We don't want to say it too loud in case we end up the bottom of the search results, but there are growing grumbles that Google is 'broken'.
You only have to look at the rise of artificial intelligence and the number of publishers shutting down amidst complaints that Google has 'killed' their traffic to see there's something going on behind the scenes.
There are other options out there, but with Google boasting a jaw-dropping 91.47% of the search market share, it's supposed to be your one-stop shop for everything from recipes to holiday ideas, that cute outfit to the weather.
Arun Rupesh Maini is better known under his YouTube alias of Mrwhosetheboss, and now, he's put Google in the firing line.
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Starting with a simple search of 'How to secure my data,' Mrwhosetheboss is shocked to learn the first four results are sponsored ads.
He says that things have felt 'off' for a while, so he decided to do a deep dive for himself.
There are apparently four key reasons that Google is 'broken,' with Mrwhosetheboss highlighting how sponsored ads used to be shown in yellow but could now be misconstrued as organic search results.
He shows that things get even worse when you search for products, with shopping ads obliterating organic search.
If that wasn't enough, these ads are 34% bigger than they were in 2021. He goes on to accuse Google of making organic results inaccurate, potentially as a way to funnel you toward the sponsored ones: "I can't shake the feeling that they are trying to create this pay-to-win environment because the sponsored shopping segment is now not just a way to get a little bit of a visibility boost, it's been designed to be the only easy way for users to shop on Google."
As a number of 'scam' sites have been proritized over others, Mrwhosetheboss says the search giant is either overwhelmed or simply doesn't care.
In Q2 of 2024, Google made a bank-busting $84.7 billion in revenue, with 76.3% of that coming from ads.
Even more concerning, Mrwhosetheboss suggests that when you Google a simple answer like the world population, the answer given is way off.
It's not all Google's fault, as the constant changes to its algorithim have encouraged sites to use a number of SEO tricks to try and rank higher.
Whether that be stringing a random collections of buzzwords together for a product or updating old articles to try and get them higher on Google, sites packed with affiliate links are also an epidemic.
Then there's the influx of AI Overviews you'll see all over Google.
The criticism is that as well as AI Overviews being wildly inaccurate, it's effectively scraping information from sites that have done the research, with Google using it to train its own AI.
Looking at a concerning future, Mrwhosetheboss concludes: "What's to stop Google from deciding to use its AI to eventually replace the need to visit any other website so you spend your entire browsing session within Google search page itself?
"The only way to get ahead of the AI pay for it, that way the entire time you use Google, you're paying Google in some way or another."
Whether Google will change its tactics remains to be seen, but as Mrwhosetheboss points out, we're stuck in a captive market with our Google overlords holding the keys. All bow to the Google search.