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this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2024
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Technology
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Honestly I don’t think it’s just Google, DDG has been getting worse as well, not quite as bad as Google but still similar issues where the thing I’m looking for is buried under spam sites built to a generic standard with shitty content but spectacular search engine optimization.
And pumping out sites and pages like that is optimal in the current market as it is the best way to get clicks, as supposed to investing in skilled writing, investigation and research.
The problem is that the major search engines have all kind of sat on their behinds about this and actively sold these bad websites assistance in gaming their search engine. The search engines would have to rebuild their search functions to find signs of bad sites and deprioritize them in the list, not just show things that seem relevant. They’ll probably never do this because then they’d hurt the part of their business that is helping shitty sites game the engine.
It’s AI-generated content. Someone is just telling the AI to generate content that will capture X search term. Like free google ads, except instead of configuring target keywords in a system designed to do that, they’re bridging the gap with content designed to capture search traffic.
Because of AI, this is flattened again to a simple config. You could have an adwords-like interface where you’re configuring target keywords and phrases, and then you just click “run” and you have a pile of content designed to connect the dots you configured. Here’s a keyword, here’s a URl. When people search this keyword I want them to end up at this URL. Write me an article that will meet both those criteria.
Maybe this AI shit is like the warp drive in the three-body problem: it feeds off a space filled with well-organized information, but when it’s used, it pollutes that environment with bullshit, rendering future use of that information ecosystem less valuable.
Not to be that guy, but it's "as opposed to". Hope this helps in the future!
I say supposed here in place of opposed as “ supposed” implies “a correct course of action”, rather than “an alternative but opposite course of action.”
"as opposed to" is an idiom that just means "in contrast". You're creating a contrast between what they're actually doing as opposed to what they're supposed to be doing. "As supposed to" doesn't work as a preposition and doesn't actually create a contrast on its own.
As an FYI, opposed does not necessarily mean opposite, it can and often means in contrast to or in conflict with. Shades of gray, but either word works fine here.
But the way it fits into the sentence doesn’t match that use case. It does perfectly match the use case for the phrase “as opposed to”.
In the mid aughts every time Google updated their ranking, and results shuffled it was called the "Google dance". We sorely need a major Google dance.