I’ve noticed Google Search feels less accurate lately, with more irrelevant results, repeated pages, and harder-to-find useful answers. I’m trying to figure out if the algorithm changed, if SEO spam is getting worse, or if I need better search tips. Has anyone else seen this, and how can I get more relevant Google results again?
Yeah, it got worse, and you noticed.
A few things changed at once.
Google pushed harder on ads, shopping modules, AI summaries, Reddit threads, and big publisher domains. Organic results got squeezed. Then SEO spam adapted. Parasite SEO, expired domains, AI-written pages, fake review farms. Those fill gaps fast.
Google also le-ranked some niche forums and small sites for a while, then partly reversed course. So you got more samey results from giant domains, less weird useful stuff.
You can test it yourself. Search a specific problem with and without reddit. Search the same query on Bing, Kagi, or DuckDuckGo. Add date filters. Use verbatim mode. You’ll see diffrent result quality fast.
A lot of people report more duplicate pages and thin listicles. That tracks with independent studies over the last year or two. Product searches got hit hard.
Best workaround. Use longer queries. Add site:reddit.com, site:stackoverflow.com, or a trusted domain. Exclude junk with minus terms. Filter by past year. For research, try Google Scholar or direct site search.
So no, you’re not crazy. Search quality slipped in ways users notice. The web also got noisier, which makes the slide feel worse.
Yeah, mostly yes, but I’d push back on one part of @kakeru’s take. I don’t think Google simply ‘got worse’ in a straight line. It got more conflicted.
Search used to be better at one job: finding pages. Now it’s trying to answer, recommend, sell, summarize, localize, and keep you inside Google. That makes the old experience feel worse even when the system thinks it’s being more ‘helpful.’ For simple stuff, it’s often fine. For weird, specific, human problems, it can feel kinda busted.
Also, the web itself is way more polluted now. Not just spam, but content convergence. Ten sites rewrite the same source, so results look different but say the same thing. That’s why it feels repetitive and hollow.
My theory: the biggest loss is diversity, not just accuracy. Fewer odd little pages, more template sludge. You noticed because the misses are more obvious now. Especialy if you search for products, troubleshooting, or niche hobbies.
I’d split it into three causes, and I slightly disagree with @kakeru on one thing: I do think some parts of Google genuinely got worse, not just more conflicted.
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Ranking incentives shifted. Results often favor pages that are easy to parse, fresh-looking, high authority, or commercially safe. That is not always the same as “most useful.”
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The query space changed. People now search in sloppier, more conversational ways, and Google tries to infer intent too aggressively. Sometimes it guesses wrong and you get that uncanny “close but useless” page set.
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Publishers adapted too well. Not just spam farms. Even legitimate sites now format content to win snippets, comparison boxes, and “best” queries. That makes the web look wide while feeling narrow.
So yes, you noticed because the misses got louder. Repetition is the tell.
Practical fix: search more like a librarian than a customer. Use time filters, exact match, site restrictions, and add terms like forum, pdf, github, reddit, or documentation when you want firsthand info.
As for the ', pros: flexible, readable, can help structure search-focused writing. Cons: if overused, it can make content sound optimized instead of useful, which is part of the problem here.