Google Search
Google's general-purpose web search engine for finding pages and information online.
Still used for quick lookups like finding a known company's site, for shopping searches, and for coverage in regions where alternatives fall short,1234 with some commenters using the &udm=14 parameter to strip out AI elements.56 The most common complaint is that result quality has declined, with real results pushed below ads,7891011 often-wrong AI overviews,121314 and YouTube links.1516
Why people recommend it
Quick lookups · 3
Commenters still turn to it for fast, known-item searches like a company URL, a store address, or a movie's cast.
“I use google search to find the url of something that i know exists”
“I use models for nearly everything. Google only better at:”
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“If I know I'll find something with a Google query, then I still go straight to Google”
Coverage and relevance · 3
Some find its coverage and relevance better than Kagi and DuckDuckGo, especially in their geography.
“nothing even comes close, for coverage and usability of Internet search, to Google Search for my geography”
“Google Search gets more relevant results for the same query.”
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Non-AI mode · 2
Adding &udm=14 to the URL gives a results page without AI elements.
“Non-AI Google Search.”
“I use google search with &udm=14 to remove all AI elements in the results presentation.”
Shopping searches · 2
A few commenters use it on purpose when looking to buy something and find the sponsored results useful.
“I’ll search for it on Google to be tracked and advertised.”
“I use models for most “searching” but then utilize Google Search as the last resort.”
Search operators · 1
One power user says it is still unmatched for operator-heavy queries.
Caveats and dissent
Ads over results · 3
Ads, AI overviews and YouTube results fill the space above the fold before the organic links.
“they have gradually traded search quality for ad revenue with the direct consequence being wasting my time.”
“Google does not provide search results above the fold, instead showing AI overview, ads, and YouTube search results.”
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“They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads.”
Declining quality · 3
Many say the results have become poor or useless and have switched to Kagi, DuckDuckGo, Yandex or LLMs.
“Search numbers are down because Google search has become crap.”
“the search results are total garbage now.”
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“Google search just doesn't work for me any more.”
Wrong AI answers · 3
AI summaries often give wrong information and have replaced features like word definitions.
“instead of letting you search for info, now google is FEEDING you (often the wrong) info.”
“Now it's replaced by an often mistaken AI summary.”
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“it was always incredibly shocking to me how terrible Google search was every time I used it.”
Censorship concerns · 3
Commenters report removed sites, refused queries and personalized results that differ between users.
“Google has been censoring topics for years, for many reasons.”
“Google refused to show search results and responded with a scolding message”
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“two different people searching for the same search term would get two different results back from Google”
Broken operators · 2
Exact-match operators such as quotes and + reportedly no longer work.
“I noticed last weekish that those no longer work.”
“I've stopped using Google for "99%" of searches”
UX friction · 3
Users report constant captchas, a full-screen cookie banner, obfuscated links and unwanted language switching.
“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.”
“notice that the first thing you see is a full-screen cookie banner!?”
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“the only links they offer to me are obfuscated so it's a matter of having to click on the link”
Often compared with
14 moved from Google Search to DuckDuckGo
14 moved from Google Search to Kagi
7 moved from Google Search to ChatGPT
3 moved from Google Search to Gemini
1 moved from Google Search to Yandex
1 moved from Google Search to Brave
1 moved from Google Search to Perplexity
1 moved from Google Search to Claude
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- When did Google get so weird? 6 mentions
- Google Search is now less than half of Alphabet’s revenue 4 mentions
- google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update 2 mentions
- The next chapter of our AI momentum 2 mentions
- Using Kagi Search with Low Vision 2 mentions
- A new era for AI Search 2 mentions
Data: google-search.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 41
“they have gradually traded search quality for ad revenue with the direct consequence being wasting my time.”
“I use models for most “searching” but then utilize Google Search as the last resort.”
“Search numbers are down because Google search has become crap.”
“the bullshit that is the above the fold google search results”
“Google refused to show search results and responded with a scolding message”
“I noticed last weekish that those no longer work.”
“Google doesn't provide reliably uncensored results”
“instead of letting you search for info, now google is FEEDING you (often the wrong) info.”
“Google does not provide search results above the fold, instead showing AI overview, ads, and YouTube search results.”
“I think it's completely broken now.”
“I was very grateful to have google search back in the day”
“these days, google is the first to fail”
“the search results are total garbage now.”
“two different people searching for the same search term would get two different results back from Google”
“Today, you shouldn't be using google for search. It is one of the worst options.”
“Google itself often doesn't return great results anymore”
“I feel like Google search has been nearly useless for several years now, flooded with fake advertising results”
“They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads.”
“If I know I'll find something with a Google query, then I still go straight to Google”
“I use models for nearly everything. Google only better at:”
“I use google search to find the url of something that i know exists”
“Non-AI Google Search.”
“until Google went to shit”
“nothing even comes close, for coverage and usability of Internet search, to Google Search for my geography”
“Google has been censoring topics for years, for many reasons.”
“if it misses I try google for simple stuff”
“Google search keeps switching me to Spanish.”
“My Google usage has gone down fairly significantly in the past couple of years as I use whatever free models”
“I use google search with &udm=14 to remove all AI elements in the results presentation.”
“I am still sometimes using Google Search.”
“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.”
“Now it's replaced by an often mistaken AI summary.”
“notice that the first thing you see is a full-screen cookie banner!?”
“Their search is now filled with ads and you no longer get good results, in my opinion.”
“it was always incredibly shocking to me how terrible Google search was every time I used it.”
“Google search just doesn't work for me any more.”
“I've stopped using Google for "99%" of searches”
“Google still great for me”
“the only links they offer to me are obfuscated so it's a matter of having to click on the link”
“Google Search gets more relevant results for the same query.”
“I’ll search for it on Google to be tracked and advertised.”