Google is burying the web alive

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Perceptions of Bias and Groupthink

  • Some commenters argue reactions are inconsistent: AI search from Microsoft/OpenAI was hailed as innovative, but Google’s AI integration is framed as “killing the web.”
  • Others push back, saying attitudes toward AI have soured overall since the early “honeymoon” phase, and that there’s also a baseline anti–big-tech sentiment.
  • The headline is viewed by several as hyperbolic; they see AI as just the latest layer after ads, info boxes, and knowledge panels.

Is the Web Already a Corpse? Causes of Decay

  • Many say Google is “burying a corpse” rather than a healthy web; the decline is blamed on:
    • Social platforms (Facebook, Reddit, Discord, TikTok) shifting discussion into walled or semi‑closed spaces.
    • SEO spam and ad‑saturated pages making classic search nearly unusable for many queries.
    • Users’ revealed preference for closed, app‑centric ecosystems over “indie web” sites.
  • Others insist there’s still lots of good personal and niche content; search engines simply don’t surface it.

AI UX vs Traditional Search

  • Supporters: AI overviews give a direct answer and spare users from slogging through “300‑word listicles” and SEO junk, especially for simple factual queries.
  • Critics:
    • Worry about hallucinations, lost nuance, and removal of links (especially in the new “AI search mode” that can hide sources entirely).
    • Note AI prose often feels like generic ad copy and will likely be filled with ads later.
    • Fear AI will over‑prioritize big brands or whatever is trained/paid into its system prompt.

Impact on Publishers and Incentives

  • Several operators of small, high‑quality information sites report steep traffic drops (30–70%) even while ranking well, and describe:
    • Feeling like unpaid, uncredited training data for LLMs.
    • Shifting focus toward more “businessy” topics that monetize better, at the expense of the content they care about.
    • Losing audience feedback, encouragement, and the motivation to keep sites updated.
  • Some argue the underlying problem is the ad‑funded, “free content” expectation and broader capitalism, not AI per se.

Local Search, Long Tail, and Competition

  • Concern that AI answers will further erode the “long tail”:
    • Small contractors and niche services already struggle with SEO; AI summarization may show only the top few options.
    • This makes it harder for new startups or less‑optimized businesses to be discovered.
  • Counterpoint: many local or service searches were already better served by social recommendations, classifieds, or specialized platforms than by generic web search.

Alternatives, Workarounds, and Countermeasures

  • Some advocate simply switching engines (DDG, Kagi, Brave, etc.), noting they offer fewer or more controllable AI features.
  • Others say this underestimates Google’s dominance: for many people, “Google = the internet,” and they don’t even realize alternatives exist.
  • Tactical responses discussed:
    • Blocking crawlers via robots.txt or future legal rules forcing LLMs to compensate data owners.
    • “Firewalls” that meter AI crawler access based on traffic returned.
    • Hacks like spoofing an older User‑Agent to get a more minimal, pre‑AI Google results page.
  • A thread of nostalgia calls for human‑curated directories and networks of curated indices as an alternative to algorithmic search.