Google Search is stuffed with intrusive adverts

I enjoyed Issue 679’s Cover Feature (pictured) on ways to make Google great again, and I’m looking forward to trying your tips on Chrome, Gmail and Maps. But I’m sceptical that any changes I make to Search will improve its results. All it shows me now are intrusive adverts.

As an example, I recently typed ‘best laptop under £400 UK’ ( 1 in our screenshot below) into Google, hoping it would take me to a site with in-depth and knowledgeable reviews. Instead, I got a ‘Sponsored’ box containing five laptop deals, three of which were over £400!

Clicking the double-arrow icon on the right stretches this box across the full width of the page, which looks horrible. Hovering over an offer makes it pop up 2 , which I find distracting. Worse, I couldn’t find a way to shrink this box. All you can do is scroll right and left, or scroll down to find more results – though even those are adverts, as the Currys link shows 3.

I know everyone is fed up with the hype around AI, but for general questions CHATGPT (https://chat.openai. com) gives much clearer answers, written in language the ordinary person can understand. Its buying advice is out of date – it suggested models from 2022 when I asked the laptop question. But perhaps that’s a good thing. If CHATGPT started making money from people clicking adverts, then their results would become as bad as Google’s.

CA SAYS

David Mckenna

We agree that asking CHATGPT often gives more useful and immediate answers than Google. We explain how to use it on your phone or tablet in our Cover Feature, page 50.