Have you noticed Google results have changed?

[ChristineBaskets]

Over the last couple of weeks I've noticed that something has changed about the way Google searches work. I'm struggling to explain myself and can't exactly remember what the results were like before but it's definitely changed and I can't find things out as easily. There seem to be more news articles in the results rather than discussions and message boards (I have checked that I'm not on the 'news' tab but I do wonder if it's something else I've done!).

Has anyone else noticed a difference?

I'm finding that I'm getting less and less relevant answers from Google and a whole load of crap such as videos and shopping that I wasn't looking for.

Yes, I mentioned it to my family but no-one believed me..

I thought it was just me, after some faffing with phone/watch/iPad. I don’t like it at all and I don’t seem to get the information I’m looking for.

My top 10 hits are adverts and whilst associated with what I'm searching for..... They are all in USA

There was an update on the 4th. Lots of big sites seeing a drop in traffic after it.

I've noticed it too. All my searches are driving me mad. It feels very ad-driven now. I don't like it.

The whole thing is just a big commercial enterprise and every click we do is designed to extract money from us.

Does anybody ever actually respond to the ads? I've been on the internet for over 20 years and I've never bought anything online from clicking on a random - or targeted - ad. If I want something, I search for it myself. I think I once clicked on a clothing ad, but they were too expensive anyway.

Try out some other search engines. Google is too focused on the commercial model and will burn itself out as people get pissed off and ditch them. Same with YouTube.

Google is dying. It's happening slowly but it is happening. It will be replaced.

Anyone else use duck duck go? It's great! And it's nice to not be spied on while you're searching

Yes, I noticed the results were displayed differently and seemed to favour news over static sites. I don't like it 🙁

I have found this, tried looking for the listings at my local cinema, it would usually come up top and it was obvious that it was the actual cinema site but today it was really hard to find, I don’t like it

I get lots of ads that look like search results

I've noticed this too!!!! So glad it's not me. I hope this isn't the beginning of the end of Google.

Yep. I can't work out what's an ad anymore, and on my phone when I click on something and then go back to the search results it seems to take me back to the first page of results even if I've scrolled through subsequent pages. It's really annoying. I might swap to Duck Duck Go too.

Yep mine looks really odd now, not user friendly like it was before.. and yes the results aren't as good. If it ain't broke..

Thank you! I thought I had a virus on my iPad, couldn’t work out what had gone wrong, all searches are different now.

So relieved.

I want it back the old way though, I can’t make it work.

Anyone who does anything with web search, taxonomies, or SEO will tell you, Google are ALWAYS fiddling about with their algorithms....! Having done some of their training recently (free, online) it does also seem to me they are now pushing the "paid results" thing very, very hard.

Yup I noticed it and hated it so I've changed the search engines that I'm using.

I agree, it's a nightmare. I first noticed it when I was in Madrid for the weekend and trying to Google the Prado opening times and queuing information and got a whole bunch of ads and news articles - not even the actual Prado website. I thought it was just being in Spain that confused my phone - same crap happening when I was trying to find restaurants etc.

Devastated to discover it was just the same when I got back to the UK.

I was googling a TV characters name to try to find out their age etc, and Wikipedia didn't even even come up, when it always used to.

I noticed. I've been searching everything with "blog" or "forum" at the end and it helps

The thing is I've set my safari search engine to google. I'm not sure how to choose between different search engines.

I can set it to Duck Duck Go if that's better but I liked how it used to be! Often I'd type in a tv program and Mumsnet would be in the top 5 results but now it's just news sites.

The daily mirror seems to be popping up all the time. It's not the 80's ffs

I've noticed it too. It feels like the 1st page is just full of adverts trying to sell you stuff. I hate it.

I mainly use duck duck go. It's not perfect but it does mean you don't get ads, even on Mumsnet! You have to type UK into the search because it is very USA biased.

Yes I've noticed. I can't even get results to come up sometimes when I put 'boards' or 'forum' in the search. All I get are articles and government websites. I'm in Australia btw

They changed the algorithm to prevent dodgy news sites gaining the system, they change it regularly, this time it is targeted specially at dropping off clickbait news sites and 'opinion' sites down the rankings, so sites like the Daily Mail, Independent and Express have rightfully been affected along with others. It won't take long until the SEO's catch up, but try not to use Google as a portal to the internet and define your searches

I still get Independent crap.