Yup, search is terrible when looking up for very specific/ niche topics.
It only works as a fact machine now. For example search for "Who is the father of the president of USA?"
I think majority of this problem arises from academia/industry disconnect as well as greed.
1. Greed: Ad revenue.
2. Academic people + research = Let's create a general solution for all. They never bother to understand what problems users are facing.
You may wonder, why would any one care to ask stupid facts? Turns out people don't need internet for finding relevant information. They are already bubbled up, so they search for "facts" to verify or argue against their belief. Eg. "Kanye west and Kim Kardashian". And for these examples, google works best.
It's really HCI problem. It doesn't take for them to tune down on the ads, but why would they? If you search for niche, they just show ads because they get $$$. But if you search for facts they just give the highlight. And this small highlights create positive reinforcements among it's users. It manifest to common users that google works.
So google basically is fact machine to find clues for an argument or bubble up belief. It is utterly useless for anything else.
It only works as a fact machine now. For example search for "Who is the father of the president of USA?"
I think majority of this problem arises from academia/industry disconnect as well as greed.
1. Greed: Ad revenue.
2. Academic people + research = Let's create a general solution for all. They never bother to understand what problems users are facing.
You may wonder, why would any one care to ask stupid facts? Turns out people don't need internet for finding relevant information. They are already bubbled up, so they search for "facts" to verify or argue against their belief. Eg. "Kanye west and Kim Kardashian". And for these examples, google works best.
It's really HCI problem. It doesn't take for them to tune down on the ads, but why would they? If you search for niche, they just show ads because they get $$$. But if you search for facts they just give the highlight. And this small highlights create positive reinforcements among it's users. It manifest to common users that google works.
So google basically is fact machine to find clues for an argument or bubble up belief. It is utterly useless for anything else.
Product reviews. Nah
Technical topics: Nah
DIY: Nah
Hobbies: Nah
It's either facts or ads.
Such is modern search engine.