Has Google been feeling a little less useful lately? You are not alone. A few years ago, search engines like Google felt like miracles. The answer to almost any question you had was now at your fingertips, as if everything 20th century science fiction had promised us had come true.
But lately? Not so much. Search Engine Optimization Algorithms (SEO). and monetized ads may spell the end of the miracle that search engines like Google made possible less than two decades ago.
This is the claim of Jason Pargin, author of the comic horror novel John dies at the end and former editor of the comedy news site Cracked.com. Pargin used his TikTok (@jasonkpargin) in a video posted on December 19 to protest the diminishing returns he gets from Google. The video now has 507,900 views as of this article’s publication.
Pargin says he experienced a problem with his iPhone logging into the wrong Wi-Fi network and went to Google to find a solution. Unfortunately, he didn’t find the quick and easy answer he was looking for.
On the first page of the web search, a paragraph appeared that seemed to lead to a page with answers. “But when I click on it, things get weird real quick,” he tells viewers.
Although Pargin, who says he’s been using search engines since his invention, specifies in his search that he’s looking for an iOS solution to his problem, the instructions on the linked website “make no sense to me phone and none of the screenshots.” they show what my iOS looks like,” he says.
Scrolling down to the bottom of the web page, Pargin discovers that the advice in question is 12 years old, almost useless for his current phone’s operating system. But why would the first search result direct you to outdated information?
The second search result said that there was no solution for the problem and that iOS would fix it automatically. The third hit wasn’t about iOS at all, but described how to change Wi-Fi on a Windows computer.
It was the fourth item listed that prompted Pargin to create his video. The headline of a MakeUseOf article, “How to set Wi-Fi network priority on iPhone, iPad and Mac”, seemed to suit his needs precisely.
“Some of you already know where this is going,” he admits before describing having to scroll through several paragraphs and ads before finally being told there is no solution to his problem.
When the search was so broken
♬ 10 minutes ver beat and electric bass (1117152) – Aruma
The article continues, however, with more paragraphs reiterating the desirability of being able to set a preferred Wi-Fi network, essentially regurgitating the opening paragraphs.
“It’s like that thing you did in elementary school when you were told to write 500 words on a topic, and you said the same thing over and over,” says Pargin.
Describing the article’s apparent purpose, Pargin says, “Your whole job is to keep people on the page and keep loading those ad blocks.”
According to Pargin, the final sentence of the article read: “Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t offer any further explanation of how the iPhone’s Wi-Fi priority works, so there’s no further information on the subject.”
The article currently has additional information telling users how to set priorities from a desktop or laptop Mac, saying, “You can set network priorities there and then sync them to your iPhone or iPad.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to MakeUseOf through its site for a statement.
Pargin ends the video by stating that he left Internet writing behind after doing the job for more than 20 years because “it was all becoming this: How do you trick people at Google into coming to your website, whatever what they’re looking for or not.”
“Your job, instead of creating things to inform people, was just trying to poison that algorithm,” he concludes.
Most Pargin viewers found themselves agreeing with his negative sentiments.
PaleoJohn (@paleojon) wrote: “Yes, I find that AI SEO has rendered most Google searches worthless. We are evolving fast. The ad-based internet model needs to die.”
“Looks like Google has changed their business from finding information to prioritizing advertisers,” another viewer added.
Another wrote: “Google is totally broken. Every new iteration is worse.” While another said: “‘Google search doesn’t answer anything anymore.’
In accordance with Business Insider, a German research team recently published a paper that found search engines are “getting worse” and “filled with junk.”
“It’s making it harder for people to access useful information online, the core function of the Internet,” says Insider.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Google via email for a statement.
While there doesn’t appear to be a non-monetized solution to the problem on the horizon, some of Pargin’s viewers offered a tip that might help someone in need of legitimate information: add the word “Reddit” to their search.
Jacob Spencer (@jacobrspencer) wrote: “If it’s helpful for future searches, I often include ‘Reddit’ at the end of my search phrases. It works for ~90% of my searches, and comments on posts usually respond to my questions immediately.”
Another viewer simply wrote: “Typing reddit afterwards makes google work.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Pargin via Instagram direct message for further comment.
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