I know it’s been getting worse over time, but I could still find what I needed after some digging.

Recently it’s been like 10 minutes of adjusting search terms, still getting completely useless or irrelevant results, and me just giving up afterwards. Other search engines seem just as bad.

  • Zerlyna@lemmy.worldEnglish
    31·
    3 days ago

    The results are usually the most clicked, not necessarily the factual links. Others have recommended kagi. I haven’t tried it yet. I remember when the internet started and you had to use them all!

        • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
          4·
          3 days ago

          Incognito is on your client side browser in that the browser doesn’t retain any trace of the current session once you close the tab. The search engine still knows what you whacked off to.

        • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
          2·
          3 days ago

          True Incognito mode is a myth, it only stops keeping a history in the tab of that browser. Everytime you use a browser to go to any site ever, the browser logs you went there. So does your ISP and the site your connecting to. No matter which mode or browser you use, if you go to Google, then Google knows you went there and logs your searches.

          The closest you can come to browsing the web anonymously would be with a mix of dedicated privacy OS like Tails and either a VPN or Tor as a middile man, but that assumes those proxys are not corrupted. Free VPNs make money by selling your “secret browsing” habits.

          The internet is nothing more than wires, if you connect your wire to someone elses, every intermediatary knows.

          • Blizzard@lemmy.zipEnglish
            1·
            3 days ago

            You can use uBlock Origin and other privacy add-ons to block tracking and a VPN to hide your IP address but if you’re logged in to a search engine’s account then everything you search is tied to you no matter what you do.

    • TheBeesKnees@lemmy.sdf.orgOPEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      I’ve used Kagi’s free trial. I’d turn to it when nothing else was helping and it did really well, but recently it hasn’t been helping either. It’s probably still fine for most things, but I’m often searching niche developer/programming things that are too burried under SEO/AI spam to find anymore.

      • sudneo@lemm.ee
        2·
        2 days ago

        FWIW, the default “programming” lens works quite well in Kagi, you can also create your own lens if you have a set of websites from which you routinely search info, and there are tons of bangs already (which can also be mapped to lenses BTW). In addition, you can downrank AI/SEO stuff when you find it (it is downranked by default in kagi), so that over time your results are quite clean.