The growing trend of users abandoning Google Search for alternatives like Kagi has caught my attention. Samuel Axon, a senior editor at Ars Technica, shares his personal experience of switching to Kagi, praising its ad-free and precise search results. According to Axon, Google's increasing reliance on AI-generated summaries and ads has led to a decline in search quality.
Axon notes that Google's AI overload often prioritizes novelty over accuracy, resulting in frustrating user experiences. Additionally, the aggressive advertising and sponsored content that dominate search results make it harder to find relevant information. Many users feel that Google's search results have deteriorated, with some even comparing it to the early days of Google, which was more reliable.
Kagi, on the other hand, is a subscription-based search engine that prioritizes user experience and relevance. It offers an ad-free experience, customizable site rankings, and programmable search operators. Kagi also emphasizes user privacy, with optional features like Privacy Pass for anonymous authentication.
Kagi's search results are aggregated from multiple sources, including its own crawl and partner APIs. While it offers AI-driven tools like summarizers and Q&A assistants, these features are disabled by default. Kagi's infrastructure is built with Rust microservices, ensuring fast response times and efficient caching.
The shift away from Google is significant, with the company's market share dipping below 90% as users flock to alternatives like DuckDuckGo, Brave, and Perplexity. As a result, marketers must adapt to a diversified search landscape, incorporating visibility on platforms beyond Google.
