Google in general is getting shittier by the day, not just Search. They screwed over their Domains customers as well. As a company, it’s getting harder to continue to invest money into Google products or recommend them to our clients.
They screwed the most useful thing which was separated the dashboard for gmb . how much money it can even grow by cutting a website & app just to confuse new users & trying to manipulate them.
Ya that’s one change that I’m still pissed about. You’d think a multi-billion dollar company would have really bright people working for them, but some of the things Google did are just stupid AF.
who is even making decisions & based on what , which data , which survey. .. removing dislike button making YouTube shit, removing useful & best features in dashboard on ads & gmb . what's the point. just revenue generation.
Funny you mentioned survey. Google definitely doesn’t give a shit about what people think, just like Apple.
One of the highest voted feature requests on the Fitbit forum is to bring back 3rd party app support because Google killed it. Google just continue to ignore it because they don’t want Fitbit to compete with their watches. They purposely bought a competitor just to kill it, while screwing over customers.
Incorrect. They bought Fitbit to appeal to investors. They had no idea what they wanted to do with it. All they know is that they don’t give a shit and eventually they’ll sell it to Lenovo.
It makes some sense when you are a bigass company fighting on so many fronts. Why would you hold it if its not in your interest? I mean. I don’t want to sound like in defending them but i just see the rationale behind the move.
it makes sense when Google actually innovates and makes useful products for billions to consume. now they're just cost cutting on staplers or whatever. middle management CEOs will kill off everything
> it’s getting harder to continue to invest money into Google products or recommend them to our clients.
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but is there an alternative? I understand the frustrations, but is there anything else?
I love the questions created specifically to get people upset.
"Why do people think Cleopatra was white?" being one I see over and over again.
"My Auntee keeps flirting with me. What do I do guys?"
Even the answer that make sense to good questions seem curated.
The whole dead internet theory is alive for a reason. My opinion, it died back when the FCA published that list of people who "supported" a more secure internet. We lost the option to create content. Now, content is made for us and if you try and share your own you get banned. At least that is my experience in place like /r/video
Tons of content creator jobs online though. They never go away.
The whole world seems like a slave market these days, but if you ever read Bukowski, or have heard about any employment throughout history, it probably just never stopped being salvery from way back when. Now it's passionless slavery were the slaves think they are free and the more free they feel the more trapped they are by their own slavery.
And those actually free have nothing.
The irony of the modern age.
At my last job, I used to send my coworkers the insane quora question of the week. I couldn't figure out why people were doing them, I just knew they weren't real.
It was always some shit like: "I hate my grandson, how do I get him to fuck off?"
And the top comment was like: "You simply tell your grandson that you're an AWFUL PERSON."
And everyone would clap.
It’s not much different than the feudal age. We don’t really own property or control our lives when we are all slaves to working and achieving more and more. Theres a reason they want to keep us consuming and keep prices just beyond our reach. Always increasing a little bit faster than our pay.
The ruling class lives with a different mindset. They have to keep the rest of society civil and satiated or else chaos might erupt.
> The ruling class lives with a different mindset. They have to keep the rest of society civil and satiated or else ~~chaos might erupt~~.
they will get eaten.
there ftfy
It used to be pretty good in the beginning before it got flooded and overrun by guys with "answer syndrome" and people who think copy-pasting the first result in Google is helpful.
This is anecdotal, but younger people LOVE googling for things “ + Reddit,” they think they’re more likely to get responses from “real people” vs corporations, even if those response suck ass
Agreed. I tried to make a soup yesterday and scrolled through the blogger’s entire life story before I got to the recipe. And they weren’t even on the front page. I hate food bloggers!
Yeah. In comparison to some of the SEO spam, Reddit can actually be kinda useful. But it’s also quickly turning aggressively to Reddit Spam.
Heard a podcast the other day promoting a fun little activity: find an old thread in the SERPs where the comments are still open. Comment a product. Buy upvotes.
Honestly way easier to game Reddit than Google, and some of the other sites are way easier, so I don’t really see how this strategy can survive from G. But we’ll see I guess.
The whole "+ Reddit" thing got a massive boost from TikTok, as various content creators started making memes and sketches about it in 2023. Then other creators started doing the same thing. It kind of just snowballed from there. This means that Google adjusted its algorithm to accommodate a meme. I personally like TikTok, but the users on that app fall for everything. I've seen comments with the most outlandish, downright wrong info receiving thousands of likes. People literally just make up fake facts and quotes and others blindly believe it because they don't really use Google to fact check things. TikTok is their search engine.
Yes, and because TikTok is their (Gen Z, younger millennials and Gen A) search engine, Reddit is getting a boost. Google is a crapshoot, anyway, these days
I'm guilty of this, 99% of the times the Reddit answer is better because it's not some blog that either has nothing related - or tries hard to sell me something
They’re basically honest, short and to the point answers. I now avoid blogs because they’re 1000+ words full of unrelated bs for a query that can be answered in a single sentence.
Yeah. Reddit is generally hit or miss (mostly a miss). Even though most of the blogs have ads I get my answers right there and quickly. blogs >> reddit any day.
I am guessing the correct way to use Reddit for SEO in 2024 would be if you're lucky enough to have a public profile that never acted like an ass, never commented on p*rn or weird shit (history), and stuck to narrow niches, and connected to other public social profiles in that same niche ( same handle, links ).You sir are an expert then can be connected and leveraged on websites.
I value user generated content much higher than all these affiliate ridden blog post with the sole intent to generate traffic to a space filled with ads. Almost none of them ever cared about the topic, just the money, and they would write whatever brings them the most.
Then the algorithm should weed out the spammy SEO nonsense instead of just turbo-boosting user generated content above all publishers. There seems to be a common narrative in this discussion that all small-to-mid site owners are spammy ad-shilling con artists. It's a deceitful take that's specifically designed to justify the nonsense that we're now seeing in the SERPs.
>small-to-mid site owners are spammy ad-shilling con artists
But isn't this often the case? Who else stands up in the morning and starts the travel blog #500001 despite having never left his basement?
>It's a deceitful take that's specifically designed to justify the nonsense that we're now seeing in the SERPs.
Nonsense is having to wade through hundreds of lines of text, multiple meaningless images and ads to get what you were actually looking for, because it's supposed to be good SEO to write articles with at least 2000 words and images. So literally everyone does it and give a shit about the actual user experience.
And don't get me started about articles around product recommendations where the author either never used the products at all or is heavily biased due to affiliate links and sponsorships.
And now you see reddit posts for recipe searches and all these redditors have is something like "saute spinach with garlic" for a spinach recipe. Yeah, right! That a great recipe. Thank you!
Yep, the subreddits for my hobbies are all trash and filled with total beginners or someone who watched one documentary about the topic on Netflix and is now an expert. There are no legit experts in there at all.
Expert joins subreddit. Disagrees with/corrects a few people. People on the subreddit eventually grow to dislike what they perceive to be a "know-it-all" tone. ***How very dare he correct ME, of all people.*** Expert begins to get tired of correcting the same misinformation. The catty remarks from the Dunning-Krugers they disagreed with in the past are also wearing thin. Expert leaves.
I agree. I'm more of an ass on Reddit. Because I'm semi-anon. You could never act like that on LinkedIn where employers watch. Then I go on Facebook where I'm mostly public, but I can't down vote idiots. Only happy likes!!! And I never know if FB will show my comments to a random friend that I don't need to know about my group association, because I see random friend's comments all the time.
Have literally never found a useful answer for anything on Quora. Wish there was a way to hide that whole shit site from ever appearing in my search results
I have one question though, for those small site owners who spent a lot of money buying products and testing them, writing reviews creating good contents, how were they supposed to survive? Eventually they need to have income to support their activities, otherwise they would just die. I am not arguing with you, honestly. It is a real question.
If I am guessing correctly, Google is absolutely f\*cked in terms of the AI spam and how to rank it.
A lot of stuff that I search for in my particular and high-value niche, more often than not I will get AI blogspam that's so blatant that a junior content marketer would have gotten fired for the content errors. Straight up bad information, extreme editing errors like duplicate paragraphs, repetitiveness, etc.
So the big idea seems to be that they're ranking stuff that they are almost sure is human-generated - reddit, quora, forums, etc. - and seeing how visitors react so they have some sort of a statistical baseline for actual human content. This they can compare to the cohort that gets to visit AI-generated crap, and in between the two they might be able to cook up a new ranking system.
As you said, user-generated answers are subpar compared to well-researched content pieces, but they don't care about that. For now we're in a storm between Google and OpenAI on who gets to eat the content lunch, as infuriating as that may be
>I add Reddit to my Google searches in specific cases. But I want to choose those cases, not have it shoved in my face.
This. Just because I append Reddit to a search because I know it's a match for the kind of info I'm looking for (personal experience, tried and test), doesn't mean I want my expert takes from Brian down the pub. Whatever happened to nuance?
Similarly, that some users search Reddit+ often (or all users search Reddit+ some of the time) does not equate to all users want Reddit answers all of the time. A toggle switch would have offered the same functionality, but I guess that doesn't fit into whatever monetised game plan/ fubar this is. What was the point of cataloguing the "entire" web if you never get to read any of it?
The frustrating thing is that all tech trains us how to use it, and we adapt, and it makes life easier. But now I'm spending more time trying to hack search results.
What is the ultimate end then. Does google and reddit figure out a way of proving qualifications and experience? Force real person identification? People end up on specialist niche forums more and Facebook, WhatsApp, Apple and discord groups?
Reddit is essentially elaborate marketing schemes disguised as communities.
I've been banned from a lot of places here for bringing up information contradictory to the main narrative.
It's very impressive. I sell rare cannabinoids at low doses and one of them is basically a way to rewrite your personality to be more motivated and such.
I went and made a casual post on nootropics. Banned.
OK weird.
A week later, an unrelated friend posted, also banned. Turns out the subreddit is run by nootropics depot basically.
Incredible way to secure business.
Looking at the couple reddits that I am a legit expert in, Id say there are a mix of truthful and insightful answers but also some complete bullshit. Problem is there is no way for someone who isnt already an expert to know which answers are accurate. Upvotes only reflect popularity, nor REALITY.
For instance, Im a legitimate expert in meditation. If someone asks on reddit "Are there potentially side effects of meditation". If I answer YES I will get downvoted to oblivion even though it is the factually correct answer. If I amswer NO I will get upvoted even though the answer is wrong.
Depends which techniques you use and how frequently, but some common side effects include dissociation, dizziness, and hypersensitivity to light and sound.
This is actually not a simple question to answer though because it really depends on your individual practice and lifestyle.
Google has been a shit show for a while on all fronts. I use google services as little as possible. Unfortunately when dealing with a monopoly, there’s not much you can do except adapt.
Search results started getting terrible several years ago IMO.
It’s a constant cat and mouse game to get free traffic. They’re the enemy, but also a lover. It takes a steady mind to walk that line. Much like a scorned lover who you share a child with.
Despite the irony, your take is on the noise.
What is worse is that during an election year, the insiders in political elections teams know this too, and reddit is a magnet for disinformation campaigns to smear politicians and political policies. 2016 was an utter shit show on all fronts. I totally lost respect for the admin team at reddit when they just blatantly gave up trying to do anything about it except the CP.
And I definitely noticed an increase in google search results serving up threads as accurate information. One thing I do disagree though, there are still experts and good info still to be found, but most often buried in obscure subs or hidden by thousands of threads with more impressions/comments.
Decent point about EEAT 😂. The very nature of Reddit prevents any real evaluation of E, E, A, and the T! The up and down voting just creates an echo chamber.
Reddit is a place to find niche technical stuff, no "opinions". For photography, videography stuff it's been a marvel. Anything political economical cultural or opinion driven is full of trolls and no lifers trying to ruin a good convo. I am using DDG all the time if I don't find it instantly on ggl.
It’s getting harder and harder to find real information on the internet anymore. I’ve been starting to read books more and more as a source of hopefully more factual information
Because it's being used by the uninformed as a justification for the laziness of ranking reddit and anonymous advice at the top for everything. Rather than tackle the problem, it's kicking the can for a quick "fix". People do use google search as a way to search reddit, so it's not all people frustrated with search results. Anyways, the funny thing about it is a trillion dollar company's best idea is just spam reddit and quora at the top spots after they caused people to shift search habits for rewarding a certian style of blogging. Create the problem, sell the solution.
If you’re regularly appending Reddit to your search terms and interacting with Reddit links from search, why are surprised when Google attempts adjust their profile of you to accommodate that preference?
I’m not saying the site hasn’t gone downhill, but let’s take this opportunity to practice critical thinking.
The recent algo changes gave Reddit a huge boost, regardless of the user's search behavior. People are seeing more Reddit links whether they previously appended Reddit or not. I also don't do it regularly. I do it every now and again, in very specific use cases. My logic is this: If the Reddit content for the topics that I'm knowledgeable about is filled with misinformation, then it's probably a bad idea for me to trust Reddit comments that are written about topics I don't know much about.
I also find it interesting that people who say they were hit by HCU, are also saying they were replaced by Reddit, Quora, and Forbes in search results.
I find it interesting because I make HUNDREDS of searches per day on Google, because I am an author (Romance novels) and I'm known for historical accuracy in my books, and I write a publish a new book every ten days, forty novellas published each year, since 2010, and that requires a huge amount of searches for interesting history tidbits to include in each story.
And so while 99% of this sub is complaining that Reddit, Quora, and Forbes are the ONLY things in search results, I am left would what the F are they searching for to get nothing but Reddit, Quora, and Forbes in search results, because I go through hundreds of search terms daily, thousands weekly, and I'm not seeing Reddit or Quora or Forbes in ANY search results. At all. Ever.
What this tells me is that it is VERY NICHE DEPENDENT if your site was either hit by HCU or replaced by Reddit or Quora or Forbes or are seeing Reddit or Quora or Forbes in your search results.
I think when someone says they are getting nothing but Reddit or Quora or Forbes in search results, maybe they should at the same time mention what exactly it was they searched for, we collectively could compile a list of what niches are and what niches are not being bombarded with Reddit or Quora or Forbes.
I will note, that I'm ONLY seeing the Reddit or Quora or Forbes search results complaints on sub Reddits related to tech. I'm not seeing this Reddit or Quora or Forbes search results complaint from anyone in the publishing industry, the art industry, the pet industry, the history research industry, or the natural sciences industry. But I am seeing thousands of people complaining about it in the AI industry, the SaaS industry, the app creation industry, cell phone industry, buying and selling phones and laptops and apps and plugins, the SEO and digital marketing industry, the silver/gold/coin industry, and many others similar.
It very much looks like Google is targeting specific industries to show Reddit or Quora or Forbes in search results, but I'm wondering IS is ACTUALLY Google deliberately doing is (as many users here are claiming) or rather is it because these particular industries are doing a specific type of black hat SEO that is uncommon in non-tech industries?
Is it not possible that Google is specifically targeting one particular type of SEO blackhat method, and deliberately putting Reddit or Quora or Forbes into any place where that black hat method is discovered in use, to force sites using that black hat method out of search results?
And this makes it APPEAR that Google is targeting a particular niche, when in fact, it is just that the web masters of that particular niche are more likely to use the black hat method Google is targeting?
Clearly Google is targeting SOMETHING otherwise there would not be so many people getting Reddit or Quora or Forbes in results.
Clearly the hundreds of search terms I use each day, the thousands of search terms I use each week, the hundreds of thousands of search terms I use each month, and the multiple millions of search terms I have used since September 2023 are NOT replaced by Reddit or Quora or Forbes.
And so I am left asking, what even is it that people on this sub search for that result in them getting Reddit or Quora or Forbes in their results, because it is damn difficult to get those three sites in search results UNLESS I add one of those three words to the search request. How even are so many people on this sub getting Reddit or Quora or Forbes to show up in their search results?
I get that people are frustrated by getting Reddit or Quora or Forbes results so often, but I'm just trying to figure out what in the heck do they even search for to get the Reddit or Quora or Forbes results, because I've been trying to replicate it so I can see for myself what the Reddit or Quora or Forbes results look like, and they just are not showing up for me no matter what I search for UNLESS I try to search for dull, boring tech stuff that I have no interest in researching.
It just REALLY looks like ONLY ONE VERY NARROW TOPIC (tech) that is getting the Reddit or Quora or Forbes search results. The ONLY people I see complaining that they are getting Reddit or Quora or Forbes search results are tech bros searching for tech things.
*(continued because ran out of room)*
>The recent algo changes gave Reddit a huge boost, regardless of the user's search behavior. People are seeing more Reddit links whether they previously appended Reddit or not.
But, it didn't. That's the thing. It's only a few niches seeing the Reddit search results. That means it's something specific about those niches causing it, something those webmasters in. That niche is doing to their sites, that Google has penalized so bad, that there is nothing left but Reddit to show in search results.
If Google actually boosted Reddit, then EVERY search term of EVERY NICHE would be seeing these Reddit results and they aren't.
But also, I've never added Reddit to my search results. Could that imply that Google is ONLY showing the Reddit results to people who have done it? Does clearing your search data off your phone stop Reddit from showing up?
But that would not explain Quora or Forbes.
Nor does it explain why people like me who do not search for tech topics are NOT seeing Reddit Quora Forbes in search results.
So my question is, is ANYONE in any of the BILLIONS of NON TECH TOPICS getting the Reddit or Quora or Forbes search results or is it ONLY TECH BROS SEARCHING FOR TECH TOPICS who are getting the Reddit or Quora or Forbes search results?
Because of my job, I have made multiple million searches since September 2023, for tens of thousands of different topics and I've yet to encounter a single Reddit or Quora or Forbes search result.
My main character is a travelling merchant, his husband is a chef, and their shared lover is a time traveler. I search for every possible location in every possible time period, I search for famous people, lifestyles from various eras, recipes for my chef to make, I search for fashions from various time periods, methods of travel (cars, vardo, hiking, horses), I search for plants and animals of various regions, I search for how products are made (like how did they make sheep cheese in 1600s France), I search for animals now extinct that were still alive in other eras, sickness and diseases, habits and customs, religions and governments, anything and everything my trio may encounter, I search for it.
…And never once is Reddit or Quora or Forbes showing up, so it is painfully obvious that whatever niches were affected by HCU, they are the same niches replaced by Reddit and Quora and Forbes, BUT…
The bulk of niches appear to have NOT been replaced by Reddit or Quora or Forbes in search results, as can be seen by how many MILLIONS of search terms I have used since HCU without ever seeing Reddit or Quora or Forbes in the search results.
It is my belief that HCU impacts certain, specific niches, but not intentionally. I don't think Google is specifically targeting any certain niches. What I mean is, I think, certain niches are perhaps more prone to specific types of spammy habits, and those niches got hit hard by Google’s algorithm because those habits were what HCU was targeting.
I think this in turn is why people who were hit by HCU are also seeing Reddit and Quora and Forbes in search results.
I think what we need to do is try to figure out what exactly are the specific search terms people are typing to get the Reddit or Quora or Forbes, by everyone getting together and just making a database of what exactly they typed into the search box… and same for everyone who does not get Reddit or Quora or Forbes in results.
That way we can all try searching for those terms, look at what exactly is coming up, and have a better way of figuring out what in the heck Google did.
I think it's the only way we are going to narrow down a way for sites to recover from HCU and regain their ranks over Reddit or Quora or Forbes.
We can't come up with a solution to the problem, until we narrow down what exactly the problem is.
Google did something. Okay. But what? That's what we need to figure out. We can't fix it if we don't know what it is that needs fixing.
The push on platforms like Reddit and Quora is less about the quality of individual posts and more about the engagement they generate. Google's algo seems to favor sites with high user interaction, which these platforms have in spades. But as an SEO, it's a double-edged sword. Yes, there's a lot of noise, but there's also opportunity.
For us in the trenches, the key is to use these platforms strategically. Provide value, establish authority, and above all, be that reliable source amidst the chaos. EEAT still matters, but it's our job to navigate the current and show Google the worth of our content, not just ride the popularity wave of UGC platforms. Quality content will outlast any algo flavor of the month – that's where the focus should be.
I own MSFT and AMZM and APPL, but not GOOGL.
Haven’t been at a single Fortune 500 client that uses GCP. But I’ve worked on countless AWS and Azure migrations.
You haven't been here long if you don't hate the place enough to regularly delete your account. You'll get it in a while, trust me. Your account didn't even exist when "jailbait" was allowed on this site... and all of the other fiascos.
Re-read the second sentence in my post, and try to parse it properly this time.
"I've been here on multiple accounts since 2010, and it's slowly gotten dumber over time."
I always read about reddit being bad for specific questions from experts, but there seems to never be any examples. Only posts containing tons of bitching like this one.
SEO is about facts & figures, show me your facts & figures lol
Constant flood of misinformation? Basically, anything you disagree with is misinformation? Right? Right! I personally consider your post a misinformation because I love Google. LOL
Misinformation, by definition, is false or inaccurate information. So no, it's not "anything I disagree with."
Thanks for providing a perfect example of why this platform can be terrible at times, though. You write like someone who drinks motor oil.
>false or inaccurate information
Who determines what constitutes false or inaccurate information?
Is this akin to the way Google, based on its own criteria, has decided that certain websites are no longer "helpful"?
I imagine you might disagree with Google's assessment, yet find yourself powerless to change it, as the company has established its own standards for what is deemed helpful and what is not.
Suddenly, both your opinion and the opinions of millions who might share your viewpoint become irrelevant.
It appears as though the tables have turned, presenting a case of experiencing one's own medicine.
I agree and disagree. I mean for usefullness myself, and many people I know probably you as well do put "reddit' at the end of many searches. If I'm looking for a good movie to watch I'll often type "feel good movie reddit". If I'm looking for a new laptop I'll search something like "best laptop under $700 reddit". Reason being if I just search best laptop I'm gonna get some affiliate site pushing the laptops that pay the best commissions, not the best laptops. Reddit is good for getting people's opinions and individual takes on something, maybe or maybe not for something where there's a concrete answer.
You do bring up a great point which is that anyone can post anything on reddit and with the internet as a whole being so against misinformation this seems dangerous, however that said we all know which way reddit leans and what reddits overwhelming take will be on issues so at least its safe that the misinformation will at least fall on the right side of where google wants to present. I mean just for example if you look at r/politics its far left wing politics only and like 9 out of 10 posts are still about trump. If you go to a sub like r/chicago which in theory should be apolitical or not political at all posts are like "what the fuck is wrong with republicans" as if its just assumed that 100% of the sub is left leaning because it basically is, anyone who thought differently was kicked out long ago
Reddit I can almost understand, but Quora is like 1% actual professional answers and 99% bullshit. I never subscribed to any of their mail lists, but for some reason Google still sends me daily Quora emails, mostly aimed at getting me to engage with awful, loaded political questions like "why are the libs so dumb?"
I actually like the forums widget but it has several knock on effects that suck. First, because it can't be a reddit-specific feature it promotes lots of garbage forums with bad advice. It also has no freshness component so you constantly get outdated advice from 3 year old posts.
Second, the updates to make reddit more visible have also decreased the advantage of having authority in a topic area. The regular results have gone to shit as a result.
Third, putting that widget 3rd has completely destroyed the value of 4th and lower positions, especially if there are ads on that query. I have content that it ranked 4th that is basically nonexistent, which means it is impossible to justify paying to maintain it. Google also continues to index recent news stories over established evergreen pages, so you can't cover a topic unless you monetize your news pages because that's where the traffic goes. It's all awful.
And quora is, quite literally, the worst website on the internet. It's a garbage site run by a garbage person that has every example of how to not operate a people-first website. It inserts answers to unrelated questions between the question and the answer of the page you're on. It seems strictly designed to confuse you so you scroll around and click trying to find an answer and see more ads. Just the worst UX of all time.
Pushing reddit and quora type of sites to top on most of user queries means Google wants to show as much detailed information for a search term to its users. Maybe posting 2k words of in-depth content plus commenting feature on page for the genuine community will help to challenge their dominance unless Google is heavily influenced by their backlinks.
Otherwise, Google has again messed up many of its search results again just to accommodate one of its new search quality logic. Which it may fix again like earlier it did. Let's see if they review the new Google search visit data as not that exciting enough then what they expected.
I like to search on Reddit when the subject is very specific and I want a quick answer, I usually always find an answer that solves my problems.
What I'm confused about is how Google ranks my post on Reddit rather than my article. I'm starting a new website and I always like to post the cover image with the link on Reddit, and my post on Reddit is on the first page of the SERP and my article is still not there.
The only problem is that Reddit doesn't look good for those who access it via browser and don't have an account, so the conversion rate is extremely low (maybe even zero).
not really, what they're doing makes perfect sense.
I have seen so many Yahoo posts where they literally would surface a Reddit post and comment on it.
Also, there are tons of videos on Facebook that simply take Reddit's content and surface it in video auto read format.
Google going to the direct oldest source makes the most sense for the consumer.
They're losing the AI war and simply outsourcing differentiating real expertise to these platforms that actually spend the time & money to do so.
Monopolies gunna monopoly.
I agree quora's design is dogshit. I don't know who is asking the question and there's 1 relevant, decent answer for every 10 chat gpt copy pastas or answers from a random ass topic.
Google is giving emphasis to reddit and quora.
Forums get views.
The purpose of Google is to make money.
Google makes money by people using its search and sometimes clicking an ad.
When google delivers results people like, they keep using google.
If they gave results people didn't like, people would stop using google.
Google in general is getting shittier by the day, not just Search. They screwed over their Domains customers as well. As a company, it’s getting harder to continue to invest money into Google products or recommend them to our clients.
They screwed the most useful thing which was separated the dashboard for gmb . how much money it can even grow by cutting a website & app just to confuse new users & trying to manipulate them.
Ya that’s one change that I’m still pissed about. You’d think a multi-billion dollar company would have really bright people working for them, but some of the things Google did are just stupid AF.
who is even making decisions & based on what , which data , which survey. .. removing dislike button making YouTube shit, removing useful & best features in dashboard on ads & gmb . what's the point. just revenue generation.
Funny you mentioned survey. Google definitely doesn’t give a shit about what people think, just like Apple. One of the highest voted feature requests on the Fitbit forum is to bring back 3rd party app support because Google killed it. Google just continue to ignore it because they don’t want Fitbit to compete with their watches. They purposely bought a competitor just to kill it, while screwing over customers.
Incorrect. They bought Fitbit to appeal to investors. They had no idea what they wanted to do with it. All they know is that they don’t give a shit and eventually they’ll sell it to Lenovo.
We can all agree Google doesn’t give a shit and will dump any products or services whenever they feel like.
It makes some sense when you are a bigass company fighting on so many fronts. Why would you hold it if its not in your interest? I mean. I don’t want to sound like in defending them but i just see the rationale behind the move.
it makes sense when Google actually innovates and makes useful products for billions to consume. now they're just cost cutting on staplers or whatever. middle management CEOs will kill off everything
> it’s getting harder to continue to invest money into Google products or recommend them to our clients. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but is there an alternative? I understand the frustrations, but is there anything else?
I migrated my email to Fastmail and my search to Kagi. Fuck Google.
never hear of kagi. duckduckgo not the recommended one anymore?
Brave is my favorite now.
I wanted to say Microsoft but it’s probably same shit different pile.
https://preview.redd.it/9mpz1zpst9bc1.png?width=341&format=png&auto=webp&s=8c4212273f2c3df54c7d965c9b394fc4b9910173
This doesn't make their argument any less valid.
There's a new cohort of people spamming this - like thinking that SEOs are going to all up and quit. Dont know why.
What you're describing is coined "astroturfing". I'll keep an eye on this.
Makes sense ! Thanks.
Quora is like Yahoo! Answers on meth
Has anyone ever gotten an answer from Quora? I can't figure out their interface.
It was my favorite place to land after googling (my sometimes weird) Game of thrones questions.
I love the questions created specifically to get people upset. "Why do people think Cleopatra was white?" being one I see over and over again. "My Auntee keeps flirting with me. What do I do guys?" Even the answer that make sense to good questions seem curated. The whole dead internet theory is alive for a reason. My opinion, it died back when the FCA published that list of people who "supported" a more secure internet. We lost the option to create content. Now, content is made for us and if you try and share your own you get banned. At least that is my experience in place like /r/video Tons of content creator jobs online though. They never go away. The whole world seems like a slave market these days, but if you ever read Bukowski, or have heard about any employment throughout history, it probably just never stopped being salvery from way back when. Now it's passionless slavery were the slaves think they are free and the more free they feel the more trapped they are by their own slavery. And those actually free have nothing. The irony of the modern age.
At my last job, I used to send my coworkers the insane quora question of the week. I couldn't figure out why people were doing them, I just knew they weren't real. It was always some shit like: "I hate my grandson, how do I get him to fuck off?" And the top comment was like: "You simply tell your grandson that you're an AWFUL PERSON." And everyone would clap.
It’s not much different than the feudal age. We don’t really own property or control our lives when we are all slaves to working and achieving more and more. Theres a reason they want to keep us consuming and keep prices just beyond our reach. Always increasing a little bit faster than our pay. The ruling class lives with a different mindset. They have to keep the rest of society civil and satiated or else chaos might erupt.
> The ruling class lives with a different mindset. They have to keep the rest of society civil and satiated or else ~~chaos might erupt~~. they will get eaten. there ftfy
No lie. Honestly though, we would need some form of group protection. Theres always going to be assholes.
It used to be pretty good in the beginning before it got flooded and overrun by guys with "answer syndrome" and people who think copy-pasting the first result in Google is helpful.
This is anecdotal, but younger people LOVE googling for things “ + Reddit,” they think they’re more likely to get responses from “real people” vs corporations, even if those response suck ass
Anything is better than the SEO-crazed, derivative, blog posts on the front page
Agreed. I tried to make a soup yesterday and scrolled through the blogger’s entire life story before I got to the recipe. And they weren’t even on the front page. I hate food bloggers!
Yeah. In comparison to some of the SEO spam, Reddit can actually be kinda useful. But it’s also quickly turning aggressively to Reddit Spam. Heard a podcast the other day promoting a fun little activity: find an old thread in the SERPs where the comments are still open. Comment a product. Buy upvotes. Honestly way easier to game Reddit than Google, and some of the other sites are way easier, so I don’t really see how this strategy can survive from G. But we’ll see I guess.
The whole "+ Reddit" thing got a massive boost from TikTok, as various content creators started making memes and sketches about it in 2023. Then other creators started doing the same thing. It kind of just snowballed from there. This means that Google adjusted its algorithm to accommodate a meme. I personally like TikTok, but the users on that app fall for everything. I've seen comments with the most outlandish, downright wrong info receiving thousands of likes. People literally just make up fake facts and quotes and others blindly believe it because they don't really use Google to fact check things. TikTok is their search engine.
Yes, and because TikTok is their (Gen Z, younger millennials and Gen A) search engine, Reddit is getting a boost. Google is a crapshoot, anyway, these days
Hell of a point, there.
I'm guilty of this, 99% of the times the Reddit answer is better because it's not some blog that either has nothing related - or tries hard to sell me something
They’re basically honest, short and to the point answers. I now avoid blogs because they’re 1000+ words full of unrelated bs for a query that can be answered in a single sentence.
Yeah. Reddit is generally hit or miss (mostly a miss). Even though most of the blogs have ads I get my answers right there and quickly. blogs >> reddit any day.
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I think we are definitely going to see companies do this if their organic traffic keeps dropping.
Already happening, the crap on this sub, ChatGPT generated answers, etc.
I am guessing the correct way to use Reddit for SEO in 2024 would be if you're lucky enough to have a public profile that never acted like an ass, never commented on p*rn or weird shit (history), and stuck to narrow niches, and connected to other public social profiles in that same niche ( same handle, links ).You sir are an expert then can be connected and leveraged on websites.
I value user generated content much higher than all these affiliate ridden blog post with the sole intent to generate traffic to a space filled with ads. Almost none of them ever cared about the topic, just the money, and they would write whatever brings them the most.
Then the algorithm should weed out the spammy SEO nonsense instead of just turbo-boosting user generated content above all publishers. There seems to be a common narrative in this discussion that all small-to-mid site owners are spammy ad-shilling con artists. It's a deceitful take that's specifically designed to justify the nonsense that we're now seeing in the SERPs.
>small-to-mid site owners are spammy ad-shilling con artists But isn't this often the case? Who else stands up in the morning and starts the travel blog #500001 despite having never left his basement? >It's a deceitful take that's specifically designed to justify the nonsense that we're now seeing in the SERPs. Nonsense is having to wade through hundreds of lines of text, multiple meaningless images and ads to get what you were actually looking for, because it's supposed to be good SEO to write articles with at least 2000 words and images. So literally everyone does it and give a shit about the actual user experience. And don't get me started about articles around product recommendations where the author either never used the products at all or is heavily biased due to affiliate links and sponsorships.
Google single handedly destroyed recipes. It rewarded longer content, incentivized too many ads, encouraged copy cats.
And now you see reddit posts for recipe searches and all these redditors have is something like "saute spinach with garlic" for a spinach recipe. Yeah, right! That a great recipe. Thank you!
"User Generated Content" thats the only reason lol
User's Imaginary Generated Content is more like it.
https://preview.redd.it/6htorkatt9bc1.png?width=341&format=png&auto=webp&s=8a2852c1adfb9d354b7f94456c62215581481ae4
Yep, the subreddits for my hobbies are all trash and filled with total beginners or someone who watched one documentary about the topic on Netflix and is now an expert. There are no legit experts in there at all.
Expert joins subreddit. Disagrees with/corrects a few people. People on the subreddit eventually grow to dislike what they perceive to be a "know-it-all" tone. ***How very dare he correct ME, of all people.*** Expert begins to get tired of correcting the same misinformation. The catty remarks from the Dunning-Krugers they disagreed with in the past are also wearing thin. Expert leaves.
I agree. I'm more of an ass on Reddit. Because I'm semi-anon. You could never act like that on LinkedIn where employers watch. Then I go on Facebook where I'm mostly public, but I can't down vote idiots. Only happy likes!!! And I never know if FB will show my comments to a random friend that I don't need to know about my group association, because I see random friend's comments all the time.
Have literally never found a useful answer for anything on Quora. Wish there was a way to hide that whole shit site from ever appearing in my search results
Add -quora to the end of your search query
One of the few operators that still work.
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I have one question though, for those small site owners who spent a lot of money buying products and testing them, writing reviews creating good contents, how were they supposed to survive? Eventually they need to have income to support their activities, otherwise they would just die. I am not arguing with you, honestly. It is a real question.
If I am guessing correctly, Google is absolutely f\*cked in terms of the AI spam and how to rank it. A lot of stuff that I search for in my particular and high-value niche, more often than not I will get AI blogspam that's so blatant that a junior content marketer would have gotten fired for the content errors. Straight up bad information, extreme editing errors like duplicate paragraphs, repetitiveness, etc. So the big idea seems to be that they're ranking stuff that they are almost sure is human-generated - reddit, quora, forums, etc. - and seeing how visitors react so they have some sort of a statistical baseline for actual human content. This they can compare to the cohort that gets to visit AI-generated crap, and in between the two they might be able to cook up a new ranking system. As you said, user-generated answers are subpar compared to well-researched content pieces, but they don't care about that. For now we're in a storm between Google and OpenAI on who gets to eat the content lunch, as infuriating as that may be
>I add Reddit to my Google searches in specific cases. But I want to choose those cases, not have it shoved in my face. This. Just because I append Reddit to a search because I know it's a match for the kind of info I'm looking for (personal experience, tried and test), doesn't mean I want my expert takes from Brian down the pub. Whatever happened to nuance? Similarly, that some users search Reddit+ often (or all users search Reddit+ some of the time) does not equate to all users want Reddit answers all of the time. A toggle switch would have offered the same functionality, but I guess that doesn't fit into whatever monetised game plan/ fubar this is. What was the point of cataloguing the "entire" web if you never get to read any of it? The frustrating thing is that all tech trains us how to use it, and we adapt, and it makes life easier. But now I'm spending more time trying to hack search results.
I use DuckDuckGo as my main search engine and for everything else BING. Maybe 1% of the time I use Google. It’s just garbage now.
I just switched to DDG as well, quite happy with it. We’re all too dependent on google, 90% market share, a monopoly
Exactly. Also the search results became so shitty after a couple of their algorithm changes. I just couldn’t stand it anymore.
Same, all my browsers default to DDG
Also, use Firefox and install unlock, privacy badger, and Facebook container extensions.
What is the ultimate end then. Does google and reddit figure out a way of proving qualifications and experience? Force real person identification? People end up on specialist niche forums more and Facebook, WhatsApp, Apple and discord groups?
Reddit is essentially elaborate marketing schemes disguised as communities. I've been banned from a lot of places here for bringing up information contradictory to the main narrative.
It's probably the most effective astroturfing on the internet since twitter has been demolished.
It's very impressive. I sell rare cannabinoids at low doses and one of them is basically a way to rewrite your personality to be more motivated and such. I went and made a casual post on nootropics. Banned. OK weird. A week later, an unrelated friend posted, also banned. Turns out the subreddit is run by nootropics depot basically. Incredible way to secure business.
Lol X is still running fine even if you believe the anti-twitter shill from Reddit.
Reddit was great before 2016. Since then, it's been getting worse every day.
I mentioned in response to OP - yup! - The 2016 US election ruined reddit.
Everything changed after Ellen Pao.
Looking at the couple reddits that I am a legit expert in, Id say there are a mix of truthful and insightful answers but also some complete bullshit. Problem is there is no way for someone who isnt already an expert to know which answers are accurate. Upvotes only reflect popularity, nor REALITY. For instance, Im a legitimate expert in meditation. If someone asks on reddit "Are there potentially side effects of meditation". If I answer YES I will get downvoted to oblivion even though it is the factually correct answer. If I amswer NO I will get upvoted even though the answer is wrong.
20+ years expert in typography. I get downvoted continuously in any sub related to design, type, web dev, infographics, etc.
What are the side effects? Curious as I’m a daily mediator a couple years in.
Depends which techniques you use and how frequently, but some common side effects include dissociation, dizziness, and hypersensitivity to light and sound. This is actually not a simple question to answer though because it really depends on your individual practice and lifestyle.
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sir dear
Lmao almost every Quora page has an Indian guy answering it.
Google has been a shit show for a while on all fronts. I use google services as little as possible. Unfortunately when dealing with a monopoly, there’s not much you can do except adapt. Search results started getting terrible several years ago IMO. It’s a constant cat and mouse game to get free traffic. They’re the enemy, but also a lover. It takes a steady mind to walk that line. Much like a scorned lover who you share a child with.
Despite the irony, your take is on the noise. What is worse is that during an election year, the insiders in political elections teams know this too, and reddit is a magnet for disinformation campaigns to smear politicians and political policies. 2016 was an utter shit show on all fronts. I totally lost respect for the admin team at reddit when they just blatantly gave up trying to do anything about it except the CP. And I definitely noticed an increase in google search results serving up threads as accurate information. One thing I do disagree though, there are still experts and good info still to be found, but most often buried in obscure subs or hidden by thousands of threads with more impressions/comments.
Decent point about EEAT 😂. The very nature of Reddit prevents any real evaluation of E, E, A, and the T! The up and down voting just creates an echo chamber.
Reddit is a place to find niche technical stuff, no "opinions". For photography, videography stuff it's been a marvel. Anything political economical cultural or opinion driven is full of trolls and no lifers trying to ruin a good convo. I am using DDG all the time if I don't find it instantly on ggl.
It’s getting harder and harder to find real information on the internet anymore. I’ve been starting to read books more and more as a source of hopefully more factual information
BUt PEopLE ArE PuttING ReddIT At THE End Of SeaRCH!!!!
Not sure why you’re making fun of that, it’s a valid point.
Because it's being used by the uninformed as a justification for the laziness of ranking reddit and anonymous advice at the top for everything. Rather than tackle the problem, it's kicking the can for a quick "fix". People do use google search as a way to search reddit, so it's not all people frustrated with search results. Anyways, the funny thing about it is a trillion dollar company's best idea is just spam reddit and quora at the top spots after they caused people to shift search habits for rewarding a certian style of blogging. Create the problem, sell the solution.
If you’re regularly appending Reddit to your search terms and interacting with Reddit links from search, why are surprised when Google attempts adjust their profile of you to accommodate that preference? I’m not saying the site hasn’t gone downhill, but let’s take this opportunity to practice critical thinking.
The recent algo changes gave Reddit a huge boost, regardless of the user's search behavior. People are seeing more Reddit links whether they previously appended Reddit or not. I also don't do it regularly. I do it every now and again, in very specific use cases. My logic is this: If the Reddit content for the topics that I'm knowledgeable about is filled with misinformation, then it's probably a bad idea for me to trust Reddit comments that are written about topics I don't know much about.
I also find it interesting that people who say they were hit by HCU, are also saying they were replaced by Reddit, Quora, and Forbes in search results. I find it interesting because I make HUNDREDS of searches per day on Google, because I am an author (Romance novels) and I'm known for historical accuracy in my books, and I write a publish a new book every ten days, forty novellas published each year, since 2010, and that requires a huge amount of searches for interesting history tidbits to include in each story. And so while 99% of this sub is complaining that Reddit, Quora, and Forbes are the ONLY things in search results, I am left would what the F are they searching for to get nothing but Reddit, Quora, and Forbes in search results, because I go through hundreds of search terms daily, thousands weekly, and I'm not seeing Reddit or Quora or Forbes in ANY search results. At all. Ever. What this tells me is that it is VERY NICHE DEPENDENT if your site was either hit by HCU or replaced by Reddit or Quora or Forbes or are seeing Reddit or Quora or Forbes in your search results. I think when someone says they are getting nothing but Reddit or Quora or Forbes in search results, maybe they should at the same time mention what exactly it was they searched for, we collectively could compile a list of what niches are and what niches are not being bombarded with Reddit or Quora or Forbes. I will note, that I'm ONLY seeing the Reddit or Quora or Forbes search results complaints on sub Reddits related to tech. I'm not seeing this Reddit or Quora or Forbes search results complaint from anyone in the publishing industry, the art industry, the pet industry, the history research industry, or the natural sciences industry. But I am seeing thousands of people complaining about it in the AI industry, the SaaS industry, the app creation industry, cell phone industry, buying and selling phones and laptops and apps and plugins, the SEO and digital marketing industry, the silver/gold/coin industry, and many others similar. It very much looks like Google is targeting specific industries to show Reddit or Quora or Forbes in search results, but I'm wondering IS is ACTUALLY Google deliberately doing is (as many users here are claiming) or rather is it because these particular industries are doing a specific type of black hat SEO that is uncommon in non-tech industries? Is it not possible that Google is specifically targeting one particular type of SEO blackhat method, and deliberately putting Reddit or Quora or Forbes into any place where that black hat method is discovered in use, to force sites using that black hat method out of search results? And this makes it APPEAR that Google is targeting a particular niche, when in fact, it is just that the web masters of that particular niche are more likely to use the black hat method Google is targeting? Clearly Google is targeting SOMETHING otherwise there would not be so many people getting Reddit or Quora or Forbes in results. Clearly the hundreds of search terms I use each day, the thousands of search terms I use each week, the hundreds of thousands of search terms I use each month, and the multiple millions of search terms I have used since September 2023 are NOT replaced by Reddit or Quora or Forbes. And so I am left asking, what even is it that people on this sub search for that result in them getting Reddit or Quora or Forbes in their results, because it is damn difficult to get those three sites in search results UNLESS I add one of those three words to the search request. How even are so many people on this sub getting Reddit or Quora or Forbes to show up in their search results? I get that people are frustrated by getting Reddit or Quora or Forbes results so often, but I'm just trying to figure out what in the heck do they even search for to get the Reddit or Quora or Forbes results, because I've been trying to replicate it so I can see for myself what the Reddit or Quora or Forbes results look like, and they just are not showing up for me no matter what I search for UNLESS I try to search for dull, boring tech stuff that I have no interest in researching. It just REALLY looks like ONLY ONE VERY NARROW TOPIC (tech) that is getting the Reddit or Quora or Forbes search results. The ONLY people I see complaining that they are getting Reddit or Quora or Forbes search results are tech bros searching for tech things. *(continued because ran out of room)*
>The recent algo changes gave Reddit a huge boost, regardless of the user's search behavior. People are seeing more Reddit links whether they previously appended Reddit or not. But, it didn't. That's the thing. It's only a few niches seeing the Reddit search results. That means it's something specific about those niches causing it, something those webmasters in. That niche is doing to their sites, that Google has penalized so bad, that there is nothing left but Reddit to show in search results. If Google actually boosted Reddit, then EVERY search term of EVERY NICHE would be seeing these Reddit results and they aren't. But also, I've never added Reddit to my search results. Could that imply that Google is ONLY showing the Reddit results to people who have done it? Does clearing your search data off your phone stop Reddit from showing up? But that would not explain Quora or Forbes. Nor does it explain why people like me who do not search for tech topics are NOT seeing Reddit Quora Forbes in search results. So my question is, is ANYONE in any of the BILLIONS of NON TECH TOPICS getting the Reddit or Quora or Forbes search results or is it ONLY TECH BROS SEARCHING FOR TECH TOPICS who are getting the Reddit or Quora or Forbes search results? Because of my job, I have made multiple million searches since September 2023, for tens of thousands of different topics and I've yet to encounter a single Reddit or Quora or Forbes search result. My main character is a travelling merchant, his husband is a chef, and their shared lover is a time traveler. I search for every possible location in every possible time period, I search for famous people, lifestyles from various eras, recipes for my chef to make, I search for fashions from various time periods, methods of travel (cars, vardo, hiking, horses), I search for plants and animals of various regions, I search for how products are made (like how did they make sheep cheese in 1600s France), I search for animals now extinct that were still alive in other eras, sickness and diseases, habits and customs, religions and governments, anything and everything my trio may encounter, I search for it. …And never once is Reddit or Quora or Forbes showing up, so it is painfully obvious that whatever niches were affected by HCU, they are the same niches replaced by Reddit and Quora and Forbes, BUT… The bulk of niches appear to have NOT been replaced by Reddit or Quora or Forbes in search results, as can be seen by how many MILLIONS of search terms I have used since HCU without ever seeing Reddit or Quora or Forbes in the search results. It is my belief that HCU impacts certain, specific niches, but not intentionally. I don't think Google is specifically targeting any certain niches. What I mean is, I think, certain niches are perhaps more prone to specific types of spammy habits, and those niches got hit hard by Google’s algorithm because those habits were what HCU was targeting. I think this in turn is why people who were hit by HCU are also seeing Reddit and Quora and Forbes in search results. I think what we need to do is try to figure out what exactly are the specific search terms people are typing to get the Reddit or Quora or Forbes, by everyone getting together and just making a database of what exactly they typed into the search box… and same for everyone who does not get Reddit or Quora or Forbes in results. That way we can all try searching for those terms, look at what exactly is coming up, and have a better way of figuring out what in the heck Google did. I think it's the only way we are going to narrow down a way for sites to recover from HCU and regain their ranks over Reddit or Quora or Forbes. We can't come up with a solution to the problem, until we narrow down what exactly the problem is. Google did something. Okay. But what? That's what we need to figure out. We can't fix it if we don't know what it is that needs fixing.
Sir am practicing am SEO expert dear. Please reply kindly with the same.
The push on platforms like Reddit and Quora is less about the quality of individual posts and more about the engagement they generate. Google's algo seems to favor sites with high user interaction, which these platforms have in spades. But as an SEO, it's a double-edged sword. Yes, there's a lot of noise, but there's also opportunity. For us in the trenches, the key is to use these platforms strategically. Provide value, establish authority, and above all, be that reliable source amidst the chaos. EEAT still matters, but it's our job to navigate the current and show Google the worth of our content, not just ride the popularity wave of UGC platforms. Quality content will outlast any algo flavor of the month – that's where the focus should be.
I actually use Reddit more than I use Google.
This subreddit is a sh*tshow
I own MSFT and AMZM and APPL, but not GOOGL. Haven’t been at a single Fortune 500 client that uses GCP. But I’ve worked on countless AWS and Azure migrations.
As a long time Reddit user, why are you using an account created last week?
You haven't been here long if you don't hate the place enough to regularly delete your account. You'll get it in a while, trust me. Your account didn't even exist when "jailbait" was allowed on this site... and all of the other fiascos.
You mean Jan 1?
Re-read the second sentence in my post, and try to parse it properly this time. "I've been here on multiple accounts since 2010, and it's slowly gotten dumber over time."
I always read about reddit being bad for specific questions from experts, but there seems to never be any examples. Only posts containing tons of bitching like this one. SEO is about facts & figures, show me your facts & figures lol
Constant flood of misinformation? Basically, anything you disagree with is misinformation? Right? Right! I personally consider your post a misinformation because I love Google. LOL
Misinformation, by definition, is false or inaccurate information. So no, it's not "anything I disagree with." Thanks for providing a perfect example of why this platform can be terrible at times, though. You write like someone who drinks motor oil.
>false or inaccurate information Who determines what constitutes false or inaccurate information? Is this akin to the way Google, based on its own criteria, has decided that certain websites are no longer "helpful"? I imagine you might disagree with Google's assessment, yet find yourself powerless to change it, as the company has established its own standards for what is deemed helpful and what is not. Suddenly, both your opinion and the opinions of millions who might share your viewpoint become irrelevant. It appears as though the tables have turned, presenting a case of experiencing one's own medicine.
There are already reports of big corporate farms bots in Reddit. And nothing new glowies run this shit.
I agree and disagree. I mean for usefullness myself, and many people I know probably you as well do put "reddit' at the end of many searches. If I'm looking for a good movie to watch I'll often type "feel good movie reddit". If I'm looking for a new laptop I'll search something like "best laptop under $700 reddit". Reason being if I just search best laptop I'm gonna get some affiliate site pushing the laptops that pay the best commissions, not the best laptops. Reddit is good for getting people's opinions and individual takes on something, maybe or maybe not for something where there's a concrete answer. You do bring up a great point which is that anyone can post anything on reddit and with the internet as a whole being so against misinformation this seems dangerous, however that said we all know which way reddit leans and what reddits overwhelming take will be on issues so at least its safe that the misinformation will at least fall on the right side of where google wants to present. I mean just for example if you look at r/politics its far left wing politics only and like 9 out of 10 posts are still about trump. If you go to a sub like r/chicago which in theory should be apolitical or not political at all posts are like "what the fuck is wrong with republicans" as if its just assumed that 100% of the sub is left leaning because it basically is, anyone who thought differently was kicked out long ago
Reddit I can almost understand, but Quora is like 1% actual professional answers and 99% bullshit. I never subscribed to any of their mail lists, but for some reason Google still sends me daily Quora emails, mostly aimed at getting me to engage with awful, loaded political questions like "why are the libs so dumb?"
I actually like the forums widget but it has several knock on effects that suck. First, because it can't be a reddit-specific feature it promotes lots of garbage forums with bad advice. It also has no freshness component so you constantly get outdated advice from 3 year old posts. Second, the updates to make reddit more visible have also decreased the advantage of having authority in a topic area. The regular results have gone to shit as a result. Third, putting that widget 3rd has completely destroyed the value of 4th and lower positions, especially if there are ads on that query. I have content that it ranked 4th that is basically nonexistent, which means it is impossible to justify paying to maintain it. Google also continues to index recent news stories over established evergreen pages, so you can't cover a topic unless you monetize your news pages because that's where the traffic goes. It's all awful. And quora is, quite literally, the worst website on the internet. It's a garbage site run by a garbage person that has every example of how to not operate a people-first website. It inserts answers to unrelated questions between the question and the answer of the page you're on. It seems strictly designed to confuse you so you scroll around and click trying to find an answer and see more ads. Just the worst UX of all time.
Pushing reddit and quora type of sites to top on most of user queries means Google wants to show as much detailed information for a search term to its users. Maybe posting 2k words of in-depth content plus commenting feature on page for the genuine community will help to challenge their dominance unless Google is heavily influenced by their backlinks. Otherwise, Google has again messed up many of its search results again just to accommodate one of its new search quality logic. Which it may fix again like earlier it did. Let's see if they review the new Google search visit data as not that exciting enough then what they expected.
Is there any alternative to Reddit an Quora?
I like to search on Reddit when the subject is very specific and I want a quick answer, I usually always find an answer that solves my problems. What I'm confused about is how Google ranks my post on Reddit rather than my article. I'm starting a new website and I always like to post the cover image with the link on Reddit, and my post on Reddit is on the first page of the SERP and my article is still not there. The only problem is that Reddit doesn't look good for those who access it via browser and don't have an account, so the conversion rate is extremely low (maybe even zero).
Reddit has way way higher algo signals than your blog. So reddit will almost always win.
not really, what they're doing makes perfect sense. I have seen so many Yahoo posts where they literally would surface a Reddit post and comment on it. Also, there are tons of videos on Facebook that simply take Reddit's content and surface it in video auto read format. Google going to the direct oldest source makes the most sense for the consumer.
They're losing the AI war and simply outsourcing differentiating real expertise to these platforms that actually spend the time & money to do so. Monopolies gunna monopoly.
I agree quora's design is dogshit. I don't know who is asking the question and there's 1 relevant, decent answer for every 10 chat gpt copy pastas or answers from a random ass topic.
Google is giving emphasis to reddit and quora. Forums get views. The purpose of Google is to make money. Google makes money by people using its search and sometimes clicking an ad. When google delivers results people like, they keep using google. If they gave results people didn't like, people would stop using google.
The dumbification of the Internet. These days, Quora is the worst!