Google Search is Dying, Something New is Coming
It’s not Bing or DuckDuckGo
For years, typing in a single word or phrase was enough to grant access to immediate and accurate results — untangling complex topics with agility never before seen.
Now all of that is dying.
Google search has thrown specificity completely out the window.
Search engines have stopped behaving like databases and are giving suggestions instead of results because an algorithm believes it knows your intentions and objectives better than you. For example:
Why does your co-worker get different results when searching for the same thing?
Why are top Google search results 5000-word SEO monsters outsourced to an agency in India?
And why do almost 30% of people have to redo their Google searches, either by refining their query or by visiting a different website entirely?
Google Search is in its death throes, and something new is coming.
I Append Reddit to 75% of my Search Results
This article was inspired because I was searching “How to fix a broken spacebar” on Google, and all I could get were articles written by people who clearly did not know what they were talking about.
So I tried adding “Reddit,” and voila! A discussion thread with people sharing their experiences and easy solutions for fixing a broken laptop spacebar.
It was so pain-free:
“You may not be able to get that spacebar back on easily. Luckily, you can get a replacement keyboard on Amazon or eBay for less than $20 typically.”
It’s not that Google isn’t still dominating: As of January 2023, online search engine Bing accounted for 8.85% of the global search market, while market leader Google had a share of around 84.69%, according to Statista.
And in 2022, Google’s ad empire totaled an astounding $279.8 billion U.S. dollars — a staggering figure fueled by search ads as the primary money-maker of its vast advertising armada.
The problem, however, isn’t where Google is at; it’s where it’s going.
For Gen Z, TikTok Is the New Search Engine
Why does Reddit ask you to create an account before accessing some content?
Why does Medium do the same?
Because the internet is about keeping you away from Google searches and inside that walled garden of who, what, where and why.
For Gen Z, the new search engine isn’t Google: it’s TikTok and Instagram — and top executives at Google are finally acknowledging it:
“In our studies, something like almost 40 percent of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search. They go to TikTok or Instagram,” Prabhakar Raghavan, a Google senior vice president, said at a conference in July.
I wouldn’t say I like Reddit, TikTok or Instagram (I’ve written several articles criticizing each), but I have to admit they give better, more idiosyncratic results than Google.
The internet is increasingly a visual medium.
Most writers even admit they must create or join podcasts to stay relevant.
Google search looks more like a phone book, while the new search engines look like IMAX movies.
If Apple Drops Google, it’s All Over
Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, is a genius.
He convinced the company that Google needed a “default bias” by becoming the default search engine for Apple devices. He knew that once Google was the default, people would keep using it even if better options were available.
That partnership doesn’t come cheap, however.
Google pays $20 Billion+ annually to be the default search engine for Apple devices. It’s more than the entire GDP of Jamaica.
But that partnership is in danger — Apple has reportedly been working on an online search engine to rival Google since 2020. It would use Siri to power searches.
Apple is the proverbial 800-pound gorilla in the room. Google would lose default access to more than 1.5 billion active iPhone users if Apple created its own search engine. It’s kind of like when Netflix lost “The Office.”
Google won't drop dead, but the playing field will be less rigged.
It won’t just be Bing, ChatGPT, and DuckDuckGo leading the charge — social media giants like TikTok and Reddit will join the fight, as well as Apple.
It’s a Brave New World
If I ever want to look for real answers to questions, I have to end my query with “Reddit,” everything else is SEO 5000-shit articles about nothing. I can't even tell anymore if these search results are AI-generated or some desperate Fiverr worker who got paid five bucks.
This isn’t even mentioning Google’s blatant censorship of certain topics.
As a history buff, it’s very difficult for me to conduct research without getting “clean” results. It’s almost as if Google is “Brave New Worlding” the internet and filling it with so much garbage that you’re forced to use whatever they approve of.
The writing is on the wall.
The 2020s will be the “Search Engine Wars,” and Google may not be the victor.
With powerful new players such as Apple, X, Reddit, and TikTok entering the fray, it’s anyone’s guess who will emerge victorious. Only time will tell.
The answer is in your last heading. Brave. Longshot, but I hope the Brave browser is the swimmer.
Thanks, as always, for your piece. Always a pleasure.