Has Google search switched to infinite scrolling for you too now?
It seems google search has changed to using infinite scrolling for me, an incredibly annoying change.
Has anyone else got it? Is there a way to get the old pagination back?
They had to make this change because they increased the number of ads. If the result is paginated, a high percentage of links in the first page would be ads. With infinite scroll that's not a problem because there are an infinite number of links on "the first page".
Overall, Google has turned up the number of ads. Not just in search, but also in YouTube and also in Gmail. In YouTube, you didn't have ads in low-view-count videos. Now they have ads in all videos, whether the video owner turned it on or not. In Gmail, in the Promotions tab, only the top couple of items were ads, now there are ads interspersed with the rest of the mails.
Increasing revenue by turning up the volume of ads is very short sighted. Personally, I find Google properties less interesting now, and it is tarnishing the Google brand. So why are they doing this? Perhaps they need to fill a revenue shortfall caused by ChatGPT?
Google pruned their index so radically that it doesn't make a difference anymore. For a bit less common stuff, but yet nothing esoteric, I get to the last page around page 4 or 5. And most of the stuff on those 5 pages are mostly SEO-farm copies of the same stuff.
I quit looking for recipes on google. Bought a dozen of recipe books last year. fuck that shit.
Despite all the hate Google and infinite scroll gets, it seems to be good decision doesn't it?
You rarely go to even the second page, I'm almost always improving/changing the query instead of going to next pages, so even in those edge cases where I have to go to next pages, then auto loading next results when I'm at the bottom of the page seems viable solution
Infinite scroll is annoying because e.g you cannot link to thing
but that's not the case with Google - you do not link Google results to people, you send them the result itself - desired website.
It’s comical how they finally get around to infinite scroll after destroying the quality and quantity of the results. I very regularly get to the end of the results 20-30 in.
I used to utilize the vaguely related deep-dive results, especially in image searches, to go on tours of nostalgia or just wandering. But Google can’t offer that anymore.
Mine has infinite scroll, but not infinite scroll of results. At a certain point it switches to boxes of recommended articles based on what it considers similar searches, which are literally never useful to me
I'm often using Google search in Incognito/Private/InPrivate windows, so I'm getting to see all the, pardon my french, bullshit they're AB testing on users constantly. I've so far seen three distinct forms of infinite scroll (edit: on Mobile, for clarification). One is just infinite scroll with classic results in a list format as usual. The second type I have encountered is that after about 7 to 10 lines of results in typical list format, it will begin showing you everything in a grid format of squircles, where it's harder to read the text previews. The third form of infinite scroll I have seen, and in my opinion the worst, is that after fifteen or so results, it begins showing you results for a separate (but allegedly related) query, and forces you to hit a button to continue seeing results for what you actually wanted to see... and get this, the button to see more doesn't always work. Sometimes it gives an error message. (This one irritated me because I was looking at translations for a song into English, and then the results started showing translations for different songs from the same other language, but not even by the same artist -- very helpful, Google!) Currently for me, in mobile Chrome, both Incognito tabs and normal tabs display infinite scroll of the list type, where results appear more or less in "normal" format, albeit more spaced out than they were a few years ago.
A couple of weeks ago it stopped showing the search page numbers at the bottom for me, but didn't infinitely scroll. I went into settings and changed it to infinite scroll manually so I could get past the first page of results. Trying in a different browser profile, I didn't have the issue. I got used to infinite scrolling in my main profile.. and then it mysteriously went back to multi-page results with working numbered links all by itself.
I haven't dared go back into settings to see if it's still set to infinite scroll (I assume not) because I don't want to break it any more.
I'm used to things randomly breaking in youtube, in the play queue, for example, but I thought this was kind of a shocking level of breakage to find in an online behemoth's primary offering, especially given how essentially simple its presentation task is.
Seems they might be still fiddling with it, though - searched the term slashdot and found "About 14,000,000 results (0.28 seconds)", but the bottom of the page only shows links to three pages of results, expanding to seven when I click "next".
I wonder what they think they're doing? Probably too much remote working, I expect. That'll be it.
I'm surprised that I'm asking this because I've been such a fan of Google for years....but does anyone have alternative suggestions for Google products? (
Looking for alternative suggestions for:
1. Google Maps (yikes was it bad when I used it this week)
2. Google Docs (such a frustrating lack of features)
3. Google Drive (it's impossible to find anything when you are sharing docs with someone)
4. Google Search (ChatGPT has spoiled me and I find Google Search to be a large waste of time)
5. Google Classroom (their quizzes/homeworks/forms are unbelievable bad and I can't tell what students can see vs what they can't)
6. Gmail (I've love gmail for so long but with all the other products just being so bad it's making me wonder what else I'm missing something better)
Sorry to sh!t on Google so much, but everything is just so mediocre that I'm tired of it and want something higher quality. Anyone have thoughts?
Infinite scrolling needs to die in a fire. I'm sure it increases some fallacious "engagement" metric like time spent on the page or something, but it's an utterly horrible experience. Scroll down one and a half pages, watch a spinning circle as the next few results load, then watch the spinning circles as the result images load, repeat until you can't take it anymore and give up.
On the whole this assertion of always-available javascript has basically destroyed the usability of the web as every small minded manager/designer thinks that inserting themselves in the way of the user makes for some endearing "experience". It doesn't.
Yes, you can disable it. It's right there at the top of the Search Settings page.
However, the selection of individual pages is gone, and replaced by a single "More results" arrow at the bottom of the page. So it does appear that they've gutted the functionality, and it's only continuous scrolling whether you choose manual or automatic style.
Weirdly, the "downgraded" Google search experience I get in Firefox is more functional than the "full" one I can get through Chrome or the Google search bar on my phone. An infobox or two followed by a paginated list of relevant links, compared with all the noisy bells and whistles and sometimes multiple screen-fulls of sponsored content they throw into their modern SRPs.
Isn't that an admission that the first page is not good enough in so many cases now that they had to make pagination easier?
Google’s search results page is a mess now. It is now an endless feed mimicking social apps cluttered by obtrusive images and suggested content that is never really what you want
It's weird being an old-school desktop computer user who never jumped on the mobile bandwagon. Not just because it makes me somewhat a dinosaur, but also because anecdotes about the average users internet experience these days sound like tales from some slightly-dystopic parallel universe.
Side note: It's so weird for me to hear the term "google search". It's what happens when you haven't used a site directly in years. I almost have to ask myself (facetiously), is Google Search still a thing?
The same thing has happened with Microsoft. I used to be a Windows/GUI user (never in love with the company going back to DOS, I was a PC-DOS user (IBM)) until I switched over to Linux many years ago. Microsoft basically ceased to exist (except for github).
I hear Microsoft in the news and it's almost like they exist in a parallel universe.
Apple - never has existed (for me). Facebook/Twitter - accts but never use. Spotify - nope. Etc, etc...
The only reason I bring this up is because, despite this, I still remain well-connected. I have lost nothing from the Web. I strongly feel that the hold these big tech companies have on many of us is tenuous at best. Google best not forget this.
Reddit certainly has forgotten and with but a metaphorical wave of my hand, reddit now too ceases to exist (for me) - and I've lost little. Big Tech... replaceable (hmm... mostly).
PS: Still rely/use Google (gmail, YouTube, Maps, Android), so there's one big tech firm I still depend on. YouTube, Maps and Android being the really hard ones to replace.
Yeah, got that here quite a while ago. Though it also comes and goes. It's... I don't know, better and worse at the same time? I notice it, and I feel like after a few page downs I just need a new search, so I need to go back up and start over. I guess it's a step down?
Hasn't for me, and I don't seem to have the option to turn it on either.
It has been infinite scroll for a while for me, which was fine but seems like they did that just to pave way for their second trick: displaying ads interspersed with actual results. IMO the only things distinguishing ads from actual results now is a small "Ad" label. Previously the placement also used to be an indicator, where by muscle memory you'd typically skip first few results.
Few bad quarters and I am sure some PM at Google will write a brief for A/B testing removal of Ad label
I don’t have it yet, but as a Search User I think I’d be OK with it?
Then as a business or blog that wants to get indexed, I feel like the friction no longer being a >= page 2 result is going to surface more content and get more clicks.
I guess it will allow for more ads with potentially better click through on ads as well.
Multiple businesses I have worked for in the last 20 years A/B tested infinite vs paginated scroll and found that the infinite leads to more stuff being seen, and therefore bought. Google was holding out because of the way they sold ads, but we knew they'd change eventually.
Hey, I have the same problem. I do not want to discuss about ads or which way is better. I just want the old google search back.
Did someone actually answer the original question?
Does anyone know which countries still have a regular google search with pagination?
I was thinking about getting a VPN and using Google with a country that still has the old Google Search...
Just noticed it now, I’m on mobile. They really spilled the beans on this one, I guess that’s one way of saying that they give up for good when it comes to helping people to find stuff on the web.
I stopped using Google for most searches for a long while now. I suggest you do the same. It's not like they're going to make user centric changes now, just wallet centric ones.
Infinite scrolling means infinite ads... :-D
7 reasons why you think google has switched to infinite scroll.
Before we get to the 7 reasons, let’s describe what Google is …
It looks like it's all Ads to me now.... that's worthless. Ugh... I might have to switch to Bing
For anyone frustrated with Google searches poor result set - especially for very obscure search terms where it often returns "0 results" even though you know that what you're looking for is on the internet...
Try Baidu. Its search index is much bigger, and even if you don't speak chinese it is very usable. I frequently find what I'm looking for there when Google fails me.
I get a weird colored-card-based layout on mobile when they run out of normal search results.
No, unfortunately, because I would actually want infinite scrolling.
I use Perplexity AI for most searches
nah, still got paging. I use Singaporean IP and on firefox on android.
you can toggle Continuous Scrolling in Search Settings.