", "context": "", "use_case": "fast lookups, streaming info", "switched_from": "", "story": "The next chapter of our AI momentum"}, {"id": 787019361, "item_id": 49188710, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49188710", "by": "darkoob12", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I use google search to find the url of something that i know exists", "excerpt": "I actually use Claude for finding stuff and recommendations. like \"Find me a decent shoe with blah blah conditions\" this query now goes to LLM Chat instead of google search. I use google search to find the url of something that i know exists like find the website of a company or finding address of a store.", "context": "", "use_case": "finding known URLs and addresses", "switched_from": "", "story": "The next chapter of our AI momentum"}, {"id": 786506736, "item_id": 49156671, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156671", "by": "dartharva", "date": "2026-08-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Non-AI Google Search.", "excerpt": "Non-AI Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14", "context": "", "use_case": "web search without AI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 786391729, "item_id": 49149483, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49149483", "by": "lightandlight", "date": "2026-08-02", "stance": "warn", "quote": "until Google went to shit", "excerpt": "Yeah, I used to Google things until Google went to shit. Now I use Kagi, but it doesn't sound like a verb. I'll gladly add \"search [it] up\" to my lexicon :)", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Saying 'Google It' Makes You Sound Old"}, {"id": 784277793, "item_id": 49017362, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017362", "by": "shelled", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "nothing even comes close, for coverage and usability of Internet search, to Google Search for my geography", "excerpt": "Kagi, like DDG and a few others around the same/similar ideas, doesn't work as \"fully\" for certain geographies (I assume many) as fully and wholesomely (as I gather from such posts and comments) it works for certain other geographies (again, I assume not many; for obvious reasons). I gave it a shot, trial and then the Starter pack. In some cases, it turned out to be almost completely futile. Anyway, just like Google ", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Back to Kagi"}, {"id": 783651473, "item_id": 48978217, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48978217", "by": "Gareth321", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google has been censoring topics for years, for many reasons.", "excerpt": "This is why I subscribe to Kagi. Google has been censoring topics for years, for many reasons. I have a few domains I use to test whether a search engine has been censored, and Kagi passes all of them. For example, many years ago, Google deleted the Proud Boys website from search. I believe they have deleted later iterations as well. No doubt there are millions of other website they've deleted, suppressed, or down-ra", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Orion Browser by Kagi"}, {"id": 783616707, "item_id": 48976044, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48976044", "by": "anenefan", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "compare", "quote": "if it misses I try google for simple stuff", "excerpt": "Competitor isn't a word I could use to describe the web search scene in regard to google. However if one wanted a good search engine that one didn't have to keep banging on the keyboard for a half decent result I could say Yandex is one of the larger search engines that's performing really well on a lot of tech and niche areas compared to google or even duckduckgo atm. I though am pretty biased for I don't put up wit", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Are there any new competitors to Google search in 2026?"}, {"id": 782876993, "item_id": 48929812, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929812", "by": "pfannkuchen", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google search keeps switching me to Spanish.", "excerpt": "Google search keeps switching me to Spanish. One day recently I went on Reddit and it said \u201cnull\u201d after every username. Google Sheets had a weird rendering bug that was worse then I\u2019ve ever seen in google\u2019s office clone products. Anecdotally it does seem like more bugs. Can\u2019t imagine why!", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Is it just me, or is software buggier across the board?"}, {"id": 782012385, "item_id": 48875774, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48875774", "by": "Aboutplants", "date": "2026-07-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "My Google usage has gone down fairly significantly in the past couple of years as I use whatever free models", "excerpt": "My Google usage has gone down fairly significantly in the past couple of years as I use whatever free models to do nearly all of what I used Google search for. The only thing that Google has me with right now is YouTube and Gmail.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Google Search", "story": "Google Search lets creators know more about their reach"}, {"id": 781106784, "item_id": 48819174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48819174", "by": "PaulDavisThe1st", "date": "2026-07-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use google search with &udm=14 to remove all AI elements in the results presentation.", "excerpt": "> They are omitted from searches now but are among the best internet search content I use google search with &udm=14 to remove all AI elements in the results presentation. Searching for \"dolosse\", the HN item is the 3rd link, and TFA is the 4th. They are preceded by Wikipedia, and a dolosse-manufacturer's page. Not sure why you think \"blogs are omitted from searches now\".", "context": "", "use_case": "web search without AI results", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dolosse \u2013 a South African invention used over the world"}, {"id": 777877888, "item_id": 48617368, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48617368", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I am still sometimes using Google Search.", "excerpt": "I want Google gone. This company is causing too many problems. I am still sometimes using Google Search. First results are now almost always videos on youtube, aka self-promo. These videos are in 99.9% of the search results I use, totally useless and worthless. Even searching on youtube has recently gotten worse. It is also crap now. I know that because I bookmark various videos, and I can not find older videos anymo", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Hits 50% IPv6"}, {"id": 777613840, "item_id": 48600865, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48600865", "by": "add-sub-mul-div", "date": "2026-06-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Google as a secondary search and as of roughly last week it gives me a captcha every time I try to do a search.", "excerpt": "I use Google as a secondary search and as of roughly last week it gives me a captcha every time I try to do a search. That had never been the case before.", "context": "", "use_case": "secondary search engine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google workspace threatening to block Firefox access"}, {"id": 772824752, "item_id": 48301547, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48301547", "by": "culi", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Now it's replaced by an often mistaken AI summary.", "excerpt": "It replaced some of my most used tools with google search. I used to be able to search \"define inoculant\" and I would get a definition, synonyms, and even a history of the word usage. Now it's replaced by an often mistaken AI summary. Even \"inoculant synonyms\" doesn't work.", "context": "", "use_case": "word definitions lookup", "switched_from": "", "story": "DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode"}, {"id": 772266001, "item_id": 48266625, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48266625", "by": "WhyNotHugo", "date": "2026-05-25", "stance": "warn", "quote": "notice that the first thing you see is a full-screen cookie banner!?", "excerpt": "I switched to DDG a long time ago (maybe close to a decade now?). There's plenty of reasons to dislike Google, but my main reason for switching was better quality results and a faster, simpler UI. The UI has gotten a bit clunkier over the years, but it's still good, still more focused than Google's. As I write this, I give Google Search a quick try and notice that the first thing you see is a full-screen cookie banne", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore"}, {"id": 771776001, "item_id": 48236000, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48236000", "by": "dpatac", "date": "2026-05-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Their search is now filled with ads and you no longer get good results, in my opinion.", "excerpt": "I have been using Kagi for years. I use the family plan for my wife and I. I love it and will continue to use it until it either gets bad, they sell it, or get an ipo. There is no noise. Google, to me is just filled with noise. I used to love the innovation and used many of their products. Their search is now filled with ads and you no longer get good results, in my opinion. Their AI will also have ads: https://blog.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Using Kagi Search with Low Vision"}, {"id": 771732769, "item_id": 48233298, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48233298", "by": "jeremyjh", "date": "2026-05-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it was always incredibly shocking to me how terrible Google search was every time I used it.", "excerpt": "I've been using Kagi for a couple of years now. For awhile, my work Chrome profile was still set to use Google for search by default because I don't login to personal accounts on it. I didn't use search that often for programming work - I used ChatGPT or Claude much more often - so it was always incredibly shocking to me how terrible Google search was every time I used it. The AI results were bad beyond all human und", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Using Kagi Search with Low Vision"}, {"id": 771503312, "item_id": 48218957, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48218957", "by": "TightFibre", "date": "2026-05-21", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google search just doesn't work for me any more.", "excerpt": "Google search just doesn't work for me any more. I am not sure if it's because I clean slate it with no personalisation, but I already feel my search engine has been removed from the web. Their AI snippets are quite wrong alot of the time and Vs Gemini have a totally different flavour. There's no cohesiveness at all.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Declaring War on the Web"}, {"id": 771477264, "item_id": 48217329, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48217329", "by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "date": "2026-05-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I've stopped using Google for \"99%\" of searches", "excerpt": "I've stopped using Google for \"99%\" of searches Many years ago they removed search operators that allowed for exact string matching. At that point I knew it was a circus Then I noticed Google started limiting the number of results for users who are \"logged out\" Then, several years ago, Google disabled public access to the cache At that point it was pretty clear where this was going When they started requiring Javascr", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new era for AI Search"}, {"id": 771170384, "item_id": 48198149, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48198149", "by": "matltc", "date": "2026-05-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Google still great for me", "excerpt": "Lots of people talking about Google being strictly worse than a number of search engines (bing, duck, etc) not been my experience. Brave default search is awful. Duck was terrible last I used it. Google still great for me, but I have a decent amount of \"privacy controls\" implemented (DNS, vpn, browser extensions) and i basically dork most searches--average search looks more like a find invocation than English. In thi", "context": "", "use_case": "operator-heavy searching", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new era for AI Search"}, {"id": 770475874, "item_id": 48154742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48154742", "by": "anenefan", "date": "2026-05-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the only links they offer to me are obfuscated so it's a matter of having to click on the link", "excerpt": "I'm in Australia and what I tested seemed to indicate for most results, there were indeed correct. Only sampled five from the page, could have been some results in error. Note, when I use google, the only links they offer to me are obfuscated so it's a matter of having to click on the link - unknown result which is yet another reason I don't use google any more. Duckduckgo - total fucking fail. I'd been noticing duck", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Has Google Deprecated Inurl:?"}, {"id": 758696833, "item_id": 47418552, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47418552", "by": "hitekker", "date": "2026-03-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Google Search gets more relevant results for the same query.", "excerpt": "Kagi lost focus. I pay for their search and I\u2019m getting close to giving up. I\u2019ve noticed several times that Google Search gets more relevant results for the same query. On top of having a better search AI. Whimsical detours like this feels like they\u2019re operating aa early Google minus the killer product.", "context": "Paying Kagi customer", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kagi Small Web"}, {"id": 754972226, "item_id": 47185764, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47185764", "by": "dlev_pika", "date": "2026-02-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I\u2019ll search for it on Google to be tracked and advertised.", "excerpt": "Brave and DuckDuck have been my defaults for a long time. There are two reasons I can think I use Google and Chrome for: - Search: If I want to be sold something - say I\u2019m in the market for an electric heater, I\u2019ll search for it on Google to be tracked and advertised. - Chrome: because there are some flows and UX that simply don\u2019t work well in other browsers", "context": "", "use_case": "shopping searches", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Google has actively improved my life"}]}