61 votes

"&udm=14" strips AI junk from Google results

Posted by first-must-burn
Tags: google.search, search engines, search results, artificial intelligence, cruft, author.rob beschizza, source.boingboing, short read
https://boingboing.net/2024/05/23/what-the-heck-is-udm14-a-new-search-engine-strips-ai-junk-from-google-results.html

21 comments

  1. first-must-burn
    Link
    I tried this and the results are remarkably good. I haven't dug into modifying Firefox search to make this a default part of search results, but after seeing it in action, it's definitely on my...

    I tried this and the results are remarkably good. I haven't dug into modifying Firefox search to make this a default part of search results, but after seeing it in action, it's definitely on my list.

    P.S. I posted this under ~tech but thought about ~health.mental for a real minute.

    30 votes
  2. [11]
    Wes
    Link
    Google usually makes search verticals available via query string. That way you can update your search bar to use this by default. There's no need to use a wrapper website. More info on this...

    Google usually makes search verticals available via query string. That way you can update your search bar to use this by default. There's no need to use a wrapper website.

    More info on this feature:

    We’ve launched a new “Web” filter that shows only text-based links, just like you might filter to show other types of results, such as images or videos. The filter appears on the top of the results page alongside other filters or as part of the “More” option, rolling out today and tomorrow globally….

    We’ve added this after hearing from some that there are times when they’d prefer to just see links to web pages in their search results, such as if they’re looking for longer-form text documents, using a device with limited internet access, or those who just prefer text-based results shown separately from search features. If you’re in that group, enjoy!
    ...
    As I see some questions, on mobile (the first screenshot) we tend to show all filters, including this new Web one. You don't need to go to "More" for it. On desktop (the second screenshot), filters that seem most relevant are dynamically shown. Any filter you want that doesn't appear, those will be found under More. This also explains more about filters: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433

    Source: https://twitter.com/searchliaison/status/1790473952256786805

    Not sure why BoingBoing didn't link any actual information on the feature, or why they're so late reporting this. The Web filter launched with Google I/O on the 14th.

    16 votes
    1. [10]
      RheingoldRiver
      Link Parent
      In Firefox you can also use bookmarklets, for example here is my google search bookmarklet and to use it I type g $searchTerm e.g. to search for kittens I would type g kittens into my URL bar....

      In Firefox you can also use bookmarklets, for example here is my google search bookmarklet and to use it I type g $searchTerm e.g. to search for kittens I would type g kittens into my URL bar.

      (the important part is the "keyword" field, you can name it anything. Keyword doesnt show up when you create a bookmark, you have to create it and then go back and edit it to add a keyword; people were accidentally adding keywords thinking they were tags and then getting confused why their keyword was working as intended when they didn't know what it was or what it was supposed to do haha)

      2 votes
      1. [9]
        Sassanix
        Link Parent
        It would be best to just redirect all google search results to use &udm=14 in the results.

        It would be best to just redirect all google search results to use &udm=14 in the results.

        1. [8]
          RheingoldRiver
          Link Parent
          oh yeah true, in that case I recommend this addon

          oh yeah true, in that case I recommend this addon

          3 votes
          1. [7]
            Sassanix
            Link Parent
            Thanks for showing me that. I'm going to test it out. So far I haven't been able to get it working.

            Thanks for showing me that. I'm going to test it out. So far I haven't been able to get it working.

            1. [6]
              RheingoldRiver
              Link Parent
              Do a regular expression search looking for (google.com/search?q=.*) and replace it with $1&udm=14 note the capture group is around the entire thing you're searching for (I didn't test this but if...

              Do a regular expression search looking for (google.com/search?q=.*) and replace it with $1&udm=14

              note the capture group is around the entire thing you're searching for

              (I didn't test this but if it doesn't work lmk and I'll actually test)

              1 vote
              1. [5]
                Sassanix
                Link Parent
                I tried this https://i.imgur.com/9SnXTGX.png, but I will give your method a try.

                I tried this https://i.imgur.com/9SnXTGX.png, but I will give your method a try.

                1. [4]
                  RheingoldRiver
                  (edited )
                  Link Parent
                  theres a few problems with that: edit: jk I am wrong about this, thought wildcards would be like regex with capturing in the 'include pattern' your wildcard is gonna match EVERYTHING after...

                  theres a few problems with that:

                  1. Nothing is being captured (i.e. you wrote * and not (*) in the 'include pattern' so your $1 is always gonna be an empty string in the 'redirect to' edit: jk I am wrong about this, thought wildcards would be like regex with capturing
                  2. in the 'include pattern' your wildcard is gonna match EVERYTHING after google.com/, which includes the text search?q= so even if you do capture, you'll end up with search?q=search?q= in the redirect to string
                  3. You are redirecting EVERY url starting with google.com, including the homepage itself; you only want to be redirecting if there's a query
                  4. tbh I'm not actually sure if this param applies on images.google or maps.google etc, but your query is explicitly avoiding those subdomains
                  1. [3]
                    Sassanix
                    Link Parent
                    I got it working Here is how I did it: https://i.imgur.com/SwjftvC.png And the nice thing is, it works with duckduckgo !g bangs. Thank you for this!

                    I got it working

                    Here is how I did it: https://i.imgur.com/SwjftvC.png

                    And the nice thing is, it works with duckduckgo !g bangs.

                    Thank you for this!

                    3 votes
                    1. RheingoldRiver
                      Link Parent
                      Ah great! glad you got it, I love this extension!!

                      Ah great! glad you got it, I love this extension!!

                      1 vote
                    2. arch
                      Link Parent
                      [edit] nevermind, I'm still getting some "The page isn’t redirecting properly" errors. I think it might be when it applies the &udm=14 multiple times in some sort of loop. I had to turn the...

                      [edit] nevermind, I'm still getting some "The page isn’t redirecting properly" errors. I think it might be when it applies the &udm=14 multiple times in some sort of loop.

                      I had to turn the Process matches to Double URL Decode to get it working with searches that have spaces in them. Otherwise I get errors on redirect.

                      Here's the contents of my Redirector.json if someone wants to just save this and Import it:

                      {
    "createdBy": "Redirector v3.5.3",
    "createdAt": "2024-05-24T19:53:12.827Z",
    "redirects": [
        {
            "description": "Example redirect, try going to http://example.com/anywordhere",
            "exampleUrl": "https://www.google.com/search?q=test+and",
            "exampleResult": "https://google.com/search?q=test+and&udm=14",
            "error": null,
            "includePattern": "https://www.google.com/search?*",
            "excludePattern": "",
            "patternDesc": "Append &udm=14 to google search results",
            "redirectUrl": "https://google.com/search?$1&udm=14",
            "patternType": "W",
            "processMatches": "doubleUrlDecode",
            "disabled": false,
            "grouped": false,
            "appliesTo": [
                "main_frame"
            ]
        }
    ]
}```
                      1 vote
  3. saturnV
    Link
    The linked article gives a good overview of how you can make it a default in a bunch of different browsers and explains what it actually does better. (I think this makes the biggest difference in...

    The linked article gives a good overview of how you can make it a default in a bunch of different browsers and explains what it actually does better. (I think this makes the biggest difference in the US removing the AI stuff, but it still removes the "People also ask" section, info boxes on top and the right-hand side, and all that kind of extra "value-added" stuff google puts on top, like answering "when is the superbowl?" for you)

    10 votes
  4. [2]
    KapteinB
    Link
    Doesn't work for me. Can someone post screenshot comparisons of the same search in Google and udm14?

    Doesn't work for me. Can someone post screenshot comparisons of the same search in Google and udm14?

    8 votes
    1. Noox
      Link Parent
      I got you! I did a search for Great Gatsby on Firefox mobile (android) on my Samsung A52s, here's the difference: Normal search results &udm=14 search results Looks like a lot of the frills have...

      I got you! I did a search for Great Gatsby on Firefox mobile (android) on my Samsung A52s, here's the difference:

      Normal search results
      &udm=14 search results

      Looks like a lot of the frills have been removed and it's a pretty clean looking search.

      4 votes
  5. [2]
    balooga
    Link
    I’ve switched over to DuckDuckGo for search and I’m mostly happy with it. Occasionally I’ll use the !g bang to forward my search through Google if I can’t find what I’m looking for. I just checked...

    I’ve switched over to DuckDuckGo for search and I’m mostly happy with it. Occasionally I’ll use the !g bang to forward my search through Google if I can’t find what I’m looking for. I just checked the list of bangs to see if one has been added for &udm=14 but don’t see one yet. That will likely become my new go-to when they add it.

    8 votes
    1. PigeonDubois
      Link Parent
      Hopefully they just define !G to use it. I think it's fair to say that most of the kind of people who use ddg would prefer it over the regular google.

      Hopefully they just define !G to use it. I think it's fair to say that most of the kind of people who use ddg would prefer it over the regular google.

      2 votes
  6. [2]
    crowsby
    Link
    I got exhausted trying to unfuck Google's unrelenting parade of undesirable UX changes via extensions, ublock, and tampermonkey scripts, and just ended up switching to Kagi a few months back....

    I got exhausted trying to unfuck Google's unrelenting parade of undesirable UX changes via extensions, ublock, and tampermonkey scripts, and just ended up switching to Kagi a few months back. Google is still useful for some things like Maps, but beyond that it's been great.

    5 votes
    1. first-must-burn
      Link Parent
      Yeah, I am in a tighter financial place, but when things open up a bit more, it's on my list as well.

      Yeah, I am in a tighter financial place, but when things open up a bit more, it's on my list as well.

      1 vote
  7. arch
    (edited )
    Link
    Well this is kind of amazing. I literally filled out a Google Opinions Reward question last night with a comment that said "I really just want text results when I search". I can't imagine my...

    Well this is kind of amazing. I literally filled out a Google Opinions Reward question last night with a comment that said "I really just want text results when I search". I can't imagine my stupid little Opinion reply had much if anything to do with this, but it's really awesome to see nonetheless.

    We finally have search like we used to had it back in 2012.

    4 votes
  8. Macha
    (edited )
    Link
    Is this going to be another URL fragment I'm going to memorise like SmsAuthConfig and ?share=1, I wonder

    Is this going to be another URL fragment I'm going to memorise like SmsAuthConfig and ?share=1, I wonder

    3 votes