The End of Google Search as We Know It

Katie Baker, the Ringer: Look, there’s maybe nothing less cool than waxing nostalgic about Google of all things. It’s like mourning the Astor Place Starbucks (or getting sentimental about any Blockbuster Video — although most people aren’t ready for that conversation). But I don’t think I’m really missing Google Search as much as I’m missing the days when it was mining more fertile and open ground. As Baker writes, it is not simply the effect of declining Google traffic on publishers that is concerning. It is also the effect A.I. tools and features — including those from Google itself — are having on the web at large. Many websites have attempted to restrict traffic from scrapers and automated services, a side effect of which is that they become more difficult to use for people, and less findable through advanced search queries like the site: operator. It is hard to reckon with the notion that Google was only incidentally a utility. It worked so well for so long and for so many…